The Beatles - Yellow Submarine (1968)

Yelllow Submarine is the only Beatles album that could really be classified as inessential, mostly because it was a soundtrack that only utilized four new Beatles songs. (The rest of the album was filled out with "Yellow Submarine," "All You Need Is Love," and a George Martin score.) What's more, two of the four new tracks were little more than pleasant throwaways: "All Together Now" is a cute, kiddie-ish McCartney singalong, while "Hey Bulldog" has some mild Lennon nastiness and a great beat and central piano riff. George Harrison's two contributions were the more striking of the new entries: "Only a Northern Song," a leftover from the Sgt. Pepper's sessions, and "It's All Too Much," a virtuoso excursion into hazy psychedelia. ~ Richie Unterberger & Bruce Eder