Entertainment Weekly - "...there's no disputing the enduring charms of these playfully spacey tunes, which add up to a handy distillation of the Fab Four's psychedelic period." - Rating: B+
Mojo - "...a Beatle lucky dip is never less than serendipitous....the Yellow Submarine tracks, throwaways or not, are individual marvels..."
Rolling Stone - 3.5 stars out of 5 - "...Without the visuals, YELLOW SUBMARINE...essentailly amounts to an overview of the Beatles' psychedelic phase, and, as such, it's entertaining enough..."
Q - 4 stars out of 5 - "...Songs such as 'Eleanor Rigby' and 'Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds'...stripped down to the crank-case, polished and carefully rebuilt....the music is still wonderful..."
Alternative Press - "...the boys' oddest, most wayward period....Why not another chance to celebrate a modern entertainment wonder that never loses its humanity throughout time and repacking - the Beatles?"
Rovi
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|
Rovi