It has since been afforded a mixed reception from music critics, some of whom consider that it falls short of the high standard generally associated with the Beatles' work.

[6] Along with the music for their Magical Mystery Tour TV film, the Yellow Submarine soundtrack was part of a period that author Ian MacDonald later described as the band's "regime of continuous low-intensity recording ...it had a workaday quality about it – an intrinsic lack of tension which was bound to colour the resulting material.

[10] Following the Beatles' performance of the song on the Our World international television broadcast,[11] "All You Need Is Love" had been issued as a single as well, in July 1967, and had also been included on the Capitol Records LP release of Magical Mystery Tour in November 1967.

[22] Inspired by its author's experimentation with the drug LSD, and originally running to over eight minutes in length,[23] the song reflects the Summer of Love philosophy of 1967 and makes extensive use of guitar feedback.

[25] John Lennon's "Hey Bulldog" was recorded on 11 February 1968 and evolved from an initial intent to shoot a promotional film for the single "Lady Madonna".

[29][30] Side 2 consists of re-recordings of the symphonic film score composed by the Beatles' producer, George Martin, specifically for the album.

[31] In some of his compositions, Martin referenced his past work with the Beatles; for example, "Sea of Time" includes what MacDonald terms "an affectionate quotation" from the Indian-styled "Within You Without You", from Sgt.

[45][47] An EP containing the new songs had been considered for release in September 1968,[48] but any plan to issue the soundtrack music from Yellow Submarine was then postponed to allow for the unveiling of The Beatles.

[50] As a result, the band decided to reissue Yellow Submarine as a five-track mono EP, without the film score but including the then-unreleased "Across the Universe" as a bonus track.

[51] According to author and music journalist Peter Doggett, neither the proposed EP format nor an expanded soundtrack album (containing other previously issued Beatles songs that appear in the 1968 film) was possible at the time, since "both options would have denied George Martin his contractual right to appear alongside the Beatles – and robbed him of potentially the largest royalty payment of his career.

[59][60] Recalling the album's release in a special-edition issue of Mojo magazine, Peter Doggett writes that "The papers got all trippy for Yellow Submarine".

"[34] In a review for International Times, Barry Miles considered Martin's score "superbly produced" and, of the songs, wrote only of "It's All Too Much", which he described as, variously, "Endless, mantric, a round, interwoven, trellised, tessellated, filigreed, gidouiled, spiralling" and "Happy singalong music".

[34] Record Mirror's reviewer said that, given the longstanding demand for a soundtrack album, the release of Yellow Submarine would evoke "the ecstasy of fans the world over".

The reviewer added that the four new Beatles songs matched the quality of the two "excellent" hit singles, and Martin's side represented a "tremendous achievement" that also justified any complaints about the price.

[66] Writing in their 1975 book The Beatles: An Illustrated Record, NME critics Roy Carr and Tony Tyler bemoaned the commercial considerations that had resulted in the release of a full soundtrack album, saying that the four new tracks "would have made a superb EP".

[68] More recently, AllMusic critic Richie Unterberger has written of Yellow Submarine: "The album would have been far better value if it had been released as a four-song EP...with the addition of a bonus track in "Across the Universe"...No one would argue that there's a huge amount more than meets the eye (or ear) there, but listening to the original album anew 40 years on, one is still struck by how mostly second-rate, and recycled and rejected Beatles material still sounds so good.

"[58] Writing for Pitchfork Media, Mark Richardson opines that "the Yellow Submarine soundtrack is like the work of a supremely talented band that couldn't really be bothered" and describes "Hey Bulldog" as "a tough and funky piano-driven rocker, [and] by a good margin the best song here".

"[65] PopMatters' David Gassman views Martin's selections as "kind of twee and inconsequential" and the four new songs on side one as "fascinating", adding that "The material's tossed-off origins give it a character unlike any other Beatles album."

While noting that the soundtrack was superseded with the 1999 release of Yellow Submarine Songtrack, Gassman writes: "No matter how you get them, though, the otherwise unavailable songs on this album ought to be part of any thinking Beatles fan's collection.