Continuing with my series on who is the “MVB” (Most Valuable Beatle) for each their albums, I have arrived at 1969′s Yellow Submarine which is a pretty unusual album in The Beatles career as it contains only four new Beatles songs because two had already been released on previous albums (“Yellow Submarine” on Revolver & “All You Need Is Love” on Magical Mystery Tour) and seven of the tracks weren’t really proper Beatles songs (they were George Martin’s instrumentals for the film’s soundtrack.)

So in this installment of my Lennon vs. McCartney series there will only be four songs to look at and there will be another competitor as George Harrison actually wrote two of the four new Beatles songs on the album and definitely needs to be considered as the MVB of this album.

“Only a Northern Song” – George

While definitely not among The Beatles greatest works, I find this song quite charming with it’s extreme weirdness. Everything about the tune is quite mad actually from the bizarre lyrics to the insane sound effects and instrumentation which really sounds particularly wacky in the new remastered version of the song found in The Beatles in Stereo Box Set. Sure it’s not a great song, but it sounds pretty cool.

“All Together Now” – Paul

Also not among The Beatles best songs. This is a children’s song like “Yellow Submarine” is but this one doesn’t have anywhere near the charm of that tune. Some of the lyrics are kind of funny and sure it’s kind of catchy, but definitely ranks among my least favorite Beatles recordings.

“Hey Bulldog” – John

Now this one is a great song. One of the real hidden (because it’s only found on this album) Beatles gems. This is John’s song but Paul gets an assist for the great bass line that really gives the song much of it’s personality.

“It’s All Too Much” – George

This is probably the most underrated Beatles song ever. Like “Hey Bulldog” it’s often overlooked because it’s on this album, but it actually seems even more overlooked than that one as “Hey Bulldog” is easy to appreciate once you hear it. “It’s All Too Much” on the other hand isn’t particularly catchy so it doesn’t grab the listener quite as quickly but it is a really great epic psychedelic Beatles song.

I love the production on this one, it’s really tripped out with the way things come in and out and the huge hand claps. And there’s plenty of just really insane sounds (like the really deep horn that enters on the right at around 2:10) along with some excellent lead guitar. Really great spaced out stuff. Love it, nothing else in The Beatles catalog really sounds anything like this song.

VERDICT: George

George is really the easy choice for MVB of Yellow Submarine. That makes it 7 MVB titles for John, 3 for Paul, and now 1 for George. Next up: Abbey Road (going by release date rather than recording date, as Let It Be was recorded before Abbey Road but released after it.)

I do think I will do the Past/Mono Masters in this series as well, those non-album songs deserve to be taken a look at too.

The Beatles In Mono: Previously Unreleased Mixes

There are only four mixes included on the new remastered Beatles box sets which have never before been released; the mono mixes of these four Yellow Submarine songs! Why were they never released before? Because the album was only released in stereo in 1969 so the mono mixes were shelved until they were finally released on the Mono Masters double disc non-album track compilation included in The Beatles In Mono.

So why wasn’t the entire album included in mono instead of just having the four songs put on the non-album compilation? Because those George Martin instrumentals were never mixed in mono and the other two songs on the album (“Yellow Submarine” & “All You Need Is Love”) were already included in mono on other albums in the box set.

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