The Beatles (album) the album, for "Mojo" magazine, Ian MacDonald wrote that "The Beatles" regularly appears among the top 10 in critics' "best albums of all time" lists, yet it was a work that he deemed "eccentric, highly diverse, and very variable [in] quality".<ref name="MacDonald/WhiteRiot55"></ref> Rob Sheffield, writing in "The Rolling Stone Album Guide" (2004), said that its songs ranged from the Beatles' "sturdiest tunes since "Revolver"" to "self-indulgent filler". He derided tracks including "Revolution 9" and "Helter Skelter", but said that picking personal highlights was "part of the fun" for listeners. Writing for MusicHound in 1999, "Guitar World" editor Christopher Scapelliti described
The Beatles (album) with Starr to reconsider. He duly returned on 5 September to find his drum kit decorated with flowers, a welcome-back gesture from Harrison. McCartney described the sessions for "The Beatles" as a turning point for the group, saying "there was a lot of friction during that album. We were just about to break up, and that was tense in itself", while Lennon later said "the break-up of the Beatles can be heard on that album". Of the album's 30 tracks, only 16 have all four band members performing. "The Beatles" contains a wide range of musical styles, which the authors