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' Second Album available backlog of some 25 songs yet to be released by Capitol Records, it was decided to compile a follow-up album as soon as possible. "The Beatles' Second Album" was the first album of the group's work to be assembled by Capitol Records exclusively for the US market—"Meet the Beatles!" was a reconfigured, abridged version of "With the Beatles". "Second Album" was a potpourri collection that did not represent the Beatles' output at the time; the end result was an assembly of material from nearly a half-dozen sessions and sources. Capitol compiled the album using additional songs from four different