Editing The Beatles (album) (section)

===Contemporary reviews===
On release, ''The Beatles'' gained highly favourable reviews from the majority of music critics.{{sfn|Schaffner|1978|p=111}}{{sfn|Woffinden|1981|p=7}}{{sfn|Norman|2008|p=577}} Others bemoaned its length or found that the music lacked the adventurous quality that had distinguished ''Sgt. Pepper''.{{sfn|Schaffner|1978|p=111}} According to the author Ian Inglis: "Whether positive or negative, all assessments of ''The Beatles'' drew attention to its fragmentary style. However, while some complained about the lack of a coherent style, others recognized this as the album's ''raison d'être''."{{sfn|Inglis|2009|p=120}}

In ''[[The Observer]]'', [[Tony Palmer (director)|Tony Palmer]] wrote: "If there is still any doubt that Lennon and McCartney are the greatest songwriters since [[Franz Schubert|Schubert]]", the album "should surely see the last vestiges of cultural snobbery and [[Bourgeoisie|bourgeois]] prejudice swept away in a deluge of joyful music making".{{sfn|Norman|1996|p=346}} [[Richard Goldstein (writer born 1942)|Richard Goldstein]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' considered the double album to be "a major success" and "far more imaginative" than ''Sgt. Pepper'' or ''Magical Mystery Tour'',{{sfn|Schaffner|1978|p=111}} due to the band's improved songwriting and their relying less on the studio tricks of those earlier works.<ref>{{cite news |last=Goldstein |first=Richard |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |title=The Beatles |date=8 December 1968|pages=33, 37}}</ref> In ''[[The Sunday Times]]'', [[Derek Jewell]] hailed it as "the best thing in pop since ''Sgt. Pepper''" and concluded: "Musically, there is beauty, horror, surprise, chaos, order. And that is the world; and that is what The Beatles are on about. Created by, creating for, their age."<ref name="MacDonald/WhiteRiot">{{cite book|first=Ian|last=MacDonald|chapter=White Riot|title=Mojo: The Beatles' Final Years Special Edition|year=2003|location=London|publisher=Emap|page=56}}</ref> Although he dismissed "Revolution 9" as a "pretentious" example of "idiot immaturity", the ''[[NME]]''{{'}}s Alan Smith declared "God Bless You, Beatles!" to the majority of the album.<ref>{{cite magazine |magazine=[[NME]]|title=The Brilliant, the Bad, and the Ugly|date=9 November 1968 |last=Smith |first=Alan}}</ref> [[Jann Wenner]] of ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' called it "the history and synthesis of Western music",{{sfn|Schaffner|1978|p=113}} and the group's best album yet.<ref name=JannRS/> Wenner contended that they were allowed to appropriate other styles and traditions into rock music because their ability and identity were "so strong that they make it uniquely theirs, and uniquely the Beatles. They are so good that they not only expand the idiom, but they are also able to penetrate it and take it further."<ref name=JannRS>{{cite magazine|author=Wenner, Jann|date=21 December 1968|title=The Beatles|magazine=[[Rolling Stone]]|page=10}}</ref>

Among the less favourable critiques, ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine's reviewer wrote that ''The Beatles'' showcased the "best abilities and worst tendencies" of the Beatles, as it is skilfully performed and sophisticated, but lacks a "sense of taste and purpose".<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|title=The Mannerist Phase|page=53|date=6 December 1968}}</ref> [[William Mann (critic)|William Mann]] of ''[[The Times]]'' opined that, in their over-reliance on [[wikt:pastiche#Noun|pastiche]] and "private jokes", Lennon and McCartney had ceased to progress as songwriters, yet he deemed the release to be "The most important musical event of the year" and acknowledged: "these 30 tracks contain plenty to be studied, enjoyed and gradually appreciated more fully in the coming months."<ref name="MacDonald/WhiteRiot" /> In his review for ''The New York Times'', [[Nik Cohn]] considered the album "boring beyond belief" and said that over half of its songs were "profound mediocrities".<ref>{{cite news |last=Cohn |first=Nik |author-link=Nik Cohn |title=A Briton Blasts The Beatles |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9807E1D9123BE73ABC4D52DFB4678383679EDE|date=15 December 1968}} {{subscription required}}</ref> In a 1971 column, [[Robert Christgau]] of ''[[The Village Voice]]'' described the album as both "their most consistent and probably their worst", and referred to its songs as a "pastiche of musical exercises".<ref>{{cite news|last=Christgau|first=Robert|date=September 1971|url=http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/bk-aow/beatles.php|title=Living Without the Beatles|newspaper=[[The Village Voice]]|access-date=1 February 2013}}</ref> Nonetheless, he ranked it as the tenth best album of 1968 in his ballot for ''Jazz & Pop'' magazine's annual critics poll.<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=[[Jazz & Pop]]|last=Christgau|first=Robert|year=1969|url=http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/pnj/jpballot-69.php|title=Robert Christgau's 1969 Jazz & Pop Ballot|access-date=17 April 2014}}</ref>