When first released, 'The Beatles', generally known to posterity as the 'White Album' after its stark white packaging, seemed simply baffling. Apart from Bob Dylan's 'Blonde on Blonde', it was the first rock double album, and there was something pretty daunting about the sprawling collection of 30 tracks to digest at once. Numerous other acts have done the same since, but in 1968 it was not the norm.

Some three and a half decades later, its legendary status is assured. Diehard Beatles fans think it's probably the best thing they ever recorded, and regard any criticism of it as heresy, while others label it monumental self-indulgence and agree with producer George Martin that it should have been pared down to a single album. What's beyond doubt is that it anticipates the end of the group who were becoming four solo artists, sometimes working as session musicians on each others' songs. Sometimes they didn't bother, as they were finding it increasingly difficult to get on with each other on a personal and professional level. The Beatles were beginning to disintegrate, and the composing credit 'Lennon/McCartney' which accompanied all songs written by one or other was transparently false. In fact, several tracks feature only two or three Beatles.

Paul McCartney had more or less assumed leadership of the group by now, as John Lennon was starting to lose interest. On the whole, Paul's songs are the best. 'Back in the USSR' is more than a send-up of the Beach Boys with its vocal harmonies, it rocks with more grit than the surfin' boys could ever manage. (BB Mike Love later claimed to have had a hand in writing the song, though nobody else backs him up). It's also one of several tracks on which the group are a trio, as Ringo Starr was fed up with Paul's put-downs and walked out for a couple of weeks, leaving the latter to play drums on it. 'Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da' is one of those songs that has always divided fans. One of the first white reggae tracks, recorded long before reggae became hip, some love it while others think it unbearably twee and cheesy. I like it myself, though I preferred a version by the Marmalade, who took it to No. 1 early in 1969.

In my view, John Lennon's songs are nowhere near as good. By this time he had his head in avant-garde territory (I nearly said he had his head in Yoko Ono, but ...) and being a Beatle had become a chore.

'Happiness Is a Warm Gun', 'The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill' and 'Sexy Sadie' sound forced and uninspired, and the 9-minute sound collage of 'Revolution No. 9' is pretentious nonsense. (It could have been worse - he also made an album which reputedly consisted of nothing but his and Yoko Ono's heartbeats - "I'm a Beatle, I can release rubbish if I want to.")

Like the rest of their catalogue, the White Album is an expensive item that's unlikely to be issued at budget price, though cheaper copies can sometimes be found in megastore sales. But with 93 minutes playing time, it's better value for money than most of the single albums (even if you take out the almost unlistenable 'Revolution No. 9'). The most commonly found version on CD is the double jewel case version, though a 30th anniversary edition was issued in a cardboard sleeve as a miniature replica of the original album complete with a mini-poster and the four colour postcards that accompanied the initial release.

Four stars might be a little generous. When it's good it's terrific, but it has plenty of dross which makes one grateful for the Skip button. Frankly I reckon it's rather more highly regarded in the group's back catalogue than it deserves. It wouldn't be my recommendation to anyone who's never listened to the Beatles before and wonders what all the fuss was about. But for the interested and intrigued, it's certainly worth having.