description of Guitar Worlds editors, Harrison's playing on the song has a "sinewy" quality and a "sizzling tone" made more effective by being performed at full volume. Author Simon Leng writes that the recording "might have passed for grunge", with its "phased vocals and ... pseudo-harpsichord under attack from George's heavily distorted guitars and fierce riff". He adds that the lead guitar is "spiky-rough in a way Harrison would rarely approach again". Following his pioneering backwards-recorded guitar solo on "I'm Only Sleeping", in 1966, Harrison's use of reverse echo-chamber effect on "Not Guilty" marked the last time the Beatles used backwards audio on one of their recordings. MacDonald cites "Not Guilty" as an example of how Harrison's contributions to the White Album were "stymied" by the divisive atmosphere that characterised the sessions, which included a lack of collaboration between the band members. After Harrison departed for a short holiday in Greece, the other Beatles resumed recording on 20 August with tensions running high; Lennon and Starr completed overdubs on "Yer Blues" in one studio while McCartney recorded "Mother Nature's Son" alone in another. Two days later, by which point Harrison had returned to London, the acrimony that had been building within the group led to Starr walking out, intent on quitting the Beatles. Exclusion from the White Album According to Everett, "Not Guilty" was one of the last songs to be cut from the final running order of The Beatles. When announcing the release on 26 October, the NME listed "Not Guilty" among the possible tracks; Mal Evans, the Beatles' longtime aide, then wrote in the band's official fan magazine that it would not appear on the double album. Lennon admired the composition initially, but in Leng's view, with its "barbs about the Beatles", the song "was just a little too candid in airing the band's dirty laundry". Music journalist Mikal Gilmore similarly says that its exclusion was "perhaps because it was apparent to everybody that Harrison had aimed the song at Lennon and McCartney". In its three-part study of the 1968 double album, in 2008, Goldmine magazine commented that the song's exclusion has long been one of the points of debate regarding the White Album. The writers said that some listeners find the content of the set "exquisitely balanced", while others contend that the Beatles "really should have added 'Not Guilty' to the brew". Increasingly marginalised from the Beatles'