content: . . . and, if not THE greatest, at least the most influential. What other reviewers on here don't think about is the time this album came out. The Beatles had a way of beating everyone else to the punch: they knew what was coming next, and played in suit. This is indeed the first Rock album (forget rock & roll for now) and it paved the way for almost EVERYthing that followed. It opened numerous doors, and influenced not only every recording artist of then and now, but also pop culture in its entirety. The direction our society took was influenced to a certain degree by this one album . . . it was the soundtrack to the summer of love, and it was the first fully mature Rock album.