Growing up in those times the world seemed to change daily, as a once-common culture suddenly shattered into a hundred shards whose pieces are scattered about to this day. Through their brief and sometimes brilliant historical interlude, The Beatles almost perfectly reflected their times. Any opinion about which of their albums is the greatest or the best may likewise reflect the particular piece of America's now-dissembled melting pot with which the observer most directly identifies.
For me, that album is Rubber Soul, recorded in 1965, but which in retrospect was so strikingly ahead of its time that many listeners of a younger age seem to think it was recorded much later than that. The musical diversity, instrumental innovation and thoughtful lyricism contained within is not what most popular music sounded like at that time, even in the full flower of the British Invasion and the birth of the California sound, at whose forefront were Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys, who consequentially and equally altered the direction of rock and roll music (e.g.: Pet Sounds). As a singular effort though, Rubber Soul is a stunning diverse and unique compilation whose songs remain eminently listenable and enjoyable five decades on.