In Rubber Soul you hear glimpses of things to come and it influenced both the Beach Boys and yeah those Stones would be playing their sitars and recording their basses through fuzz boxes instead of regular guitar a few months later. But it's with Revolver where the Beatles start to really create odd textures and sounds, with instruments and recording techinques not normally associated with pop and rock music.
I think the White Album and Abbey Road are great in different ways. Magical Mystery Tour in relation to the Beatles is really a underrated album. Sgt Pepper gets all the praise it also was slathered in studio overdubbing and other effects -- atonal orchestras, phase-shifting, direct-to-soundboard bass -- that blew minds at the time, but sound a bit dated now. It was done to death.
My choice is Revolver.
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