From Pitchfork, regarding Magical Mystery Tour.....boy did this ever hit home:
"In almost every instance on those singles, the Beatles are either whimsical or borderline simplistic, releasing songs that don't seem sophisticated or heavy or monumental (even though most of them are). In that sense, they're all like "All You Need Is Love" or childhood memories or Lewis Carroll-- easy to love, fit for all ages, rich in multi-textual details, deceptively trippy (see Paul's "Penny Lane" in particular, with images of it raining despite blue skies, or the songs here that revel in contradictions-- "Hello Goodbye"'s title, the verses in "All You Need Is Love"). More than any other place in the band's catalogue, this is where the group seems to crack open a unique world, and for many young kids then and since this was their introduction to music as imagination, or adventure. The rest of the Magical Mystery Tour LP is the opposite of the middle four tracks on the EP-- songs so universal that, like "Yellow Submarine", they are practically implanted in your brain from birth. Seemingly innocent, completely soaked through with humor and fantasy, Magical Mystery Tour slots in my mind almost closer to the original Willy Wonka or The Wizard of Oz as it does other Beatles records or even other music-- timeless entertainment crafted with a childlike curiosity and appeal but filled with wit and wonder."
I have very clear memories of listening to this album time and time again at a friend's house, with two other friends joining us more often than not. We were 10, give or take a year. We could not really place the album in context, all we knew was current disco, rock or pop music. But, somehow, we knew this album, and by extension, the Beatles, represented something different about music, about its properties, its abilities, its potential. We were mesmerized. Up until then, we'd tape a song off the radio and listen to that song again and again (Yes, I was listening to illegally acquired music)...this was the first album any of us listened to front to back, and it opened doors for us, especially for me. I began to seek out more Beatles music, as well as different radio stations, so I could hear something other than the disco and 70's rock that was so pervasive (and which I admittedly liked). This lead me to college radio, as well as talking to those older than me, people with bigger record collections, and this of course lead me to U2 and REM and so on.
I don't consider Magical Mystery Tour to be their best, or even my favorite album. But, it's easily, for me, the most influential or impactful album I have heard.