It was the G7sus4 heard 'round the world. You may not recognize that chord by name, but you'd instantly know it as the ringing opening salvo of ''A Hard Day's Night,'' the soundtrack that turned a nation into a glee club. In 1964, the Beatles had already taken over our radios and TV sets when they decided to commandeer our movie palaces, too. The resulting film was an exhilarating fusion of the backstage musical and postmodern absurdism. To re-create the hysteria that had greeted their ''Ed Sullivan Show'' appearances, the Fabs had to come up with tunes that would out-pleasure ''Please Please Me.'' And they delivered, the film's seven classics ranging from the plaintive ''And I Love Her'' to the ecstatic ''Can't Buy Me Love.'' The music stands on its own, yet is forever tied in our imaginations to the film -- a blitzkrieg of black-and-white imagery that changed the way we see the world. We can't think of a better definition of a great soundtrack.
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