"Yesterday"... and Today






If you may no or not, I am addicted to the "Butcher cover" just ask anyone I know, they'll all tell you the same thing, "Oh yeah that kid, he's a Butcher freak" So I can tell you anything you want to know. Before we get into all of that we will get into this. This album, again has high caliber music, I really don't see any difference between Rubber Soul. Just all the same, this is a marvelous album, you can't keep it away for ever. With the newest song by the Fab Four "Yesterday" that is a lovely sad tune written by Paul. The two giants one this record are "Day Tripper" and "We Can Work It Out" When it ws released on a single it had double A side. Two Ringo spectacular Ringo tracks on this album "What Goes On" and "Act Naturally" the two of my favorite Ringo songs and it is some of his best work. Some call this record "The Best Of The Beatles" well you can't help but love it, with the first non-love song by the Beatles, "Nowhere Man" with killer guitar solo's and over dubbing of voices and such make this the highlight. Then we have "I'm Only Sleeping" George's out of site backwards guitar playing must have stopped Jimi Hendrix in his tracks! George even has a song on this record "If I Needed Someone" a groovy rock ballad which can't be beat! We come to "Dr. Robert" a neat little fold song type song that is supposedly a song about the Beatles experience with LSD with George's dentist. Last but not least we have "Drive My Car" this song has a right to be the first track on the record we all love the "Beep Beep 'm Beep Beep Yeah" that just completes the song.

Released: June 20th 1966
Lable: Capitol
Numbers: Capitol T-2553 (mono), ST-2553 (stereo)

Yesterday

So what exactly is a Butcher Cover?

The "Yesterday And Today" album was typical of this practice, comprising songs excised from the American versions of three other Beatles LPs, plus both sides of an earlier 45. W hat was *not* typical of this album, however, was its cover. Instead of the usual photos of four happy, smiling moptops, this album's cover offered something quite different indeed: the Beatles, dressed in butchers' smocks, adorned with slabs of raw red meat, glass eyeballs, false teeth, and nude, decapitated dolls, posing with sickly, sadistic leers on their faces. When disk jockeys and others who had received advance copies of the album began to complain about its gruesome sleeve, Capitol quickly withdrew the record. All promotional material for the album was destroyed, and it was reissued five days later with a substitute cover photograph of the Beatles leaning on a steamer trunk. As most every casual Beatle fan knows, many of the 750,000 or so original "butcher cover sleeves went back into record stores with a new cover pasted over the old one, and thousands of unwitting record buyers ended up purchasing albums whose covers could be peeled or steamed off to create what would become one of most sought-after pieces of Beatles memorabilia.

So, I know what one is, how can I tell if my copy is one?

Ways to tell Covers with the "Gold Record Award" seal are not Butchers. On the back, lower-right-hand corner is a number. This will usually be a number, 2,3,4,5 or 6 denoting the Capitol Pressing Plant where that album was pressed. Lp's must have a "slick" type cover. At that time, the Lp jackets were made in three pieces. Cardboard Jacket Back Slick which raps around to the front of the cover The front slick. Sometimes the "Trunk" slick was pasted on sloppily and ended up offset. Then you can see part of the original cover underneath fairly easy. "Pictured" to the right. If you look close, you can see the bleed-through of Ringos V-neck shirt. Most importantly. You ***MUST*** be able to see the bleed-through of Ringo's black V-Neck shirt or it is NOT a butcher. It is possible that the cover could be so dirty or worn that you may not be able to make that determination.


I might have a Butcher, what do I do now?

My best advice to you is DO NOT PEEL IT!!!! Why you ask? Well, more and more people are discovering that their copies are Butcher's so they are peeling them and they are becoming more and more scarce, but hey it's eniterly up to you. Here is a nice place when you can have the nice people peel it off.

Blue Jay Way Galleries
P.O. Box 896
Downey, California 90241-9998
Phone 562-862-2570
Email: bjw66@hotmail.com
Web Site: www.bluejaywaygalleries.com COMING SOON


Special thanks to: http://www.eskimo.com/~bpentium/butcher.html


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