The Beatles Yesterday and Today album, clearly signed on the cover in black felt tip “Cheers! Paul McCartney.” Within days of releasing this miscellany of previous hits, Capitol recalled all copies in response to retailers’ negative reactions to the macabre cover image: a photo of the four mop-tops dressed in butchers’ coats and draped with raw meat and doll parts. The recalled copies were “retrofitted” with a new pictorial flat, pasted over the first, featuring an innocuous image of the boys posed around a steamer trunk. (Later pressings bore only the replacement image.) The pasted-over first pressing quickly became a collector’s item, and zealous fans and collectors began “peeling” their copies, hoping to strike gold (or meat, as it were). The specimen we offer is one of these original peeled (mono) albums, the so-called “third state” of the cover. The Butcher cover remains the holy grail among rock-album rarities, with perfect sealed copies fetching five figures. Accompanied by the original peeled replacement flat. In very good condition, with edge wear and seam splits (a few with narrow tape reinforcement), a hint of mild soiling, and a few small spots of skinning to perimeter of image. The peeling was very skillfully accomplished, and virtually all of the faults can be easily matted out for a most handsome display of this most legendary of Beatles collectibles. The record is included. COA Roger Epperson/REAL and R&R COA.
