Butcher covers
saki
>Kenneth Burns (kr...@kimbark.uchicago.edu) wrote:
>: Please forgive me if this is a FAQ.
>
>
>It is. :-)
>
>The custodian of the FAQ is on holiday in the UK at present - re-post
>the question in 2 weeks - then saki will reply...
>
>: Does anyone know how to tell whether a given copy of Yesterday
>: and Today is one with the "box" picture pasted over the "butcher"
>: picture? How many of these were printed? I have an old copy of my
>: father's and it seems as though its cover COULD have been pasted on.
>: If it is, can anyone wager how successful I might be at getting it
>: off?
As has been mentioned, the best way to tell if your copy of "Yesterday
and Today" is really a butcher cover underneath all that cover art is
to look at the lower right-hand cover. In the butcher photo, Ringo is
wearing a black polo-neck sweater under his lab coat, and the triangle
of black often shows through the white "trunk" cover pasted over it.
Beware that most real butcher covers have long since disappeared from
general circulation.
Capitol borrowed the Bob Whitaker photo of the Fabs in lab coats,
surrounded by bits of meat and baby-doll bodies, from an earlier
photo session (it had been shot for the "Paperback Writer" advertising
campaign and also appeared in a July 1966 issue of the British industry
magazine "Disc" as the cover photo). John mentioned in interviews that
Whitaker was a bit of an avant-gardist and suggested the surrealistic
set-up, but it may have also been John's idea partially. There seems
no basis in fact to the tenacious rumor that the Beatles insisted on
shooting this cover to protest the existence of "Yesterday and Today",
which comprised "butchered" (as one might put it) songs from other
official British LPs; clearly the photo existed before Capitol made
its decision to release "Yesterday and Today". John made a passing
reference to the photo having been conceived to reflect how the group
felt, after their hard years on the road and in studio, about being
marketed as musical "meat"; but the surrealism of the photo-shoot seems
to have been the guiding influence.
For some reason, it appears that record execs at Capitol had remarkably
little sense of how this photo might affect the record-buying public in
the United States, ordering 750,000 initial copies of "Yesterday and
Today", an album released *only* in the States. Initial horror from
record-shop owners and marketing men within Capitol convinced the
powers-that-be that perhaps they'd made a strategic error.
Historical accounts differ as to whether the album was actually shipped
or not. Circumstantial evidence suggests that some of the initial pressing
was shipped, because copies of letters from Capitol exist, begging record
sellers to send back the boxes so appropriate photos could be substituted.
Lucky collectors have shrinkwrapped butcher covers; others have those
which were "fixed" by pasting over the "trunk" photo, which were then
sold to the public. At least two types of adhesive were used for pasting
new covers: white (which was/is utter hell to deal with, peeling-wise) and
brown (which was/is much easier).
Over the years, many different solvents were tried out by hapless butcher
cover owners; some enterprising souls even set up butcher-cover-peeling
services, for a fee. And our highly esteemed and erstwhile founder of
r.m.b., James Kendall, actually discovered (and promoted) the technique
of peeling by using (you should pardon the expression) spit. He insisted
this worked. I tried it for a bit on my own butcher cover, rescued in
1978 from the used bin of a little record shop then known as Rhino Records
(owned by the fellows who now have the selfsame label), and it seemed to
work, though it was inelegant and, goodness knows, tedious.
I have a detailed note on how to peel a butcher cover, which is available
to anyone who asks.
--
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
"They could be at the centre of a short-lived mania; or it could be the
start of a long residency as Britain's biggest teenage attraction!"
----------------------------------------------saki (dm...@math.ucla.edu)
edward s. chen
>In article <1993May26.2...@syma.sussex.ac.uk> ste...@syma.sussex.ac.uk (Stephen Carter) writes:
>Historical accounts differ as to whether the album was actually shipped
>or not. Circumstantial evidence suggests that some of the initial pressing
>was shipped, because copies of letters from Capitol exist, begging record
>sellers to send back the boxes so appropriate photos could be substituted.
>Lucky collectors have shrinkwrapped butcher covers; others have those
>which were "fixed" by pasting over the "trunk" photo, which were then
>sold to the public. At least two types of adhesive were used for pasting
>new covers: white (which was/is utter hell to deal with, peeling-wise) and
>brown (which was/is much easier).
The letter to which you probably refer was actually to reviewers, and
reproduced on page 216 of Lewisohn's _Chronicles_. Dated June 14,1966 it
makes me seriously doubt whether any butcher covers were actually sold in
retail stores. Quoting:
Dear reviewer,
[You received a copy of the new Beatles album, but the cover you received
is not going to be the final cover...
"The original cover, created in England was intended as 'pop art' satire.
However, a sampling of public opinion in the United States indicated that
the cover is subject to misinterpretation. For this reason, and to avoid
any possible controversy, or undeserved harm to the Beatles' image or
reputation, Capitol has chosen to withdraw the LP and substitute a generally
more acceptable design.
ALL consumer copies of the Beatles' new album will be packaged in the new
cover, which will be available in the next week to ten days."
[Please disregard the album we sent you, and if at all possible, return
it to us here at Capitol...]
Ron Tepper
Manager,
Press and Information Services
(Text in [] is paraphrased)
>I have a detailed note on how to peel a butcher cover, which is available
>to anyone who asks.
Actually, these days I would advise a person with an unpeeled butcher to
*leave* it in that condition. The selling price for an unpeeled cover is
substantially higher than a "decent" peeled, a "poor" peeled (glue spots,
incomplete peeling), or (heaven forfend) a damaged butcher.
The most expensive butchers will always be "first state" (particularly
stereo "first state") butchers. Not many exist, and most of the ones
that do have a lineage traceable to someone within Capitol records. It
seems likely that only a very few (if any) first state butchers were
actually sold in stores.
Equally interesting is the promotional posters, which most definitely
were shipped to stores, and were recalled (and destroyed) by Capitol.
Some dealers did not return the posters as requested - and those items
currently sell for $600.00+ in mint condition. I own one, and it is
the centerpiece of my collection.
<ESC>
--
When I'm driving, I sometimes close my eyes and meditate. Is that dangerous?
No. My chauffer actually does the driving.
Ringo Starr, 1968
r.w.cook
> In article <1993Jun3.2...@math.ucla.edu> dm...@julia.math.ucla.edu (saki) writes:
>>In article <1993May26.2...@syma.sussex.ac.uk> ste...@syma.sussex.ac.uk (Stephen Carter) writes:
>
>>Historical accounts differ as to whether the album was actually shipped
>>or not. Circumstantial evidence suggests that some of the initial pressing
>>was shipped, because copies of letters from Capitol exist, begging record
>>sellers to send back the boxes so appropriate photos could be substituted.
My rememberance is that it *was* shipped to some stores. From 1967 - 1971
I worked at what was considered at the time to be the biggest and best record
store in the Miami area. Although a bit too late for the actual release of
Y&T, I not only recall Lee, the store owner, telling me he had received 2
boxes (50 discs) of the famous butcher cover, I now *own* one of them - a
"first state" mono. Lee sold it to me around 1970.
>>Lucky collectors have shrinkwrapped butcher covers; others have those
I turned down a sealed, stereo butcher in 1982. The guy wanted $500 (!)
It's probably worth 20 time that now.
>
>>I have a detailed note on how to peel a butcher cover, which is available
>>to anyone who asks.
>
> Actually, these days I would advise a person with an unpeeled butcher to
> *leave* it in that condition. The selling price for an unpeeled cover is
> substantially higher than a "decent" peeled, a "poor" peeled (glue spots,
> incomplete peeling), or (heaven forfend) a damaged butcher.
Not only the price, but the intrinsic value. I'd much rather own an unpeeled
butcher than one that has been peeled, no matter how well done. Reproductions
and photos are commonly available if you simply want to see what one looks like.
DON'T PEEL!!!!!
>
> Equally interesting is the promotional posters, which most definitely
> were shipped to stores, and were recalled (and destroyed) by Capitol.
> Some dealers did not return the posters as requested - and those items
> currently sell for $600.00+ in mint condition. I own one, and it is
> the centerpiece of my collection.
I'm lusting heavily...
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Richard Cook expensive: attmail!rwcook
AT&T IMS/SDO cheap: r...@eusdatl.att.com
"Beware lest you lose the substance by grasping at the shadow." - Aesop
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Mike Tiano
cover?
At the risk of aging myself the answer is a resounding YES. I remember
at the time of its release seeing it at MANY Los Angeles area record stores
for a while, along with a 'butcher' poster advertising the album.
YES, THE ALBUM *WAS* IN THE RECORD BINS WITH THIS COVER!
God, I never thought I'd see revisionist history in relation to something
like this....!
MIke