The Beatles 'butcher' cover turns 50
One of rock 'n' roll's most controversial – and valuable – album covers turns 50 this month.
The Beatles "butcher" cover for "Yesterday And Today" was issued by Capitol Records on June 20, 1966. It was quickly withdrawn because (small wonder) the public found the image of the Fab Four wearing butcher aprons and draped with raw meat and dismembered baby dolls disturbing.
The legend surrounding the cover suggests that it was the band's statement on the carnage of the Vietnam War or a sign of their displeasure with how Capitol Records disassembled and repackaged their British albums and singles for the U.S. market.
Not so, says Bruce Spizer, author of several highly regarded books on The Beatles albums. The "Yesterday And Today" cover design was initiated by The Beatles' manager, Brian Epstein, who first submitted a photograph of the band standing alongside a steamer trunk. Capitol sent him a mockup and he balked, Spizer told a crowd at a Beatles fans convention in Rye Brook, New York, earlier this spring.
Beatles John Lennon and Paul McCartney were with Epstein when he saw and rejected the mockup. Lennon quickly suggested using an avant garde picture taken on March 25, 1966 by photographer Robert Whitaker as part of a conceptual art piece, "A Somnambulant Adventure." McCartney was equally pleased with the offbeat choice, much to Epstein's chagrin, Spizer said.
By: Ray Kelly
Source: mass live
