Vinyl: THE BEATLES LP "YESTERDAY & TODAY" 3rd STATE BUTCHER COVER "PROFESSIONAL PEEL"

THE BEATLES LP "YESTERDAY & TODAY" 3rd STATE BUTCHER COVER "PROFESSIONAL PEEL CAPITOL RECORDS# T-2553 Mono. This RARE release is featured here in excellent condition.

This Rare Collectors item was peeled by Jim Hansen from Blue Jay Way galleries. Jim's work is second to none when it comes to peeled and restoring "Y&T Trunk Cover Paste Overs". This Super Clear 3rd State is a fine example of Jim's Great Work. Before Jim received the Cover, it had heavy staining along the bottom, some tears and needed some serious restoration. The Cover has parts and touch ups along the leg areas (see photos) and looks fantastic. There is a very light line that goes across the cover but when framed and hung, it's barely visible.

Serious Bidders only. No Reserve!!

The Cover shows normal wear and looks fine. Grade..VG+. Nice Shape!

The Record shows nice gloss and looks fine. Grade VG+

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ON 1/27/13 THE US POST OFFICE INCREASED IT'S RATES

FOREIGN SHIPPING= $21.00 EUROPE & JAPAN (& Heavy LP's w Books etc)...OTHER COUNTRIES= $20.00 (first LP and $5.00 each additional up to 4 total) All Countries except Canada & Mexico

FOREIGN SHIPPING= $14.70 (first LP and $5.00 each additional) Canada & Mexico

MEDIA MAIL=$5.00 (w TRACKING)

Grading Scale:

M Mint - usually reserved for sealed records.

NM Near Mint with only one or two insignificant defects.

VG++ (or NM-) Extremely nice, would be NM except for a few light hairline scratches or scuffs which do not affect play.

VG+ A nice but used record that may have a series of light scuffs or scratches. It may play with a few pops or ticks but no serious problems.

VG A well used record that still sounds OK but may have moderate surface noise, pops, etc.

VG- A very worn record that plays through without skipping that will do until a better copy comes along!

On Jul-24-13 at 18:31:00 PDT, seller added the following information:

Release and reception

Released in June 1966, the Yesterday and Today album's controversial cover marked the first time the Beatles' judgement was criticised by the media and distributors. After advance copies were sent to disc jockeys and record reviewers, negative reaction to the cover photo was so strong Capitol recalled 750,000 copies from distributors to replace the cover. The total cost to Capitol to replace the cover and promotional materials was $250,000, wiping out their initial profit. [8 ] Nevertheless, the album reached #1 on the US Billboard charts by 30 July 1966 and certified gold soon after. It stayed at number one for five weeks. [9 ]

The "Butcher cover"

In early 1966, photographer Robert Whitaker had the Beatles in the studio for a conceptual art piece entitled A Somnambulant Adventure. For the shoot, Whitaker took a series of pictures of the group dressed in butcher smocks and draped with pieces of meat and body parts from plastic baby dolls. The group played along as they were tired of the usual photo shoots—Lennon recalled the band having "boredom and resentment at having to do another photo session and another Beatles thing" [10 ]—and the concept was compatible with their own black humour. [7 ] Although not originally intended as an album cover, the Beatles submitted photographs from the session for their promotional materials. According to a 2002 interview published in Mojo magazine, former Capitol president Alan W. Livingston stated that it was Paul McCartney who pushed strongly for the photo's inclusion as the album cover, and that McCartney reportedly described it as "our comment on the war". [11 ] A photograph of the band smiling amid the mock carnage was used as promotional advertisements for the British release of the Paperback Writer single. Also, a similar photograph from this shoot was used for the cover of the 11 June 1966 edition of the British music magazine Disc. [12 ]

In the United States, Capitol Records printed approximately 750,000 copies of Yesterday and Today with the same photograph as Paperback Writer. [12 ] [13 ] They were assembled in Capitol's four US plants situated in different cities: Los Angeles, California; Scranton, Pennsylvania; Winchester, Virginia; and Jacksonville, Illinois. Numbers designating where the covers originated were printed near the RIAA symbol on the back; for example, stereo copies from the Los Angeles plant are designated "5" and mono Los Angeles copies are marked "6". Mono copies outnumbered stereo copies by about ten to one, making the stereo copies far more rare and valuable to collectors. A small fraction of the original covers were shipped to disc jockeys and reviewers as advance copies. Reaction was immediate, as Capitol received complaints from some dealers. The record was immediately recalled under orders from Capitol parent company EMI chairman Sir Joseph Lockwood [14 ] and all copies were ordered shipped back to the record label, leading to its rarity and popularity among collectors.

At the time, some of the Beatles defended the use of the Butcher photograph. John Lennon said that it was "as relevant as Vietnam" and McCartney said that their critics were "soft". [12 ] However, this opinion was not shared by all band members. George Harrison (who became a vegetarian) was quoted as saying that he thought the whole idea "was gross, and I also thought it was stupid. Sometimes we all did stupid things thinking it was cool and hip when it was naïve and dumb; and that was one of them." [7 ] Capitol Records apologised for the offence.

Capitol initially ordered plant managers to destroy the covers, and the Jacksonville plant delivered most of its copies to a landfill. However, faced with so many jackets already printed, Capitol decided instead to paste a much more conventional cover over the old ones. The new cover, featuring a picture of the band posed around an open steamer trunk, had to be trimmed on the open end by about 3 mm (1/8 inch) because the new sheet, known as a "slick", was not placed exactly "square" on top of the original cover. Tens of thousands of these so-called "Trunk" covers were sent out. As word of this manoeuvre became known to the public, owners of the altered cover attempted, usually unsuccessfully, to peel off the pasted-over cover, hoping to reveal the original image hidden beneath. Eventually, the soaring value and desirability of unpasted-over Butcher covers spurred the development of intricate and complex techniques for peeling the Trunk cover off in such a way that only faint horizontal glue lines remained on the original cover.

Copies that have never had the white cover pasted onto them, known as "first state" covers, are very rare and command the highest prices. Copies with the pasted-on cover intact above the butcher image are known as "second state" or "pasteovers". Today, pasteover covers that have remained unpeeled are also becoming increasingly rare and valuable. Covers that have had the Trunk cover removed to reveal the underlying butcher image are known as "third state" covers; these are now the most common (and least valuable, although their value varies depending on how well the cover is removed) as people continue to peel second state covers. The most valuable and highly prized first and second state Butcher Covers are those that were never opened and remain still sealed in their original shrink wrap. Since the first documented collector's sale of a mono Butcher cover LP in 1974, which fetched US$457.00, the value of first state mono versions has consistently appreciated, reaching $20,000 in 2006