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The Beatles "Yesterday And Today"
2nd state unpeeled Butcher cover
Original US Press, Stereo, 1966 Capitol Records, Catalogue Number; ST 2553, Matrix Numbers: ST 1 2553 B4, ST 2 2553 A5
The Holy grail of Beatles albums with the unpeeled "2nd State" Butcher Cover.
Ringo's black V neck clearly visible. This is the genuine article.
Full history below.
Price guide value for a VG-NM copy: $500-$2500
http://www.rarebeatles.com/album2/discog/discog.htm
The last comparable condition copies sold on eBay for $809, $900, $560.
99p start.
This item is offered with a money back guarantee if not as described below.
Sleeve Condition: VERY GOOD.
The front of the sleeve is the original 2nd state un-peeled Butcher cover, ie. the white steamer trunk slick which at present is in very good condition. No peel has been attempted. The back cover is also in very good condition with some light discolouration, as per photos. The bottom spine is split all the way, the top spine is 2/3 split the left/writing spine has a 9cm split. Has the original yellow Capitol inner sleeve which is split on 2 sides. There are various companies which will perform a professional peel job for a reasonable fee, Blue Jayway is one of the most reputable.
Vinyl Condition, Visual: VERY GOOD.
A nice copy has some surface marks, nothing too serious.
Vinyl Condition, Audible: VERY GOOD.
Plays well with some surface noise, no noticeable clicks apart from on "I'm Only Sleeping" which has 3-4 minor clicks in the middle of the track.
Label Condition: EXCELLENT.
Capitol rainbow label. Has some light spindle marks & ring wear, otherwise mint.
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This record has been cleaned on the £1600 Lovecraft PRC 4 Mk3 record cleaning machine (google `Garrard 501 Loricraft') using L'Art du Son cleaning fluid and placed in a Nagaoka antistatic inner sleeve. Only the best for our vinyl!
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Excellent professional packaging at cost. Records are sent in a PVC sleeve with the vinyl separated from the outer sleeve. The package is then padded and sent in a heavy grade cardboard mailer.
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Our condition grading's are based on the UK 2010 Record Collector Rare Record Price Guide.
Review:
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 and the concept was compatible with their own "black humour".[4] 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".[7] 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.
In the United States, Capitol Records printed approximately 750,000 copies of "Yesterday" and Today with the same photograph as "Paperback Writer".[8] They were assembled in Capitol's four U.S. plants situated in different cities: Los Angeles, California; Scranton, Pennsylvania; Winchester, Virginia; and Jacksonville, Illinois. Copies from the various plants may be easily differentiated by examining the number 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 10 to 1, making the stereo copies far more valuable today. A small fraction of the original covers were shipped to disc jockeys and store managers as advance copies. Reaction was immediate, and Capitol received a storm of complaints from dealers. The record was immediately recalled and all copies were ordered shipped back to the record label, leading to its collectability. It has been substantiated that the record was indeed for sale in some stores, including Wallich's Music City in Hollywood and some Sears stores, in limited areas and probably for only one day.[9]
Capitol initially ordered plant managers to destroy the covers, and the Jacksonville plant delivered most of its copies to an area landfill. However, faced with so many jackets already printed, Capitol quickly changed course and decided instead to paste a much more conventional cover over the old one. The new cover, featuring a flipped picture (John's fringe was brushed in the opposite direction to that in which he usually wore it) of a less than content band posed around an open steamer trunk, had to be trimmed on the open end of the album jacket by about 1/8 inch to address problems where 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 made the rounds, people attempted, usually unsuccessfully, to peel off the pasted-over cover of their copy of the album, hoping to reveal the original image hidden below. Eventually, the soaring prices of 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 butcher cover beneath.
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 steamed or peeled off 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 to reveal the butcher image underneath. 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. In December 2005, Heritage Auction Galleries sold a sealed "first state" copy of the album at auction in Dallas for about $39,000.[10]
In 1987, then-president of Capitol Records, Alan Livingston released for sale twenty-four "first state" butcher covers from his private collection. When the original cover was scrapped in June 1966, Livingston took a case of already-sealed "Butcher" albums from the warehouse before they were to be pasted over with the new covers, and kept them in a closet at his home. These albums were first offered for sale at a Beatles convention at the Marriott Hotel near LAX on Thanksgiving weekend 1987 by Livingston's son Peter. These still-sealed pristine items, which included nineteen mono and five stereo versions, are the very rarest "pedigree" specimen "Butcher Covers" in existence. These so-called "Livingston Butchers" today command prices of $40,000 and up among collectors, the five stereo versions being the most rare and valuable of these.
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".[8] Ringo Starr has said that it was a commentary on how Capitol Records "butchered" their original albums.[citation needed] However, this opinion was not shared by all band members. George Harrison, for one, 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."[4] Capitol Records apologized for the offense. "Yesterday" and Today was the only Beatles record to lose money for Capitol.
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Postage Options:
Standard
Free Postage UK, Second Class Delivery. This
is what eBay insists we offer. You still get our proper packaging,
but sent out 2nd class, ie, untraceable, uninsured and slow. We really
don't want to send out your valuable purchase like this. We prefer
the options below that we have used for 9 years without losing 1
record.
UK, First Class Recorded Delivery: Costs: £3.00, Delivery time: 1-2 working days, Online tracking, Signature required, Insured up to £39. Multiple Purchase Discount: 2 LPs: you pay £1 less.
UK, Special Delivery: Costs: £5.00, Delivery time: next working day, Online tracking, Signature required, Insured up to £250. Multiple Purchase Discount: 2-3 LPs: you pay £8.50.
Europe, airmail, Costs: £3.50, Delivery time: 3 working days. Multiple Purchase Discount: 2 LPs: you pay £1 less.
Japan, USA, rest of world, airmail, Costs: £5.50, Delivery time: 5 working days. Multiple Purchase Discount: 2 LPs: you pay £1 less.
For airmail items worth over £30, we strongly recommend buyers pay an additional £5.00 for the International Signed For service which insures the item up to £500 and prioritises delivery.
UK Record Collector Grading System:
MINT: The record itself is in brand new condition with no surface marks or deterioration in the sound quality. The cover and any extra items such as the lyric sheet, booklet or poster are in perfect condition.
EXCELLENT (US version of this term: Near Mint): The record shows some signs of having been played, but there is very little lessening in the sound quality. The cover and packaging might have slight wear and/or creasing.
VERY GOOD (US version of this term: VG++): The record has obviously been played many times, but displays no major deterioration in sound quality, despite noticeable surface marks and the occasional light scratch. Normal wear and tear on the cover, or extra items, without any major defects, is acceptable.
GOOD (US version of this term: VG): The record has been played so much that the sound quality has noticeably deteriorated, perhaps with some distortion and mild scratches. The cover and contents suffer from folding, scuffing of edges, spine splits etc.
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