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The Beatles - Yesterday and Today CD (album) cover

YESTERDAY AND TODAY

The Beatles

Proto-Prog


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Evolver
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR
Crossover & JR/F/Canterbury Teams
3 stars By this time in their careers, The Beatles thought that they had enough influence over their art that they could make the cover of this album a statement about what Capitol Records was doing to their records in the United States. At least that was one story at the time. The other was that they were making a statement about the Vietnam war. Hence the "butchered babies" cover shown here with the entry in PA (I commend the choice). Advance copies of the album were shipped with this cover, and prudes were shocked. The album was recalled, and rereleased with a much m,ore innocuous cover (some just pasted over the original).

Nonetheless, since the majority of the songs on this collection were taken from the British releases of Rubber Soul and Revolver, the songs actually show The Beatles turning into a progressive (for the time - this was still 1966) band. And thus, it's not a bad collection.

I would still recommend getting the original British releases of the albums for the full experience. Hence, only three stars. Five if you have the cover shown.

Report this review (#293623)
Posted Friday, August 6, 2010 | Review Permalink
AtomicCrimsonRush
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR
Honorary Collaborator
3 stars Baby butchering Beatles really shocked the masses when this hit the stands in 1966. It was a joke for The Beatles but the industry did not see the funny side of it. Such was the massive impact that the seismic shock waves sent shudders through main music corporations who pulled the cover as soon as they could and replaced it with a hastily manufactured alternative, actually pasting a poorly designed cover over the offensive image. However, the cover, and the story behind it, makes this a definitive collector's rarity and it is worth grabbing if you see it for that reason. Perhaps the image is tame by today's standards but it was not often in the 60s you would see images of decapitated babies, and meat dangling over the Beatles like the remains of toddlers in the war zone, or is it the music industry critics being churned up in the meat grinder. Nevertheless, the statement was made and it has since become one of the iconic images of Beatles folklore.

The music is not as special as it is a rehashed compilation from "Rubber Soul" and "Revolver" in essence, and they are good songs. There are some great tracks as always, the car anthem, Drive My Car, the nomad anthem, Nowhere Man, and Paul's ballad of a time gone by, Yesterday. And Your Bird Can Sing is a raucous jangly riffy thing I always liked, and I enjoy the heart pounding We Can Work It Out. The riff of Day Tripper was as good as it got back in the 60s and overall all the songs work well together on this compilation. It deserves 3 stars for the music but the original cover makes this a priceless artifact.

Report this review (#399489)
Posted Saturday, February 12, 2011 | Review Permalink

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