The butcher cover: the story of The Beatles' most controversial sleeve art

Having spent the first half of their career being airbrushed for mass appeal, in 1966 The Beatles started to put noses out of joint on a grand scale. First there was Lennon’s ‘bigger than Jesus’ quote. A few months later came the notorious – and quickly aborted – cover of 1966’s odds-and-sods album for the US market, Yesterday And Today.

For the latter, Robert Whitaker can take both the credit and the criticism. As the Beatles’ favoured photographer since a chance meeting in Australia in 1964, he was trusted by the band, and sufficiently confident to make bolder suggestions than the standard ‘four-in-a-row’ photo shoot when they arrived at his Chelsea studio on March 25, 1966.

Source: Classic Rock Magazine/loudersound.com

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