The Beatles album, Yesterday and Today was nothing out of the ordinary. What was shocking was the album cover that has since then been famous as the ‘butcher’ cover. It was called so because the cover showed The Beatles in white coats draped with dismembered body parts of dolls, raw meat and false teeth.
The image was not well taken by the dealers who were sent the advance copies for evaluation. The copies were immediately called back, and within 5 days, a new cover was pasted over the original one, known as the ‘truck’ cover.
Why Do It
The Beatles’ fans are not unaware of this story. Infact, the original cover are now a rarity and most sought-after by the collectors. They can fetch a huge price in the market. This has led many people to try to peel off the ‘trunk’ cover to reveal the ‘butcher’ cover.
Till date, people have been peeling of the paste-over cover. The most sought after are never been covered version, followed by the second state unpeeled version and then the peeled ones. If the pasted-over cover is peeled off properly, the resulting butcher cover can get you a lot of money.
How to Do It
Over the years, complex techniques have evolved to peel of the butcher cover. One must determine the condition of the cover before attempting to peel it. If the cover has had water or any liquid spill on it, then peeling it will ruin the cover.
In order to peel off the trunk cover, use an 8 inch strip of masking tape and apply it to the cover. Now gently remove the tape and the trunk cover will come up with it. Repeat the step to get all the trunk cover removed.
As for the glue, check the number on the lower left of the back cover. 1 or 2 for pressed in Jacksonville, 5 or 6 for pressed in L.A. and 12 or 13 for pressed in Scranton. 1, 2, 5 and 6 used alcohol soluble glue. Thus, use isopropyl alcohol to peel off the cover with glue. 12 and 13 used different glue not soluble with alcohol. Use saliva, only thing that will work, to remove the glue.
Use the solvent (alcohol or saliva) cautiously as the glue is ages old making it hard and crusty. Cover one square inch at a time to moist the glue and then with your fingernails, lightly scrape the paper and the glue. Continue this to completely peel the cover and remove the glue.
Be careful in peeling off the cover and you are sure to redeem the benefits out of it.
