Perhaps “Yesterday…and Today” was Capitol’s most outrageous Frankenstein creation yet. Paring together leftover tracks from the Beatles’ previous two albums, “Help” and “Rubber Soul,” then culling a few tracks from their upcoming release “Revolver”, it was a bastardization of gigantic proportion that should have had no continuity whatsoever.

The original cover of the band wearing butcher’s smocks and littered with torn-up dolls could have been a perfect photographic representation of the hack job contained inside, but despite Capitol’s best efforts to thwart the success of their most successful act, the album is actually pretty great. Yes, it’s very apparent that “Yesterday” is an uncomfortable fit next to “Doctor Robert”, but the package works quite well simply because the material itself is undeniable.

In short order, the cover would be deleted, replaced with a bland shot of the boys posing around a packing trunk. Much later, the album itself would be deleted, obsoleted by the cd era, and the wise choice to exclusively utilize the band’s English releases. Meanwhile, from 1966 until 1988, this album was a staple of the Beatles catalog in the U.S.

Featured tracks include;

1) Drive My Car

2) I’m Only Sleeping

3) Nowhere Man

4) Doctor Robert

5) Yesterday

6) Act Naturally

7) And Your Bird Can Sing

8) If I Needed Someone

9) We Can Work It Out

10) What Goes On

11) Day Tripper

12) Paper Back Writer (bonus)

13) Rain (bonus)

June 1966 - Billboard Charted #1