Released June 1966
It was time for another USA-only album, and this one did about as good a job of picking from the many excellent songs available as it could. But they poached three songs from the not-yet released "Revolver" album, which meant that record executives were already desecrating an album while the Beatles were still working on it. That crossed the line of tolerable tampering.
So to show their displeasure and flex their artistic freedom, the Beatles commissioned the infamous "butcher cover" for the "Yesterday and Today" album.
Soon after that, Capitol Records retaliated again by removing the butcher album covers from the stores and replacing them with innocuous non-offensive sleeves.
But what still needs to be done is to remove the offending songs, "I'm Only Sleeping", "And Your Bird Can Sing" and "Dr. Robert" from the album, so that the integrity of the then-upcoming "Revolver" album can be kept intact. These can be ably replaced by the then-current single, "Paperback Writer" / "Rain" and by two other songs which were previously rejected during the "Help!" sessions and never released until three decades later on the 1996 "Anthology 2" album, "That Means a Lot" and "If You've Got Trouble".
Another song that fits in chronologically, if not musically, is "I'm Down". Astonishingly, it was recorded during the same session as "Yesterday" - two songs which could hardly be more different. Obviously, the Beatles didn't know what to do with it at the time, but this album is the best place for it, where the contrast can be highlighted to best advantage.
Overall, this album is solid if not particularly consistent. It starts with a winner, "Drive My Car", a hard rocker which proved its value as an opener on the British "Rubber Soul" album. From there, it's somewhat top-heavy with Ringo vocals - "Act Naturally" which never really fit the "Help!" album, "What Goes On" which never really fit "Rubber Soul" and (on this rebooted version) "If You've Got Trouble" which never fit or was even heard anywhere. Good old Ringo fits in by not fitting in.
In effect, the whole album makes a virtue of not fitting in. And it finally makes a home for the unique and ever-popular "Yesterday" for Paul and string quartet. Unique, that is, until "Revolver" which outdoes the Paul and strings thing with "Eleanor Rigby" in a way that's not just unique for the Beatles, but for all music.
It's worth clearing the way on "Yesterday and Today" so that "Revolver" could achieve such a special status and more.
1 - Drive My Car
2 - If You've Got Trouble - from "Anthology 2"
3 - Nowhere Man
4 - Rain - from concurrent single
5 - Yesterday
6 - Act Naturally (Johnny Russell / Voni Morrison)
7 - I'm Down - from B-Side of "Help!"
8 - Paperback Writer - from concurrent single
9 - That Means a Lot - from "Anthology 2"
10 - If I Needed Someone (George Harrison)
11 - We Can Work It Out
12 - What Goes On
13 - Day Tripper
(all songs Lennon / McCartney except as indicated)
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