Revisionist album cover art:

With the release of the Beatles' CAPITOL ALBUMS VOLUME TWO boxed set, I thought you'd like this disheartening news, from the WASHINGTON POST online edition's excellent CELEBRITOLOGY blog.

Peruse the comments for MY comment on this little story. It was #19 last time I checked.

Addendum (4-18-06): Capitol used this same picture on the cover of the group's "Real Love" 45-CD5 a few years back... on that cover, Ringo's cigarette was ALSO airbrushed out. On that cover, though, the airbrushing was a little more careful and didn't amputate two of his fingers.

If you look at that cover really closely, you can see the shadow of the cigarette on his fingers, even though the cigarette itself is missing. I'll try to post a scan sometime.