This post is in response to a recent query and then a few before that. And this is also for the hard-core collectors of Canadian first pressings of Beatles vinyl.
To date we have documented a small number of June 1963 copies of Capitol 72101 with the Northern Songs Ltd. credit on the B side and the Ambassador Music Ltd. credit on the A side. We have also documented two no-dash copy so far with Northern Songs Ltd. on both sides and one of this copy is currently on display at the Beatles In Montreal exhibit (THE EXHIBIT IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!), while the other was originally given to a Québec Radio/TV station in the early 1960s.
The music publishing credits printed on the label are an essential way of documenting the chronology of pressings of the early Canadian Beatles 45s on Capitol, between February 1963 and February 1964.
We have covered all of the detailed music publishing credits for Capitol 72101 From Me To You / Thank You Girl, including the simultaneous and more popular Del Shannon version on Quality over pages 161, 162 and 163 in the Beatles Canadian Discography Part 3 book which came out in 2011.
We are unable to reproduce all of those pages here, but we can summarize by saying that all 1963 first pressings show Northern Songs Ltd. as the B-side credit and that almost all of these verified 1963 copies have Ambassador Music Ltd. on the A-side.
Any copies that show Northern Songs Ltd. on both sides of a no-dash 72101 were either from the beginning of the initial run in 1963, or from the initial re-pressing from early 1964.
As stated above, only two copies like this has been documented so far and one has the number 25 written in pen ink on the bottom right hand corner of the A label, while the other has a Québec City Radio/TV station sticker on one side.
So here we are now presenting two differing CASES to help explain this one very odd and highly collectable copy:
The case for 1963 would entail an error on the set up of the A side credit which was then quickly corrected. That would surely explain why there is just two copies documented with Northern Songs Ltd. on both the A side and B side.
The case for early 1964 is that Capitol 72125 She Loves You 45 from September 1963 also shows Northern Songs Ltd. on both sides and it is possible that the early 1964 first re-press of 72101 copied those credits for both sides, as both 72101 and 72125 discs were being re-pressed by RCA Victor at the very same time in early 1964.
There are good arguments for either case above, so we cannot rule one of them out just yet, and further information will be required to do that. And we don't yet have a time machine - but one is on order.
The bottom line for Canadian Beatles 45 collectors is that all Ambassador Music Ltd. / Northern Songs Ltd. no-dash copies are indeed 1963 copies from the initial run of 1,000 copies.
That was documented on page 13 of The Beatles Canadian Discography Part 1 book (45s) in 2004 and there is no reason yet to believe that is not still the case.