Canada holds a special place in the Beatles story outside of the UK. With its strong ties to the UK, Canada released a series of records before Capitol USA decided to climb on board. While Capitol's American head office kept turning the group down through 1963, Capitol Records of Canada made its move first; Love Me Do (Capitol 72076) reached Canadian stores on February 18, 1963, the first record issued anywhere in North America credited to The Beatles, and almost a full year before the explosion of Beatlemania in the United States.
Paul White, Capitol of Canada's A&R man, saw potential in the Beatles' first single sent over by the British head office in January 1963 and decided to release it here, understanding that a market with strong ties to the UK would be interested in this new sound coming from across the pond. Realistically, the early singles made little impression at first, but Canada was nonetheless introduced to the Beatles (before the USA). Love Me Do, Please Please Me and From Me To You all came and went with modest sales, but Capitol of Canada kept releasing each new single, convinced the group had something worth hearing. The turn came with their fourth Canadian single, She Loves You (Capitol 72125), issued on September 16, 1963. It too was slow to catch on at first, yet once radio embraced it late in the year it became the first Beatles record to chart in Canada, climbing through December and into 1964 to reach number one. That breakthrough, along with the first Beatles album released anywhere in North America, Beatlemania! With the Beatles in December 1963 (before VJ's Introducing the Beatles in the USA), all happened before the group's famous Ed Sullivan appearance in February 1964 that set off the historical frenzy across North America. (source: P. Hemmingsen, The Beatles’ Canadian Discography part. 1)
Because Canada started early and pressed its own records, the catalogue here grew in its own direction at first, before it was "forced" to align with the USA catalogue. Capitol of Canada assembled albums and singles that existed nowhere else, drawing on the British master tapes to build releases shaped for the Canadian market. This section gathers those unique releases, designed, compiled and manufactured here. The next section features unique Canadian variations of releases from the UK and the USA.
This section lists variations that are unique to Canada. Unlike the releases above, these were not Canadian by design: the albums and singles came from the British and American catalogues, but they were manufactured here, and Canadian plants gave them their own twist. A different label, a local sleeve, a format that was issued nowhere else, or a unique mix is what makes up this selection of twists on well-known releases, all available only in Canada.
Many Canadian items are unique, desirable and sometimes relatively scarce (see sections above), but a few specific variations are considered to be quite difficult (even impossible) to find today. Below is a list of the top want list items, or "Holy Grails" from the Canadian catalogue.
