Please Please Me /
Ask Me Why

45.72090.2.1 would be the brackets reissue variation that would have been produced in the wake of the 1967 series of brackets reissues of the back catalogue. This variation would be recognized by it brackets around the word (CANADA) in the perimeter print.

This variation has yet to be confirmed, as no copy has surfaced to date.

Availability

This variation (if confirmed) would have technically been available after November 1966, until 1969.

General Information

In mid 1966 (around July-August), Capitol of Canada was reincorporated as "Capitol Records (CANADA)". All releases from that point on would have updated legal text on both sleeves and record labels. This change can be found as early as July / August 1966 (see Revolver and the Yellow Submarine in August, for example).

Unsurprisingly, Capitol kept reissuing their back catalogue as needed under these new labels, but also saw it as an opportune moment to select the titles that would remain available in the catalogue (de facto removing selected titles from the roster). Around 1967, Capitol also repressed a bunch of earlier singles on the new swirl with brackets label. As per Piers Hemmingsen's Blue Book, a November 1966 capitol pamphlet lists all the Beatles titles that remained available for order, which included this variation.

Image Source: Piers Hemmingsen's Blue Book

The catalogue pamphlet above lists the following 72000 singles as "still actively available" in November 1966. (the bold titles have been confirmed and documented):

• ● Love Me Do / P.S. I Love You

• ● Please Please Me / Ask Me Why

• ● From Me To You / Thank You Girl

• ● She Loves You / I'll Get You

• ● Roll over Beethoven / Please Mister Postman

• ● All My Loving / This Boy

• ● Twist And Shout / There's A Place

• ● Do You Want To Know A Secret / Thank You Girl

The first three titles have yet to be confirmed, and curiously, the last title (Do You Want To Know A Secret) was kept active in favour of Sie Liebt Dich, even though it was not a very good seller.

So, in light of these documents, this title was therefore technically available for a repress on the brackets label, but no copy has surfaced to date. Being available did not mean it was actually repressed, but it was an active title that could have been if needed.

Capitol might, for example, still have had high enough quantities of leftover old stock copies at the warehouse to pick from, well after 1966. Using up these dormant copies would have made sense before considering investing in a new batch of pressings (why throw away perfectly good copies just because there were no brackets in the legal text...).

If you own a brackets copy of this title, please contact the authors.

Pressing Information

45.72090.2.1 would have been made from the same master as previous pressings, and would therefore have identical matrix numbers, but this is speculative since no copy has surfaced to date.

Sleeve

1967 copies would have been sold in a generic sideways Capitol sleeve: