Miss-labelled and miss-pressed Canadian Beatles' vinyl, labels and covers.

In the 1960's and 1970's record pressing plants were industrial manufacturing operations which turned out millions of records. Given the output it was inevitable that occasional production errors such as miss-labelled and miss-pressed discs as well as label and cover errors occurred.  Sometimes errors were quickly caught resulting in "one offs" while at other times a number of errors made it out of the factory and into the hands of buyers. 

Examples of label errors can be found on a variety of Canadian pressed Beatles L.P.'s and 45 RPM., both original pressings and reissues.  The most common are print errors or omissions on label text or covers, followed by pressing errors with identical labels affixed to both sides of the disc.  In other cases severely misaligned labels are applied and less commonly one label is applied on top of another.  In rare instances missing labels or labels missing colours and/or text occur. 

Original Canadian pressings of "Love Me Do", "All My Loving", "Eight Days A week" and "All You Need is Love" have been found with the same label on both sides.

On some copies of the 1978 Canadian reissue of Abbey Road on the 3rd purple label the title on the label reads "Abby Road" instead of "Abbey Road".

George Martin's 1964 Canadian United Artists instrumental release  that featured an a-side of "Ringo's Theme" (This Boy) was credited on the initial release to The Beatles.  On subsequent pressings the credit was corrected to credit George Martin making the initial pressing attractive to collectors. A near mint copy of the initial pressing has a value of approximately $50.

Values for label error "Ringo's Theme"  

   

While the errors noted above are unusual most are more of an interesting curiosity than a desirable collectible.  Exceptions are when text or print errors are significant or when they distinguish between pressings.  For example, on the earliest Sgt. Pepper pressing the song title "With A Little Help From My Friends" is written incorrectly on the label as "A Little Help From My Friends".  In this case the error in the title indicates an earliest pressing and adds to the desirability and valuation.  Depending on the significance, errors can result in a premium valuation over the  standard pressing.

On some 1967 black rainbow pressings and on some Capitol target green label pressings of Beatles VI a noticeable print error occured on the back cover.  While there should be five images of Canadian albums on the back three are missing leaving only "Beatles 65" and "Something New". This album is hard to find and very collectible. 

Pressing errors are very different than label errors and do attract collector interest.  Examples of Canadian pressing errors:   

• Some copies of Apple 2654 "Come Together/Something" were pressed with "Come Together" on the A-side rather than "Something".  Probably several hundred of these were pressed before the mistake was noticed and corrected.  In this example both the pressing and the labels were incorrect.  This is probably the best known Canadian pressing/label error. A copy in excellent to near mint condition in a "Beatles on Apple" white sleeve has a value of approximately $150.   

• In 1978 Capitol of Canada reissued the "White album" in white vinyl.  At least one copy is known to exist were side 1 of the disc plays side 1 from the "Love Songs" album with all labels correct. 

• In 1977 Capitol of Canada released the "Love Songs" double L.P. At least one copy is known to exist were side 4 is pressed on two sides with all labels correct. 

As pressing errors can be one-offs and rarely come up for sale it is difficult to assign a value.