THE BEATLES B.C. -- Before Capitol

Part Three

Revised 22 Oc 06

In 1964, Vee Jay Records was under fire. They had issued Beatles records, including "Love Me Do" with wild abandon. Capitol Records won a lawsuit against them, but that didn't seem to stop Vee Jay. They were told not to issue any more new Beatles records. So they issued some old ones!

Oldies singles:

Do You Want to Know a Secret?/Thank You Girl Oldies 149
Please Please Me/From Me to You Oldies 150
Love Me Do/PS I Love You Oldies 151
Twist and Shout/There's a Place Oldies 152

All issued August 10, 1964. Red label with white Oldies logo. There are many counterfeits of these singles. Genuine copies have the Monarch Records (MR) logo in the matrix. Some counterfeits exist with black Oldies logos. Issued in standard black and red "Oldies 45" sleeves.

                                           value of each:  $50

On Aug. 12, 1964, Vee Jay issued an "old" Beatles album, a reissue of Introducing the Beatles. This album was moderately successful due to its also being sold at Beatles concerts. Albums with Beatles concert banner stickers on them are worth 50% more. The album cover featured the photo from the "I Want to Hold Your Hand" picture sleeve and the four drawings from the VJ 587 picture sleeve.

Songs, Pictures and Stories of the Fabulous Beatles Vee Jay VJLP 1092 (mono)

gatefold cover. Known fakes have no gatefold. Label styles:
black label with color band; oval logo. ($250)
black label with color band; brackets logo ($75-$120)
all black label with "VJ" ($200-$225)
all black label with oval logo ($300)
All labels bear the original title of the album.

NOTE: Counterfeits were made during the 1970's without the gatefold cover, which all genuine copies have. Some of these counterfeits list the title as Songs and Pictures of the Fabulous Beatles.

Songs, Pictures and Stories of the Fabulous Beatles Vee Jay VJLPS 1092 (stereo)

gatefold cover. Known fakes have no gatefold. Label styles:
black label with color band; oval logo. ($2000+)
black label with color band; brackets logo ($2000)
all black label with "VJ" ($2000+)
All labels bear the original title of the album. Most covers say 'stereo' at the top. If the cover has red sticker saying "stereo," add about $100. These records play in stereo and say STEREO on the label. Any copies claiming to be stereo which do not pass these tests are fakes.

On Oct. 1, 1964, Vee Jay packaged its Introducing the Beatles album together with The Golden Hits of the Four Seasons, calling the collection The Beatles Vs. The Four Seasons. The front cover featured new drawings of the Beatles and the Four Seasons, plus listings of all the songs. The back cover featured a 'scorecard'. The album was issued with a poster which featured the drawings of the Beatles from the VJ 587 picture sleeve.

Beatles vs. The Four Seasons Vee Jay VJDX-30 (mono)

black labels with color band; brackets logo. The labels list the original titles of the albums.
Several thousand copies were made.

                                            value:  $600-$800

Beatles vs. The Four Seasons Vee Jay VJDXS-30 (stereo)

black labels with color band; brackets logo. The labels list the original titles of the albums. The cover and the record labels say stereo, and the albums play in stereo.
Approximately 750 copies were made.

                                          value:  $2000

Beatles vs. The Four Seasons POSTER -- value: $250

Vee Jay also issued a promotional album featuring interviews with the Beatles and John Lennon. The album was issued commercially and was quite a success.

Hear the Beatles Tell All Vee Jay PRO-202

white label with blue print. Label reads "Promotional" and "Not For Sale." Less than 10 known copies exist.

                                                        value:  $16000+

Hear the Beatles Tell All Vee Jay PRO-202

black label with color band. Brackets logo.
Label may be found with or without the PRO prefix.

                                                        value:  $125-$150

NOTE: the above album was faked throughout the 1970's. The fakes generally had larger print than the originals. In 1979, Vee Jay reissued the album in stereo; originals were mono. Vee Jay has also issued a shaped picture disc of the album (1987). This album was Vee Jay's last ditch effort at the Beatles market. It proved to be the only album that Capitol could not control.

Capitol Takes Over

While Vee Jay Records had shut down their Beatles operations -- not being allowed to issue any records containing the Please Please Me album songs or the "From Me to You"/"Thank You Girl" songs, Vee Jay was enjoying great success with Hear the Beatles Tell All, which came out in November, 1964. When it became clear that a Beatles interview album would be popular, Capitol countered with:

Beatles' Story Capitol TBO-2222 (mono)

Two records in fold-open cover. Interviews. black rainbow label. No print in color band. Info stating "a subsidiary of Capitol Industries..." does NOT appear on the label.
Side 1 is backed with Side 4; side 2 is backed with side 3.

                                                        value: $175

Beatles' Story Capitol TBO-2222 (mono)

                                                        value: $300

Beatles Story Capitol STBO-2222 (stereo)

Two records in fold-open cover. Interviews. black rainbow label. No print in color band. Info stating "a subsidiary of Capitol Industries..." does NOT appear on the label.

                                                        value: $175

This was not the last issue of the Vee Jay material in the US. When Capitol finally gained control, they waited until their 1964 album of new songs, Beatles '65, had stopped selling. Then they issued:

The Early Beatles Capitol T-2309 (mono)

black rainbow label. No print in color band. Information stating "a subsidiary of Capitol Industries..." does NOT appear on the label.

                                                      value:  $150

The mono album does NOT feature the mono versions of the songs. The songs on this album are reduced from stereo.

The Early Beatles Capitol ST-2309 (stereo)

black rainbow label. No print in color band. Information stating "a subsidiary of Capitol Industries..." does NOT appear on the label.

                                                      value:  $110

This was essentially the Vee Jay album, with "Misery" and "There's a Place" missing.

Later, in August of 1965, Capitol issued:

Twist and Shout/There's a Place	Capitol Starline 6061
Love Me Do/PS I Love You	Capitol Starline 6062
Please Please Me/From Me to You	Capitol Starline 6063
Do You Want to Know a Secret?/Thank You Girl	Capitol Starline 6064

These and two other Starline singles issued in Oct. 1965 had green swirl labels. Value of 6061-6065: $200; value of 6066: $100
This was the full set of Oldies singles issued by Vee Jay. These were removed from the catalog on December 31, 1965, but some time in 1972, the singles were reissued onto Capitol's target label with "C" logo. Again they were quickly deleted.

NOTE: Apparently, Capitol never requested the mono versions of the songs previously issued by Vee Jay. Even on the singles (notably on "Please Please Me" and "From Me to You," the song versions are the stereo mixes combined into mono). Consequently, the mono mix of "Please Please Me" (with a different third verse) and the mono mix of "From Me to You" (with harmonica during the intro) went out of print in the United States for many years after Vee Jay stopped releasing Beatles records.

The Fakes Begin

While Vee Jay and Swan were still producing Beatles records, there was certainly no need for anyone to make "pirate," "counterfeit," or "fantasy" records on those labels. However, during the late 1960's demand arose for Beatles records on those two labels. Counterfeiters filled that void, making knock-off copies of Introducing the Beatles and of the Swan "She Loves You" single. The 1970's and '80's saw even more counterfeits being circulated.

Continue to a page on Counterfeit Vee Jay and Swan items.

Twenty years later, Capitol reissued "Twist and Shout"/"There's a Place" in stereo, in association with the film Ferris Bueller's Day Off, in which the a-side was featured. The single nearly made it into the top 20.

Twist and Shout/There's a Place Capitol PB-5624

white label promo.

                                                      value: $12

Twist and Shout/There's a Place Capitol B-5624

black rainbow label

                                                      value:  $3

This was reissued on the 'new purple label' in 1987.

Some may mention that I have omitted the MGM release of "My Bonnie." This is found in the Beatles with Tony Sheridan article, along with the other 2 MGM Beatles/Sheridan songs and the 4 Sheridan/ Beatles songs issued by Atco. The colorful association of the Beatles with Vee Jay (and Swan) often confuses the collector/fan. If Beatles fans complain that the EMI affiliates cannibalized the Beatles' records, no one did a better and more successful job at that than Vee Jay. Deprived of their chance for success before Beatlemania, they got every dime out of the Beatles in the year that followed.

What might it have been like had Vee Jay been able to pay their royalties? Might Vee Jay and not Capitol have become the company in the United States with "first refusal" over Beatles recordings? It's possible...but we'll never know. Maybe they would have been rescued from bankruptcy, issuing every Beatles record from With the Beatles through Let It Be. Or maybe not.

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