E.P. - The Beatles Hits

The Beatles


The Beatles Hits - Front Cover	The Beatles Hits - Rear Cover

Label

Parlophone

Catalogue No.

GEP 8880

Country of Origin

England

Release Date

6th September 1963

U.K. E.P. Chart Detail :

Entry Date :	21st September 1963
Highest Position :	1 ... for 3 weeks ... from the 2nd November 1963.
Weeks in Chart :	43 Weeks !

The Tracks :

Side 1		Side 2
From Me To You		Please Please Me
Thank You Girl		Love Me Do

Detail :

The Beatles second official E.P.

This second E.P. contained the first three hits and one B-side, and interrupted the run at No.1 of "Twist And Shout".
"Please Please Me" is the original single version (eg, without "the mistake"), and "Love Me Do" is the album version.
ALL tracks are attributed as writers to ... "McCartney - Lennon".
"The Beatles Hits" also reached the standard singles charts reaching No.14 in an 18 week long stay.
The cover shot is just an early 1963 publicity photo which lacks the spontaneity of the previous release.
Finally, how do you spot original pressings ?
The typeface on more recent issues is both more modern and smaller than on the originals, while the actual catalogue number was actually BIGGER on originals.
Around the edge of the label, the words stating the rights of the publishers started with "The Parlophone Co. Ltd." and the date on the label is shown as "Recording First Published 1963".
Post 1965 pressings have across the press-out centres the words, "sold in U.K. subject to resale price conditions, see price lists", the rights start with "The Gramophone Co. Ltd.", and the date is not preceded with "Recording First Published", but instead has a circled "P".
Re-pressings were also made in the 1970's, these do NOT have across the press-out centres the words, "sold in U.K. subject to resale price conditions, see price lists".
See below for a first pressing and an example of a 70's issue !!

The sleeve also has marked differences. For starters (surprisingly !) the quality of new editions is worse, which suggests that EMI copied old sleeves rather than the actual photos ! ... I could demonstrate this with my copy of "A Hard Days Night", I have an original and a newer edition, and it is astonishing how much worse the newer one is !
Next, look out for the edges of the fold of the front cover onto the back. The edges of the fold used to be curved, now they are sharp, straight.
Finally, the fold itself is no longer laminated, and the cover itself feels thinner than before.


First Pressing - Label	Seventies Pressing - Label