Vinyl Nostalgia 
While in Sicily at the end of May 2026, I went in search of interesting records at the weekly Sunday flea market in Catania, known as the Mercatino delle Pulci. It’s not a large antiques fair, though it’s beautifully situated. The stalls stretch along the historic city walls (under the railway arches – Archi della Marina) and around the Giardino Pacini park. There, I came across a rare copy of the export version of the single „Love Me Do” by the small American label Tollie.
The appearance of these records in Europe is little known. In 1964, a number of Vee Jay and Tollie singles were imported to Italy by the Milan-based company Bluebell Records. Four Beatles singles were released in Italy this way, and three of them received locally printed covers bearing the words „DICO IMPORTATO DAGLI U.S.A.” and the oval Bluebell logo. Interestingly, SP Twist And Shout (T9001) was never released in the US with a photo (or image) cover, which was the case in Italy. The only single to reach Italian audiences in exactly the same condition as it did overseas was „Love Me Do.”
Bluebell Records was an Italian independent record label founded in 1959 by Antonio Casetta. It operated from 1959 to 1969, alongside other labels such as Mini Rec and Belldisc, as part of the Belldisc S.p.A. group. In 1969, these labels merged to form a new label known as Produttori Associati.
Tollie Records, on the other hand, was a record label that operated for only a year. It was founded in February 1964 as a sub-label of Vee-Jay Records and closed in May 1965. During this short period, it gained fame by releasing singles by The Beatles, including one truly remarkable single: „Love Me Do,” which featured the album version of the title song (with Andy White on drums). While other SP pressings featured Ringo Starr on drums, the Tollie single was the only such 7-inch release featuring Ringo playing only the tambourine. The presence of this instrument, in fact, allows us to identify which recording we’re dealing with.
Importantly, Vee-Jay didn’t press its own records. Instead, the company outsourced production by sending metal parts to regional factories. The records were then shipped directly from these pressing plants to distributors, who in turn sent them to retailers and other distributors. This led to a number of different production variants with different master numbers and label versions.
The copy of Love Me Do that I came across was most likely pressed by Columbia Records in Terre Haute, Indiana, as indicated by the presence of the initials „URJ” imprinted in the run-out field (on side B). Since the additional letters MR are missing, I assume the album likely didn’t come from Monarch Records, a company often used by Vee-Jay.
Since the cover and label of the Italian distribution of Love Me Do are identical to those released in the US, the only identifying mark may be the blue BIEM sticker.
Yoko Ono identifies at least six variants (including five yellow ones) of the Tollie labels used on Beatles singles produced by this label. Numerous counterfeits also appeared on the market, but none of them had the exact label version I managed to purchase in Catania. According to Yono’s classification, this is a T-9008 type-4 variant, which has black printing on a yellow label with the words „TOLLIE” and „RECORDS” in a box. The letter „E” in „TOLLIE” has a curved shape, which, to my knowledge, is completely unheard of on counterfeit pressings.
The cover of my copy is unfortunately in rather poor condition after 62 years of use, but I suspect it will be very difficult to find a copy in anything above G+ condition, assuming it’s actually been used. Every so often, this single comes up on the secondary market with an EX or even NM vinyl, but only because the person who bought it shelved it and never played it, or only once or twice.
The cover is exactly the same on both sides and has no local Italian additions.
And one more thing. My copy of Tollie’s Love Me Do, only has matrix number on the B side (63-3189 URJ), but this is consistent with the variants recorded for this release on Discogs. There are copies of this single known without master number on the A side.
