Exactly, slholzer. Unsurprisingly, matrix numbers of Part 1 and Part 2 are actually not in reverse order. Part 1 has FM 145 and Part 2 has FM 146. The only thing is that "There's Something On Your Mind, Part 2" was the hit side, what should be irrelevant for the database though. I'll change the order to the original one for here (and later possibly for 45cat, too).
If the issuing company, for whatever reason, did not see fit to assign side designations, the attempt to assign them for them is a hollow exercise. What you have is "one side" and "another side". and that is all you will ever have, regardless of what rules you establish for which side we choose to call A and which we choose to call B. Whatever those rules may be, you can't be certain that any given person you meet will have any awareness of them, or, for that matter, any respect for them. Most people will insist on calling the first side they talk about the A side, leaving the remaining side, by default, the B side, even in direct contradiction of the side designations that are actually on the record. For this reason, I never accept anybody's side designation as discographical "data" unless I've seen it on the label.
It is useful when preparing label lists to have something to put in the side designation slot. The side designation allows you to model the disc in a database with a minimum of effort and a maximum of accuracy. The only essential characteristic for a side designation is that the two sides be identified differently. If you can think of more ways you might want to sort sides than one from the other, you might create a more complex system, but I have never had the need. Whenever possible, I retain the side designations assigned by the issuer. They are historical fact and should be preserved. If there are none, I default to front and reverse. It doesn't matter which is which, I really don't care. I don't do the A side/B side thing. There's so much baggage associated with that now that I just choose not to go there..
Finally, what is more useless than an A or B side on a disc that is one continuous piece of music, already split into parts 1 and 2 and so labelled that it can be audited sensibly in its proper order? Does it matter if Part 1's mx is higher than part 2's, as I have sometimes seen?Will it mean anything if you assign the A side to Part 2? Or if you decline to?
Oh, well, "Not my circus, not my monkeys". If there rules for assigning A and B sides that I need to know, can somebody point me to where they are? . I'm a new kid here, and I hate being ignorant