Return To Pepperland
posted June 22, 2023 #
For super fans, I am sure this is very old news but I just recently stumbled on the "lost" Paul McCartney album Return to Pepperland. As the lore tells it, McCartney was dealing with a bit of a funk in his late 80's solo career and decided to work up some songs in tribute to the 20th anniversary of Sgt Peppers. He connected with producer Phil Ramone and recorded a bunch of tracks, including the titular "Return to Pepperland" and a mash-up of The Beatles "Love Me Do" and "PS I Love You" entitled "
Like a lot of lost albums, there's a lot of speculation and connecting dots. I've no idea what the motivation behind the album was or if the tracks associated with the record were actually ever intended to be some grand Sgt Peppers tribute. What I do know is that there are some very entertaining bootlegs on Youtube that compile a lot of these tracks into a possible album.
The title track is quite good and some of the deeper album cuts - like "I Love This House" - are not at all what you'd associate with the McCartney sound.
McCartney fandom requires a ton of research. I'm not sure I'm ready to take that deep dive myself but I am endorsing dipping your toes in on this one.
Like a lot of lost albums, there's a lot of speculation and connecting dots. I've no idea what the motivation behind the album was or if the tracks associated with the record were actually ever intended to be some grand Sgt Peppers tribute. What I do know is that there are some very entertaining bootlegs on Youtube that compile a lot of these tracks into a possible album.
The title track is quite good and some of the deeper album cuts - like "I Love This House" - are not at all what you'd associate with the McCartney sound.
McCartney fandom requires a ton of research. I'm not sure I'm ready to take that deep dive myself but I am endorsing dipping your toes in on this one.