Wings - Wild Wonders

ⓘ This lostwave is classified as unsolved.
Wings - Wild Wonders
Year	c. 1988
Status	Partially identified
Original poster	Scott Belmer
Search started	2001
Search community	Various

"Wings - Wild Wonders" is a bootleg tape of supposed Paul McCartney & Wings tracks, which is actually not by them. In the 1980s, bootleggers attributed these songs to "authentic" Wings studio outtakes, later referred to as 'outfakes' by Beatles collectors. These songs are wrongly attributed to different artists or bands without their knowledge, likely to promote sales of the tape to collectors.

Based on the identified songs, it is believed that all of the songs on the album were recorded in the late 1970s and early 1980s and aired on the Long Island radio station WBAB 102.3, possibly by Long Island, New York bands. Three of the songs on the tape were bootleg recordings of demo submissions for the station's Homegrown Hour show, which was dedicated to promoting local acts.

History

Since 1988, bootleg tapes titled "Wings - Wild Wonders" have circulated among Beatles tape collectors. Scott Belmer, an author, reviewed each track on the audio tape in his 1988 newsletter Belmo's Beatleg News, and the songs are thought to be genuine. In 1989, L.R.E. King' mentioned the tape in his bookFixing A Hole: A Second Look At The Beatles' Unauthorized Recordings, and first theorized that the bootleggers purposefully distorted the audio to conceal the fact that Paul McCartney was not singing on them.

In 2001, Randwolf2 launched 'The Beatles Tapes' in 2001, a website that catalogs and debunks recordings purported to be unreleased Beatles material. He classified the Wild Wonders tracks as outfakes. Later, he featured the second song from the tape, "Please Come Home," in his sixth downloadable album, 'LIES - VOLUME 6'.

On July 13th, 2018, the full album was uploaded to Youtube for the first time by user BeatlesBootlegs9. The search peaked in popularity in 2023 with YouTube users Antonio's Remastered Works, Beyond Obscure and Spade uploading restorations that brought popularity to the search.

Songs

1) Signs Of Love (Status - Unsolved)

A 6 and a half minute long instrumental funk/jazz track. No leads have been found, and it remains unlikely that this song will be discovered through investigation if the song title was changed.

2) Please Come Home (Status - Unsolved)

A fan favorite from the album, this funk-rock song is one of the few songs on the album in which the singer can be heard clearly. Debunked leads found through the Cocatalog copyright database include Ralph J Weeks and Arnold Worsley , while unconfirmed leads include Dave Schachne, and Bruce & Jan Fields.

3) The Best Is Yet To Come (Status - Unsolved)

A funk/soul song with indiscernible lyrics due to extremely high bass distortion, with the only identifiable line being the chorus, which only contains the song's title. The only known lead was discovered through the Cocatalog database, klezmer musician and Long Island resident Jonathan Dinkin, but the lead has since gone cold due to an inability to contact him.

4) Go For The Beer (Status - Unsolved)

A hard rock song with disputed lyrics, with some listeners hearing "Go for the feels" in the chorus. No leads have been found.

5 & 6) Lookin' Into Love/Shake Up Your Engines - Neal Ferraro and Len Rothberg (Status - Solved)

Long Island musicians Neal Ferraro and Len Rothberg recorded the country-rock song Lookin' Into Love and the pop-rock song Shake Up Your Engines in 1977.

On July 13th, 2023, a copyright entry for a song titled 'Lookin' Into Love' was discovered in Cocatalog and found by YouTube user BaroneseBon. Upon contacting Ferraro, he confirmed the song's ownership and provided a high quality recording of the song and 'Shake Up Your Engines', another song from the album.

The songs were recorded in 1977 at Kingdom Sound in Syosset, New York and submitted to RCA Records in Nashville. RCA initially expressed interest in having the group record for them, but ultimately passed on them. Both songs were also submitted to radio contests in the late '70s, such as WBAB 102.3's Homegrown Hour show, which may have been the source from which bootleggers stole the song.

7) Need A Guarantee Of Love (If It's Me You're Thinking Of) (Status - Unsolved)

A rock song which the bootleggers provided two titles for, and has clear vocals. No leads have been found.

8) Runaway Teenager (Status - Unsolved)

An instrumental and the album's shortest track, lasting less than 90 seconds, and has been compared to stock music or a movie OST. No leads have been found

9) Jimmy Takes A Ride (Status - Unsolved)

A hard rock song with extremely heavy distortion, making it difficult to make out any of the lyrics. A possible lead has been discovered through the Cocatalog database, "Ginny, Take a Ride" by Gary Pagano and Steven Sollog. This lead is strengthened by the fact that Pagano and Sollog were from Long Island and played in a band called the Sheiks, who were confirmed to have aired alongside Neal Ferraro on Long Island radio.

10) Relax In Red (Demo) - X-Offender (Status - Solved)

Relax In Red, previously known as “Relax In Bed", is a new wave song by X-Offender, released in 1986 and solved in 2012. Louis Portela, lead singer and bassist for X-Offender, has explained that the bootleggers' version of Relax In Red was an earlier live recording at Record-O-Mat studios, NY, submitted to WBAB 102.3 station's Homegrown Hour show, while the official release features a more polished final take.

References

• Remastered version of the album