What’s inside the ‘Jacaranda Edition’ of Paul McCartney’s new album

Paul McCartney’s latest album The Boys of Dungeon Lane is, without sounding cliche, a love letter to the city of Liverpool. Themed around a road in Speke, the record is an introspective on the 83-year-olds upbringing in South Liverpool. 

One venue that holds a particularly strong place in the heart of McCartney is the Jacaranda Club. Situated on Slater Street, ‘The Jac’ was opened in 1958 by then Beatles manager Allan Williams, before the club witnessed the debut of ‘The Fab Four’ in August 1960.

To mark the special occasion of McCartney’s first new music since 2020, the Jacaranda has been transformed into a shrine of the man himself, taking on the new temporary moniker of ‘The Maccaranda’ and serving Paul’s signature cocktail ‘The Maccarita’ an orange twist on a classic Margarita. The Boys of Dungeon Lane has also been blessed with a limited edition version of the album celebrating the Beatles first performance venue. Before it sold out in just two days, we put our money down and secured a copy, and we’re going to open it and show you what’s inside.

Immediately the album has a different outer to the standard edition, Jacaranda has curated a number of albums from artists such as Jamie Webster, Keyside and The Stone Roses prior to this one. They all feature a blue cardboard jacket with a black paper insert naming the artist and album tucked behind it. The Boys of Dungeon Lane is the seventh edition of the Jacaranda’s collection of special editions, Ringo Starr’s album Long Long Road was the fourth, and they’re all becoming increasingly hard to get a hold of.

After removing the blue jacket and the black insert, you’re greeted with the album as sold as standard featuring an embossed street sign for Dungeon Lane front and centre, and a copy of Paul’s signature in the bottom right-hand corner. Inside the sleeve is an incredibly nifty lyric book with a colourful image of the star taking up the front page, with each song written out in a copy of Paul’s handwriting, he’s even doodled a couple of smiley faces for our amusement. As you take out the inner sleeve containing the record itself, you’ll notice the same signature art style featured on the front of the lyric book, this time with a collage of McCartney’s old friends from days gone by such as George Harrison, John Lennon and Brian Epstein. The inner sleeve provides a glorious pop of colour when contrasted against the off white colouring on the front of the album. 

The disc itself was available in either pink or black, though the pink sold out much quicker than the black. The label in the middle has the track listing for each side of the record written out, again in McCartney’s handwriting.

Last but not least, and certainly the main reason to pick up this version of the album over its standard edition is the classic souvenir Jacaranda Coffee Club membership card included inside. The card, while not functional, is a slice of nostalgia from the Jac’s early days when it was a coffee bar around the time the Beatles played their first show there.

As it’s now sold out, we’ll certainly be keeping this copy safe and sound. The Boys of Dungeon Lane will be the soundtrack to our summer, that’s for sure.

Find out more about The Jacaranda here.

Find more music events across Liverpool here.

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