Rare TV performance by Mike McGear

A rare mimed musical performanve recently appeared on YouTube, of Mike McGear with the song "Leave It" from 1974. This was released as a single in conjunction with the album "McGear", where Mike was backed by his brother's group, Wings.

This performance took place on the Spanish TV channel RTVE in their program series "Señoras Y Señores" which was broadcast on February 15, 1975. RTVE uploads a new episode of this programme every Sunday on their web portal, which is the source our uploader has downloaded this clip from. The song is a Paul & Linda McCartney composition.

Mike also performed "Simply Love You" on the same show. You can watch the entire episode here. It includes The Rubettes among others, the others being mainly Spanish artists.

Paul remembers Astrid

Paul by Astrid, 1960 Hamburg. Stuart in the background.

Yesterday, Paul McCartney finally released a statement on the passing of Astrid Kirchherr. Statements from Ringo, Pete Best and the estates of George and John were posted May 15-16. Paul's statement came nearly a week later and was posted on the various social media platforms where he is present. It reads like this:

Very sad news this week about Astrid Kirchherr.

Astrid was a dear friend from my Hamburg days with The Beatles. Another friend, Klaus Voormann, told me she had passed away and this brought back memories of our days in the clubs in Hamburg. Astrid looked unique. She had a short blond haircut and wore a slim black, leather outfit which made her look like a funky pixie. She would come to the club with Klaus and another friend, Jürgen Vollmer, and the three of them made quite an impression on us four lads from Liverpool. Their wit and conversation was really stimulating and we fell in love with Astrid’s style.

Astrid took beautiful photographs of us. She used black and white film and achieved a stunning mood in her pictures that we all loved. She had a great sense of humour and later went on to marry Stuart our bass player. I have so many fond memories of our time together in the club or her home or a trip to the nearby seaside resort, Lübeck.

So sad for all of us who were her friends to lose such a lovely lady from our lives. I will miss her but will always remember her and her cheeky grin with great fondness. God bless you Astrid, see ya love! - Paul

Paul and Astrid in Tenerife, 1963.

There are several mistakes in the statement which has been spurring comments from Beatles aficionados: Astrid and Stuart never married, though they were engaged. They didn’t get around too it, as Stuart fell ill and died. Astrid later married twice, but never had children and she was living alone in Hamburg at the time she died. It has been revealed that she suffered from a form of cancer and that she died on May 12, surrounded by her friends.

Also: «four lads from Liverpool»? They were five.

At the end of the statement (God bless you Astrid, see ya love!), Paul seems to confirm that he is no longer an agnostic (which the Beatles said they all were in a 1965 Playboy interview) and that he believes in an afterlife.

All of this begs the question: Was this really written or dictated by Paul? And is he okay?

This photo was taken backstage at Paul's Hamburg concert in 2009, where he played Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da live for the first time. Obscured by Klaus Voormann, Paul and Astrid are exchanging hugs.

Here are the tweets from the other ones:

Absolutely stunned to hear the news of Astrid passing. God bless you love. We shared some wonderful memories and the most amazing fun times. Condolences to family and friends, Pete (Petey) pic.twitter.com/lNduJ8EHHC

— Pete Best (@BeatlesPeteBest) May 15, 2020

God bless Astrid a beautiful human being And she took great photos peace and love 😎✌️🌟❤️🎶🎵🍒🥦☮️ pic.twitter.com/fGXqDbz5bW

— #RingoStarr (@ringostarrmusic) May 15, 2020

Astrid is and was the sweetest woman, so thoughtful and kind and talented, with an eye to capture a soul. Our family loved her and none more than George. I am truly saddened but honoured to have known her. Olivia #AstridKirchherr pic.twitter.com/5Dt7OmuGS8

— George Harrison (@GeorgeHarrison) May 15, 2020

Rest in peace, Astrid Kirchherr pic.twitter.com/cX5DRIvpQJ

— John Lennon (@johnlennon) May 15, 2020

Angel in Disguise - auction result

Angel in disguise -  a McCartney-Starkey original.

The cassette tape of the Ringo/Paul collaboration "Angel in Disguise" only fetched a mere £8,000 at the Omega Auction yesterday. Estimated value was £10,000 - £20,000 by the auctioneers. However, it seems the sentiments expressed by our esteemed readers has rung true also among the bidders. We are hoping that the winning bid came from bootleggers, so that we can expect to hear Paul's full demo as well as Ringo's finished production of the song some time in the future. Because whenever official Beatles representatives or their companies are the winners, the tapes are locked up forever, deemed not commercial enough and fans will never get to hear the songs. Meanwhile, here's an interpretation of the song made by studying the sheet music.

Rest in peace, Astrid Kirchherr

Astrid Kirchherr passed on Tuesday the 12th of May, 2020 in Hamburg, Germany, at 81. She had quite an influence on The Beatles in the early days. Rest in peace.

Sample of Angel in Disguise

Omega Auctions have released this video, about half way through they are giving us a little sample of Paul's demo of the song "Angel in disguise". The tape also contains Ringo's full blown studio recording of the song.

Angel in disguise

Paul McCartney wrote the song and Ringo added a verse.

An unheard track by Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr is heading for auction. Angel In Disguise was recorded as a demo for Ringo’s 1992 solo album «Time Takes Time» but it did not make the cut.

Former Radio Luxembourg DJ Tony Prince is selling the cassette, which is expected to fetch up to £20,000. He was asked to find artists to record alternative versions of «Angel In Disguise» in the 1990s, after Ringo rejected the track. Before rejecting the song, Ringo composed an extra verse, effectively making it a McCartney-Starkey composition.

The actual cassette

The cassette features two versions of the song, Paul’s sparse demo and Ringo’s professional treatment. It also has a bonus in the form of a demo for «Everybody Wins» aka «Everyone Wins».

From Wikipedia:
Angel in Disguise is a song co-written by Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr that has never been released. The song was intended for Ringo's 1992 Time Takes Time album;however, it did not make it onto the album, and therefore remains an intriguing, publicly unheard song.

Had it been released in 1992 it would have been the first McCartney-Starkey composition on record, although there were Beatles songs that were credited to Lennon–McCartney–Starkey and Lennon–McCartney–Harrison–Starkey. McCartney sent Starr an unfinished demo of the song, to which Starr added an extra verse.

Backing tracks for the song were recorded on 9 September 1991 at Conway Studios, in Los Angeles, produced by Peter Asher.
From Rolling Stone, 1992: "Working with (Peter) Asher, Starr recorded a cover of The Posies' "Golden Blunders" and a version of a previously unfinished Paul McCartney composition, "Angel In Disguise", to which Starr added a new verse."
It appears that the song written by Rick Suchow ("What Goes Around") was the last song picked for the album, and as a result the McCartney–Starkey song was shelved, and not subsequently released. From the Ringo Starr interview in Beatlefan, 1992: "You see, they expected that because it's McCartney and Starr, anyone in their right mind would put that on. It just didn't fit the space we needed on the album... this is my best shot, in my opinion, of my album."

The lot description: The cassette contains a lo-fi version of the track, with Paul McCartney performing the lyrics over piano and drum machine and then a 'full' or studio version with vocals sung by Ringo Starr, a full backing track, backing singers, increased instrumentation inc harmonica, guitar and more, lastly to include a demo version of 'Everyone Wins' again sung by Ringo Star. Included with the tape are original mailing envelope with MPL logo, a typed note on MPL stationary requesting that Tony Prince make a "pop/rap" version of the demo cassette and to suggest some 'names' who may be interested in taking the song on, also printed lyrics and notation for the track, with 'McCartney' credited as songwriter. This item is sold as an artefact only, no copyright (s) included.

The cassette tape will be auctioned off by Omega Auctions later in May with 25% of the proceeds donated to the NHS Charities Together Covid-19 Urgent Appeal.

Direct link to the lot: Angel in disguise