“Angel in Disguise” demos auctioned

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Two versions of “Angel in Disguise“, the unreleased song written by Ringo Starr & Paul McCartney in 1991, have been auctioned by Omega Auctions, and sold for £8,000 (below the £10,000 – £20,000 estimation).

One of the versions is a rough demo with vocals sung by McCartney ; the other one is a mixed version featuring other musicians & backing vocals, and Ringo Starr’s vocals. Those twos versions are a cassette tape which was owned by Radio Luxembourg DJ Tony Prince. At the time in the nineties, he was asked to find artists to record alternative versions of the song, after Ringo Starr rejected the track.

From Omega Auctions:

RARE PAUL MCCARTNEY & RINGO STARR ANGEL IN DISGUISE DEMO. A cassette tape containing an unreleased and unheard recording of a demo track composed by McCartney (and possibly Ringo Starr) titled ‘Angel in Disguise’. This track was planned for inclusion on Ringo’s ‘Time Takes Time’ album but was omitted.

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, however Wikipedia states that thie track is a collaboration between McCartney and Starr.

It is believed that the handwriting on the cassette and cassette case is Paul McCartney’s.The demo was made in Oct 1990, written in Jamaica prior to this. Ringo added the 3rd verse hence the jpin McCartney/Starr credit, Paul wrote first 2 verses by himself. UK Reggae artists Pato Banton recorded a version in 1994 but this was never released. Paul considered using on Flaming Pie (c1995) but decided against it.

It’s fantastic to be able to bring to the market a previously unheard and unreleased track… We think the track certainly had enough about it to be included in the album and I am sure if Paul was to release this himself it would certainly prove a hit with fans.

Auctioneer Paul Fairweather

Last updated on December 28, 2020