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Monday 30 January 2023

TL [2023] - Give It Up / Let's Talk It Over [Athens Of The North #ATH123]


Rare modern soul from TL who is Tom Lipkins. The record was originally released on Suncoast in 1986 with the artist name punctuated i.e. T.L. 

AOTN's Euan Fryer describes it a 'beyond rare' and I would have to agree as it is the only release on the label and none have ever sold on Discogs. A Google search found nothing, not even a listing on Popsike and it is not listed on 45Cat.

The original Suncoast label is sparse suggesting that it may be a private press and, ever the detective, I keyed in the phone number on the label into Google which turned out to be the number for producer Willie Harpe who, at that time at least, was based in Deland, FL. Perhaps that's how Euan tracked him down and licensed the master tapes for this release?

The record was covered up as Hamilton Connection by George Mahood and then by Soul Sam.

On original release, the deep ballad "Let's Talk It Over" was the A side. On the reissue the modern soul tune "Give It Up" takes top billing, but don't ignore the superb, 6:28, deep flip, and don't be thrown by the slow intro to "Give It Up" as it kicks after about 20 seconds in. Interestingly, on the original release, writer's credits go to Tom Lipkin but on the reissue to Willie Harpe, so was Tom Lipkin a pseudonym?

A great double sider that you will probably never find on original vinyl, so this one will fly off the shelves. So you know what to do, head over to Bandcamp to order the vinyl, but it looks like you may be too late as they are already sold out so it's to the vinyl dealers or pay the king's ransom on Discogs.

Click on image below for link to where you can buy from.

Details
Rating: 8.8
Explicit: N
Genre/Style: Modern Soul / Deep Soul
Format: Single
Media: Digital / 7" Vinyl
Label: Athens Of The North
Cat No: ATH123
Date: 27/01/2023
Key/BPM: 10A/130 / 10A/67
Price: £1.38 / Sold Out
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