Syreeta "Can't Shake Your Love"...
always loved this song, especially when I heard it in the Garage, as Larry had a special remix, he had done that he apparently never shared with anyone & I never heard it anywhere else. When The Garage finally closed I never heard it again... until one day a few years later.
Before A-1 records, the owner, Isaac used to sell records at the 26th st & 6th ave flea market every weekend & I got to know him pretty well. I would get there very early before the sun was up & was still dark, & the record dealers were just unloading to set up for the day. This day Isaac said to me "I think I got a really nice collection today, I think you'll be very happy". He probably had about 75 milk crates of records & it took me a couple of hours to go through them all. Luckily, I was there that early & I got my clear pick of things. It was a very good group, so I ended up taking home about 2 crates of some great tittles. As I was getting to the end, I found an acetate just tittle Can't Shake Your Love Remix, It looked like the one I would see Larry play, so I got a bit exited. There was no place to hear records beforehand... but they were a buck a piece!... so you know I bought it. As I looked through everything again before I paid for them, it really started to sink in that this was no random group or records... these were some of Larry Levan's records. What clinched it was 2 white label promo's of "Bounce, Rock, Skate, Roll" signed to Larry Levan on the jacket. Larry didn't play that song that much... so they were mint.
When I got home, I went right to the "Can't Shake Your Love". That's when I finally got to see it in the light... it was in awful shape, there was a clear footprint on it, & it skipped in several places. It's very difficult to really clean an acetate properly, but right away I could tell this was Larry's remix. So I just lightly dusted it off & recorded it before it got any more damage. Like I said, it skipped in several places, so I needed to edit the skips & pops out, it actually turned out quite well.
I ran in to Larry a short while after that & I mentioned to him that I think I bought about 2 crates of his records... he seemed quite uninterested, as in the end he had a lot of his records all over the place, at different people’s houses, some people that weren't really that close to him. But when I mentioned that I found the Syreeta, he got very excited & said "I gotta have that back"! We were close friends, so I said "sure... but the acetate is in awful shape, with an actual boot print on it & skips in several places". His smile dropped, & I said, "but I edited it back together pretty well & I could give it to you on reel". He was like "yes, I want that, but I also want the acetate too" I said no problem & gave it to him a few days later. That was the last time I saw him, as he passed away shortly after that. Wow, really miss him.
Like so many special versions of songs Larry had, I always remember this one standing out. In 2016 they reissued a CD of the original Lp with bonus tracks of Larry's remix, the sound quality was really good... but it still wasn't THAT mix. Back in the early 90's I gave my edit to a friend at JVS records & he put it out... even though the mastering was not great, it's still my favorite version.
