The “Golden Hits Of The 70s” 

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TIN TIN

“TOAST AND MARMALADE FOR TEA”

(Steve Groves)

Atco 6794

No. 20   May 29, 1971

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Tin Tin consisted of two Steves, surnamed Groves (gui­tar, bass, mellotron) and Kipner (keyboards, bass).

In the late ’60s, both blokes walked out on group affilia­tions in their native Australia to form what was

intend­ed to be a successful songwriting partnership. After cranking out a number of tunes, the Steves

recorded some demos and moved to London.

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With a stack of psychedelicized Beatles-like records cut and canned, the Down Under dudes approached

fellow Australian Maurice Gibb of the Bee Gees. Gibb liked their stuff, particularly an item called “Toast

and Marmalade for Tea.”  For some long-forgotten reason, the guys named themselves after Tin Tin, a

Belgian car­toon character.  Atco Records released the disk, and a sizable chunk of the Western world

concurred with Maurice’s thumbs-up assessment.  “Marmalade,” produced by Gibb, oozed onto the charts.

The follow-up, “Is That the Way” (#59, 1971)–also produced by Gibb–struggled with the lower reaches of

the Hot 100, but “Talkin’ Turkey” and other singles stiffed.

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By the close of 1973, each Tin Tin member had gone his own way.  Groves found security in obscurity. Kip­er

resurfaced in the late ’70s with an album and some singles for Elektra and RSO. Kipner has also done ses

­sion work for George Benson and ex-Hollie Allan Clarke.  A number of his tunes have charted as record­ed

by other acts–in 1984, Chicago clicked with his “Hard Habit to Break” (#3), and Olivia Newton-John had

success with his “Physical” (#1, 1981) and “Twist of Fate” (#5, 1984).