2020 was an interesting year on many fronts. In comparison to recent years, I didn’t buy a bunch of 45s, in fact, in total I only got 13 over the course of the year. A big part of that is of course pandemic related, since a major source of my 45 digs over the last several summers would be from hauls at the Rappcats pop-ups, especially the annual one hosted by DJ Shadow. But though the pile of 45s was meager, the ones that I did pick up were a mighty bunch. And so, here are the top 5 45s I “dug” up in 2020!
MFQ – Every Minute Of Every Day
This is actually one that I had bought years earlier only to have it disappear in the mail (or perhaps off my porch after delivery, one never knows these days). For a time I think I held out hope that it was just taking a long long time to get to me, but after a while I think I simply moved on to other wants and desires. But then during the summer with my 45th birthday on the horizon and a plan to do an all 45s mix, this one, something I originally heard on Matthew Africa’s last mix, was one that I definitely wanted in that mix. And so, I rolled the dice again and thankfully this time it arrived safe and sound.
I first heard this one late, late into the night at Funky Sole, from Music Man Miles. We’d reached the portion of the night where it was almost closing time, there were only a few handfuls of people still there and we were playing things that we really dug, but were hesitant to drop in a set with a crowded dance floor. Pretty much as soon as the needle dropped and those horns started, I was in love. Historically, it’s pretty rare for me to pick up any funky stuff from the 1980s. It’s not that I don’t dig the sound, it’s just there’s so much more from the 1960s and 1970s that I 100% dig and, for me at least, the quality of funky tunes drops way off in the 1980s. However, “By My Side,” is nothing but quality and is the kind of thing that really gets me rethinking my prejudices as a collector.
Doris & Kelley – You Don’t Have To Worry
I’m not sure where I heard this first…I feel like Oliver Wang of Soul-Sides was involved in one way or another, either from a post, or a share at a Rappcats pop-up, but my memory for this one is a bit hazy on that front, something I’m just gonna chalk up to lingering 2020 mental haze. I picked this up at the same time as the Thom Macke 45 that’s also on this list, though as I mentioned in the original post on that one, this arrived a month before that one was found after being lost. I don’t have much to add from my early post on this sweet, sweet tune, except to say that it’s sweetness never fades with repeated listens, particularly Doris’ phrasing at the close of every line she sings…so sweet and fine.
Donald Jenkins & The Delighters – Music Revolution
While I couldn’t recall where I first heard Doris & Kelley’s “You Don’t Have To Worry,” I know that I first heard this one 100% from Oliver of Soul-Sides, after he’d been hipped to it from another of our Sociology soul brothers, Steve Osuna. As I mentioned in a previous post, it’s one of the tightest, sweetest, most soulful tunes I’ve heard in a mighty long time, a truly dynamite Soul Boulder, and well deserving it’s inclusion of the best 45s I tracked down last year.
I’ve said a ton of words about this one already. I felt lucky just to have come across it during a bit of digital digging for music last Summer. But then to track it down from a dealer, only to have them say it was lost, and then to have it be found and make it safe and sound into my collection before my 45th, that was for real for real one of my absolute highlights of 2020. From the production, to the performance, to the sentiment in the lyrics, without a doubt this was the best thing I picked up over the past year.