Why 45s?

The Flaming Ember’s “Mind, Body and Soul”/“Filet de Soul.”

I have had friends who wonder why I bother collecting 45s. They’re so short. Two, three minutes and you’re up again changing the record. Unless you have a jukebox that plays 45s, no one wants to deal with them.

I buy these tiny slabs of vinyl because they are full of hidden treasures – unknown regional bands, forgotten A & B sides, interesting label names and designs, and plenty of music history.

A recent thrift store find reminded me of all these things. A box of 45s had just been put out, and I could tell immediately it was a collection from one person because they were all from a particular period – in this case mid to late 1960s – and because of their condition – respectfully played and stored.

I wasn’t familiar with a lot of the material, but I could tell by some of the song titles and record labels that it was the sort of stuff I wanted to add to my collection. It’s not just about the music. Song titles, artwork and music history call to me as I search for vinyl.

The first clue I had discovered in a treasure trove of 45s was a record on the Hip label of Memphis. The band name – Southwest F.O.B. – meant nothing to me, except that I thought it might be the worst band name I’d heard in a long while and made me think twice about buying the record. The song titles drew me back in: “Smell of Incense”/“Green Skies.”

Release dates are very rarely printed on 45s, but those titles suggest to me I am looking at a record from the era of psychedelia, so it becomes the first in what became a pretty nice stack of must-buys on that fruitful thrift store visit.

Once I get home, I play the records and scour the internet for information on the bands, the record labels and whatever other clues are provided.

I did not have to look long for information on Southwest F.O.B. They were a Dallas-based high school band that had a minor hit in 1968 with the record I just bought, “Smell of Incense.”

The Bleus, “What’cha Gonna Do”/“Good Morning, Love.”

Starting off playing for typical high school functions and wherever else they could find work, after clicking with “Smell of Incense,” the high school band found itself opening for major acts such as Three Dog Night and Led Zeppelin.

The band included two school chums, Dan Seals and John Colley, who would eventually leave Southwest F.O.B. to start a duo, calling themselves England Dan and John Ford Coley, and together had a string of soft pop hits in the 1970s. Dan Seals then went on to establish himself as a country artist and had another string of hits in that genre before dying in 2009. He was also the younger brother of Jim Seals of Seals & Croft. The surviving band members played a tribute show at the House of Blues in Dallas in 2012.

So, I consider this record a major score because it opened up a world of regional music history I was completely unaware of before becoming an owner of the 45.

The next treasure was on a label I recognized, Hot Wax. Hot Wax was a Detroit label, the creation of the songwriting/production team of Holland-Dozier-Holland when they left Motown in 1968 in search of greater creative control.

But I had never heard of the band on this particular record, The Flaming Ember, or either of the sides, “Mind, Body and Soul”/“Filet de Soul.” A bit of research finds that The Flaming Ember was a Detroit blue-eyed soul unit that many listeners back in the day mistook for a black soul group. I like the record and now will keep my eye out for a single, or the album, featuring the song “Westbound #9” (you can see the band performing it on YouTube).

A record on the Diamond label and in its original Diamond sleeve caught my eye. Upon closer examination, I see the great singer/songwriter/session guitarist Eddie Hinton was the producer. Hinton also had co-writing credit on one of the songs. That is a score right there.

But, again, I had never heard of the band, called The Bleus, or either of the songs, “What’cha Gonna Do”/“Good Morning, Love.”

The Bleus was a band formed in 1965 in Gadsden, Alabama. At a high school battle of the bands in Tuscaloosa, The Bleus had the distinction of beating another local band called The Hour Glass, featuring a couple of young brothers named Duane and Gregg Allman. The band eventually went on to record a single at Muscle Shoals, with the Allman brothers backing them.

“What’cha Gonna Do” was released in 1969. The band broke up in 1971, but reformed in 2001.

And finally, on the Amazon label, a record by a band called The Rugbys, with the songs “You, I”/“Stay With Me.” They were a Louisville, Kentucky band. The Amazon label was owned by Shelby Singleton of Nashville, Tennessee, who bought Sun Records from Sam Phillips in 1969, the same year he released The Rugby’s “You, I” (Singleton’s name appears in three spots on the label, lest anyone forget who was running the show). The song did well enough on national charts to earn the band opening spots for Bob Seger, Grand Funk Railroad and The James Gang.

I bought more records that day, each with its own story, but these four really explain the why of collecting 45s.