When I first had the thought to change things up a bit for 2026, when it was still a brand new year, I felt like the theme of love was an important one to focus on and highlight, and since this Iron Knowledge 45 had come into my collection in the past year, it felt like a good pick to ruminate on and also consider where I am with this blog and my own life.
A little bit before the end of the 2025, I was just having a good time, repeatedly dropping the needle on this tune, enhanced with the echo from my mixer, and even more enhanced by the weed I was smoking, and I was in such a pure state of bliss, that I felt inspired to try something different here on Melting Pot. I don’t know if this will be a routine, or if it’s just connected to where I am in this particular moment, but it felt like a thing to do, and since my posts here have been so infrequent, I thought it was good to pay attention to that feeling.
There are some times where I’m listening to a record that’s new to my collection and immediately think about sharing it, but then the weight of all of these posts that I’m behind on keeps me from doing so. But here in 2026, I’m trying my damndest to get back into a regular routine of posting, and this felt like it might be a way to move beyond the rigidity of tradition that has some times kept me from just posting whatever I want to post in the moment. First posts for the new year were always for the “Best Of” rundowns, but this time around, I just felt like starting the year differently.
But before I get too deep into my feels, let me talk about the music…This 45 is in my collection not for this song, but for the much more famous, much heavier track “Showstopper,” which might be one of my all-time favorite fuzzy & funky tunes I’ve ever heard. Apparently there are two versions of this 45, which was mentioned to me by the 1st dealer I tried to track this one down from, though I can’t find any info about the version that is different than mine. So, it seems it’s possible that “Oh Love” might not always be the flip side, but I’m thankful that it was on this one.
With how hard “Show Stopper” is, “Oh Love” is almost 180 degrees different. While it has some rock & psychedelic elements, it’s really a pure sweet soul song, not quite a soul boulder like Matthew Africa used to be fond of playing, but definitely more soulful than I would have expected given the flip. As much as I love “Showstopper,” it’s this song that I keep coming back to again and again.
When I think about why my posts have dwindled and dwindled over the years, the same conflicted nature of Love that comes through this song, both in terms of the sounds & the lyrical sentiment, is something that I keep coming back to. There were times over the years where I wasn’t able to post here as much as I would have liked, but nothing like the last few years. Perhaps the pandemic played some part in that too, but ultimately it feels like Love, or rather my search for Love has been the main culprit. Of all the lyrics in this song, this verse is the one that really hits me like a ton of bricks when I think about my approaches to love in the past:
“Never rush into love unless you are sure,
That when things get bad you won’t have to head for the door,
To fall in love you must first understand,
What it really takes, what it really takes,
What it really takes to be a man…”
I’m right now at this moment, at a café, sitting next to (or across the way when I needed to charge my laptop) from a woman that I already know I love dearly, which has been a rare feeling post-divorce. She’s an amazing poet & writer and she’s also at a stage where there’s more that she wants to write and we both feel like doing so together helps each of us get back into the swing/routine of writing. Since this has got to be one of the longest posts I’ve written on here, perhaps it’s been a little too successful at the moment, but it’s been nice just to write and write and write and feel closer to getting back to more regularly sharing music which I do dearly love. That’s my hope for 2026, and far beyond, or at least, as long as this blog is a part of the internets…If you’re still here with Melting Pot, thank you for sticking with me all these years & I promise there will be more music to be shared here in the months & years to come…All of it shared with Love. Peace & Bright Moments