(July 31. 2026) Like many music fans, the seven inch, 45 rpm single served as my introduction to having a physical copy of the music that I loved. Ok, it was mainly the music that my mother loved because she had a stack of 45s arranged in this cylinder shaped metal container. Eight-year-old me would pull the black vinyl, saucer shaped record out of the cover and study the label art. I didn’t really know what the words on the label meant. I connected those words to the voices and songs that I heard.
Atlantic meant Aretha Franklin. Philadelphia meant The O’Jays. Hi meant Al Green. Motown, my favorite, meant the Temps, the Four Tops, the Supremes, Marvin Gaye and – of course – The Jackson 5. A single meant that I could play the songs that I heard on the radio as often as I wanted. I think Michael Jackson’s “I Wanna Be Where You Are” was the first single I bought with my own money. Google said I paid about $1 for it. Probably used my tooth fairy money to buy it, and I wore that record out.
Teri Tobin missed the vinyl 45 era, but she knows music history and the feeling of excitement that captured America’s youth when the 45 of the single was climbing the chart. Maybe Tobin stumbled across her parents’ collection of 45, played the hit tune then flipped it over, played the “B” side and discovered a hidden gem.
It may have been that experience that inspired Tobin’s latest project, which is called the 45 Series. The first two songs in the 45 Series drop today. “Vibe With You” is the lead single and is featured in this First Listen. The “B” side is “Inside Out.”
Tobin said the 45 Series, Vol 1 “is my love letter to the timeless spirit of the 45 – two sides, two moods and one soulful story of connection.” Both songs capture a different mood, aspect and theme of a relationship while also carrying a similar theme. “Vibe With You” displays Tobin operating in her sweet spot of intimate and sensual balladry. The song finds her in a conversation in which she expresses her desire to be in the presence of her lover and just see where the day takes them. “Inside Out” has Tobin expressing the same feelings, but this time in dance track that fuses EDM with funk. Check out Teri Tobin’s “Vibe With You” here.
By Howard Dukes
