THE NATURAL FOUR - I THOUGHT YOU WERE MINE

The Natural Four were one of the finest harmony groups of the late '60's, and they hailed from Oakland, CA. The groups' debut single was "I Thought You Were Mine" on the local label Boola-Boola, which became a massive bay area smash and saw the group signed to ABC Records. ABC released two singles from the group in an attempt to break out nationally; while the records were excellent, they didn't catch on for whatever reason.

In line of the old saying "third time's a charmer", ABC went back to the beginning, and had the group re-cut "I Thought You Were Mine", no doubt in an attempt to recapture the song that caught on so strongly in the groups' home base. While the debut recording is fantastic, the remake is a notch stronger, in my opinion. The tempo is upped slightly, and the urgency of the vocals results in a magical recording. While this record has HIT written all over it, chart success was not forthcoming. A pity, as this record is ultra rare; it's known and loved by collectors, instead of being one that's heard everywhere and remembered as one of THE great soul hits of the late '60's.

from 1969...

 THE NATURAL FOUR - I THOUGHT YOU WERE MINE