Natural Soul Brothers Ltd - Cement, Plaster & Gold / Four Thoughts - Kisses & Roses

The two tracks featured in this latest Soul Direction Release are both prime examples of the forgotten and obscure talents from the Wally Osborne production line.

The Natural Soul Brothers Ltd consisted of Tom McNeil on lead vocals and Guitarist Clayton Johnson. Any additional members info is sketchy, but we know for sure that Clayton Johnson later went on to help form Thomas Buck Nasty who released an LP on RCA in 1980. This one song from 1970 never saw a release though thanks to Dave Louis made a debut on the “Best of Wally-O” CD in 2000. The haunting sound and lingering vocals make this a prefect sound for today’s more mellow collecting crowd and crosses more than one sub-genre on this complex soul scene of ours.

The Four Thoughts - Kisses and Roses did gain a release in 1967 on the “Womar” label which was part of the Wally-O set up. A label subsidiary suggested to Wally by Herb Johnson. The name came from the initials of Wally Osborne, his wife, Mabel, and his father-in-law, Ambrose Robinson, who provided the initial funding to start the label. Still an obscure outing to more people than you would think this track although released, just seemed a perfect companion to the A side and hopefully now will gain some more traction across soul nights everywhere.

Take a listen....