''Mr. Natural'' is the Bee Gees' twelfth album (tenth worldwide), released in May 1974. It was the first Bee Gees release produced by

Arif Mardin Arif Mardin (March 15, 1932 – June 25, 2006) was a Turkish-American music producer, who worked with hundreds of artists across many different styles of music, including jazz, rock, soul, disco and country. He worked at Atlantic Records for o ...

, who was partially responsible for launching the group's later major success with the follow-up album '' Main Course''. The album's

rhythm and blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated in African-American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly ...

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun '' soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest atte ...

, funk and hard rock sounds initiated the group's reinvention as a disco and blue-eyed soul act, which would solidify on subsequent albums. However,

Barry Gibb Sir Barry Alan Crompton Gibb (born 1 September 1946) is a British musician, singer-songwriter and record producer. He rose to worldwide fame as a member of the Bee Gees, one of the most commercially successful groups in the history of popula ...

has said that the album was "whiter" than ''Main Course''. The cover photograph was taken at 334 West 4th Street, Greenwich Village, New York City by Frank Moscati, which is today known as The Corner Bistro tavern. The LP was the Bee Gees' worst-performing international release at the time, reaching No. 178 on the ''Billboard'' 200 but failing to chart elsewhere, including in Europe where the group had previously enjoyed their most consistent popularity. However, it was a moderate success in the group's adopted home of Australia, where it reached No. 20.

Background

The decision to work with Mardin came after the RSO label rejected the brothers' post-''Life in a Tin Can'' album, which had been provisionally entitled '' A Kick in the Head Is Worth Eight in the Pants''.

Robert Stigwood Robert Colin Stigwood (16 April 1934 – 4 January 2016) was an Australian-born British-resident music entrepreneur, film producer and impresario, best known for managing Cream (band), Cream, Andy Gibb and the Bee Gees, theatrical productions ...

was not ready to give up on the Bee Gees, but he did not believe in the musical direction they were taking. At the suggestion of Jerry Wexler and Ahmet Ertegun of

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

, Stigwood sent them to work with Atlantic producer and arranger Arif Mardin, who began to draw out their love of

music. Mardin brought the band's attention to the dance scene unfolding at the time, and the brothers Gibb in turn adapted their songwriting and arrangements to a more upbeat style.

Recording

Recording began in November 1973, and although they were self-conscious about doing a really black sound, their first goal was to record songs in a way that they could reproduce on stage. They made more use of

Alan Kendall Alan Kendall (born 9 September 1944) is an English musician and was the lead guitarist for the Bee Gees, in an unofficial capacity from 1971 until 1980, and again from 1987 until 2001. Career His first recording was "Don't Play That Song (You ...

's lead guitar and added a keyboardist, which resulted in less recording for Maurice, who had long overdubbed many instrumental and backing vocal parts; he would now focus almost exclusively on playing bass and singing backing vocals during the trio's R&B/disco era. The new sound was more electric than much of what they had done since regrouping in 1970. With Mardin at the helm, the Bee Gees returned to the

IBC Studios The IBC Recording Studios were independent recording studios located at 35 Portland Place in London, England. In the 1960s and 1970s, the studios become internationally famous after being used by recording artists like the Kinks, the Who, Bee Gee ...

, London where they had recorded much of their pre-'' Life in a Tin Can'' output. The first two songs recorded were harder rock ("Heavy Breathing" and "I Can't Let You Go"), both written in Los Angeles. This was a deliberate attempt to record a new sound, compared to the acoustic sounds found on '' Life in a Tin Can''. There were also two new backing musicians:

Dennis Bryon Dennis Bryon (born 14 April 1949 in Cardiff, Wales) is a Welsh rock drummer from Cardiff, best known for his work with the Bee Gees from 1974 to 1979. He also worked with Amen Corner and co-produced Robin Gibb's 1983 album, '' How Old Are You?' ...

on drums and Geoff Westley on keyboards, who were in the tour band, now made their debut with the Bee Gees on disc. Bryon was a friend of Kendall, and would be the Bee Gees' drummer until 1980. The big change here was having Westley, or in fact anyone, play most of the piano and keyboard parts that had been Maurice's domain for years. Westley would soon be replaced as keyboardist by ex- Strawbs keyboardist Derek "Blue" Weaver, whom Bryon had played with in Amen Corner. Around this time, Maurice's problems with alcohol began to surface; although he wrote few songs in 1974, he never missed a show or a recording session, but on this album, most of the new songs were written by Barry and Robin only. Three songs were written by all three brothers; one, '' Lost in Your Love'' was a solo Barry composition while ''Give A Hand, Take A Hand'' was a Barry/Maurice composition (see Notes). The songs "Mr. Natural" and "Had a Lot of Love Last Night" were recorded and completed at the Command Studios in London. The songs "Give a Hand, Take a Hand" and "Lost in Your Love" were recorded at

Atlantic Studios Atlantic Studios was the recording studio of Atlantic Records. Although this recording studio was located at 1841 Broadway (at the corner of 60th Street), in New York City, Atlantic Recording Studios was initially located at 234 West 56th Street fr ...

in 1974. Maurice said in an interview with

Lynn Redgrave Lynn Rachel Redgrave (8 March 1943 – 2 May 2010) was an English actress. She won two Golden Globe Awards throughout her career. A member of the Redgrave family of actors, Lynn trained in London before making her theatrical debut in 1962. B ...

that his alcoholism didn't affect his recording sessions and concerts until around the time of

Spirits Having Flown ''Spirits Having Flown'' is the fifteenth album released by the Bee Gees. It was the group's first album after their collaboration on the ''Saturday Night Fever'' soundtrack. The album's first three tracks were released as singles and all reach ...

. "When we did ''Mr. Natural'' we didn't have a positive direction", Maurice said, "We were thrashing about". In an interview with the Bee Gees for '' Billboard'' on 24 March 2001, Maurice recalls about producer Arif Mardin, "Arif was brilliant, full of ideas. That's why we did the ''Mr. Natural'' album with him, which was like a rehearsal".

Reception

''Mr. Natural'' generated no global hits, but represented an important step in The Bee Gees' evolution. The album shows a strong Philadelphia soul influence in tracks like "Throw a Penny". Other highlights include "Mr. Natural", the infectious rock tunes "Down the Road" (the beginning of which starts during the long fade of "Throw a Penny," about 20 seconds before "Throw a Penny" segues into "Down the Road") and "Heavy Breathing", and the power ballad "Charade". Despite the fact that the Bee Gees and Mardin point to the background vocal session for "Nights on Broadway" as the genesis of the trademark Bee Gee falsetto, those with keen ears can hear a distinctive (albeit subtle in comparison to later recordings) Barry Gibb falsetto in the backing vocals of "Dogs". Despite sincere attempts to create a new sound, ''Mr. Natural'' was not commercially successful". The gospel-tinged song "Give a Hand, Take a Hand" was written in 1969 (hence Robin's lack of writing credit, since he wasn't working with his brothers at the time) and originally recorded for their 1970 album '' Cucumber Castle'' but was not released and was used by

P.P. Arnold PP, pp or Pp may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Pianissimo'', a music term meaning ''very quiet'', from musical dynamics * Production code for the 1967–1968 ''Doctor Who'' serial ''The Enemy of the World'' * Police Procedural - a subgen ...

; her version was released in September 1969 as a single, which was produced by Barry Gibb.

The Staple Singers The Staple Singers were an American gospel, soul, and R&B singing group. Roebuck "Pops" Staples (December 28, 1914 – December 19, 2000), the patriarch of the family, formed the group with his children Cleotha (April 11, 1934 – February 21 ...

also covered "Give a Hand, Take a Hand"; their version was released on their 1971 album ''

The Staple Swingers ''The Staple Swingers'' is a soul album by the Staple Singers, released on June 15, 1971. It was the first Staple Singers album to be produced by Al Bell and recorded in Muscle Shoals. Pervis Staples was replaced by his sister Yvonne Staples pri ...

''. On the album cover, the Bee Gees are not pictured anywhere in the exterior album package. The front and back are an art concept of a man in a bar, looking blissfully out the window on the front and being ejected smiling on the back, and on the paper, it says "Every SUNDAY brunch". The Corner Bistro bar is located at 334 West 4th Street, Greenwich Village, New York City.

Track listing

All tracks written by

Barry Barry may refer to: People and fictional characters * Barry (name), including lists of people with the given name, nickname or surname, as well as fictional characters with the given name * Dancing Barry, stage name of Barry Richards (born c. 19 ...

and Robin Gibb, except where noted.

Personnel

;Bee Gees *

– lead, harmony and backing

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

, rhythm guitar * Robin Gibb – lead, harmony and backing vocals *

Maurice Gibb Maurice Ernest Gibb (; 22 December 1949 – 12 January 2003) was a British musician. He achieved fame as a member of the pop group Bee Gees. Although his elder brother Barry Gibb and fraternal twin brother Robin Gibb were the group's main lea ...

– harmony and backing vocals,

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

, Mellotron, Hammond organ ;Guest musicians *

–

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featu ...

– drums,

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

* Geoff Westley –

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

, keyboards * Ben Law –

fretless bass A fretless bass is a bass guitar whose neck does not have any frets. While the instrument is played in all styles of music, it is most common in pop, rock, and jazz. It first saw widespread use during the 1970s, although some players used them befo ...

on #6 (side 2) *

Phil Bodner Philip L. Bodner (June 13, 1917 – February 24, 2008) was an American jazz clarinetist and studio musician who also played flute, oboe, saxophone, and English horn. Career A native of Waterbury, Connecticut, Bodner worked as a studio musician ...

– clarinet on "Charade" *

–

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

l arrangement ;Production *Damon Lyon-Shaw –

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the limit ...

* Andy Knight, Alan Lucas,

Gene Paul Gene William Paul (born August 20, 1944) is an American audio recording / mixing / mastering engineer, producer and musician. He was an engineer at Atlantic Recording Studios during their famed 1960s–80s period and is currently the chief mas ...

– engineer * Arif Mardin – producer

Chart positions

References

{{Authority control Bee Gees albums 1974 albums Albums arranged by Arif Mardin Albums produced by Arif Mardin Albums recorded at IBC Studios RSO Records albums