11 tracks · 46 min
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, 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, soul, 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 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…
