The Bee Gees: Barry Gibb (vocals, guitar); Robin Gibb (vocals); Maurice Gibb (organ, Mellotron, bass, background vocals).

Additional personnel: Alan Kendall (guitar); Phil Bodner (clarinet); Geoff Westley (piano, keyboards); Dennis Byron (drums, percussion).

Engineers include: Gene Paul, Alan Lucas, Damion Lyon-Shaw.

Recorded at IBC Studios & Command Studios, London, England and Atlantic Recording Studios, New York, New York.

Digitally remastered by Ted Jensen (Sterling Sound, New York, New York).

Personnel: Barry Gibb (vocals, guitar, background vocals); Maurice Gibb (vocals, organ, Mellotron, background vocals); Robin Gibb (vocals, background vocals); Alan Kendall (guitar); Phil Bodner (clarinet); Arif Mardin (horns); Geoff Westley (piano, keyboards); Dennis Bryon (drums, percussion).

Audio Remixers: Gene Paul; Andy Knight; Arif Mardin.

Recording information: Atlantic Recording Studios, New York, NY; Command Studios, London, England; IBC Studios, London, England.

Photographer: Frank Moscati.

Their previous album having scarcely made a ripple and now hitless for two years, the Bee Gees went for a new sound in the hands of producer Arif Mardin. The result was Mr. Natural, the sultriest and most soulful record they had ever delivered up to that time. Shedding their pop sensibilities here and singing in a freer, more soulful idiom (with a strong Philadelphia soul influence) on songs such as "Throw a Penny," and with a funky beat backing them up on a lot of this record, the group is scarcely recognizable in relation to their previous work. Mr. Natural was the liveliest, most invigorating body of music to come from the group since their debut, but it also had moments of extraordinary sensuality, most notably "Charade" and "Had a Lot of Love Last Night." In between those two bookends were the beginnings of the sound that would reach maturity on Main Course, the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, and Children of the World. Most of it is extraordinarily lively and upbeat, which was also a major change for the group; there are still some ballads here in their old style, such as "Down the Road" (which includes the extensive use of a Mellotron), but even these have a subtlety and freshness that had been lacking in the group's work since their debut. The main virtue throughout is, of course, the singing, which is some of the finest that all three Gibb brothers had ever turned in on a single LP up to that time, mated to some of their loveliest and liveliest songs up to that time. Mr. Natural generated no hits, but it was their best original album since Odessa (though also very different from that progressive-oriented double LP), and the Polygram CD reissue is one of the more successful in the label's digital remasterings of the group's sound. ~ Bruce Eder

By 1974, the BEE GEES had moved on from the Beatles-influenced baroque pop of their early efforts, but they hadn't yet begun to explore the pop/R&B of MAIN COURSE (which would lead them into their successful disco phase). MR. NATURAL, then, is a transitional album for the Gibbs. As such, it features lots of lushly produced ballads that veer towards the MOR side of the fence (ironically, a style they would revisit in the '90s). The soft-rock production, full of strings and electric piano though it may be, doesn't cancel out the brilliant compositional prowess of the trio. The opening "Charade" is one of the band's most beautiful '70s tunes, setting the tone for the rest of the album, mellow, but far from ineffectual.