Customer Reviews

Bread

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This album by Bread is a definite plus for this group; a very strong debut for a band that I only wish wouldn't have gotten tagged with the "soft rock" label. I prefer the James Griffin-Robb Royer songs more than the Gates penned tunes here, although all of them have a certain amount of sentimental quality to me. Standout tracks are "Move Over", "Could I", which has Beatles all over it. "Friends and Lovers", is pretty sweet too. I like the original version of "It Don't Matter To Me" for it's demo-ish quality. It's nice to hear a different version than the one I grew up with. This music was a mainstay in my house when I was a small boy in the early-mid 70's, but it's only been within the last few years that I bought all the albums, vinyl of course. Great album, and highly recommeded, as are all of them! Buy it, mello out, and let your mind go back in time to when bands like Bread had stellar musicianship before the 90's came along and became boy band based!

Forget the compilations, this album is filled with great Bread songs, including the rarer (better perhaps) version of It Don't Matter to Me. Even the non David Gates songs on here are pretty good and the sound - this is 1969 remember - simply sparkles.

I remember my weekly jaunts to my favorite record store. While thumbing the record bins during the holidays in 1969, I happened on this album. I had never heard of "Bread" and actually decided to purchase it because of the band's name and the album cover design. I was pleasantly surprised with the selection of songs I found... fun, pensive, thoughtful, and a bit of rock punch. Although not a totally cohesive ensemble for a classic album concept, this vinyl got a lot of play on my ol' record player. Delving into the album and the songs that each of the three artisits, Gates, Griffin, and Royer, wrote, it is fun to piece each singer's tunes together. Each seemed to have their own individual style and creativity, but fit together very well for my tastes.

Some of my favorite on the album are "Dismal Day," "London Bridge," "The Last Time," "Don't Shut Me Out," and "Friends and Lovers." Listeners will have fun, too, with the original "It Don't Matter To Me." This version has a much faster, up-beat tempo than most fans remember when it was released as a single some four years later.

Critics loved the album, but for reasons I can't understand to this day, it did not sell very well... some 30,000+ albums. I have heard some reflection that this album was released the same time that Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young released their debut album. While that could be true, frankly I don't see a comparison to CSNY and Bread. Bread's initial outing was more rock-orientated and appealing to a wider audience to me while CSNY empahsised more folk-based music to me. Ultimately, the good news was that "the music didn't die" here (if I can borrow a classic line) with this first album and Bread went on to give us many more memorable songs and wonderful moments and memories.

It is perhaps impossible to think of Bread without associating them with the laid back, syrupy ballads that made them famous. However, their first release reveals that they had a lot more to offer. In fact, while I find their "hits" to be enjoyable still after many years, this self-titled album brings more rock and blues influenced material to the front. I find this album very enjoyable overall. Fans of late 60's early 70's rock/pop should also find much to enjoy with this release. If you just like the radio hits, a best of collection might be good enough for you. But if you want more Bread that shows the true versatility of this talented group, this is one to own. The tight vocal harmonies and the style of writing that made them a household word in the 70's are there, but be prepared for much more.

- Scriptor

All these years I've been listening to Bread and never realized what treasures the songs not on the greatest hit package were. This album is very, very good and I am looking forward to filling my music library with their other studio releases.

I'd never heard of Bread when I saw them at a gym dance at Seattle's O'Dea High School in late '69, and bought this LP as I was leaving. The syrupy schmaltz they later hit it big with never came close to this debut. It's not as strong as I remember, but "Any Way You Want Me" still kicks it.

This is how they group began after session work including Gate's work with Captain Beefheart (really!) They form their own group to make some Bread or maybe see a bread truck while trying to find a name to put them in the stores close to the Beatles and Cream...
Dismal, Day, the opening track, is strong, but didn't make a big splash - those of us who love to sing along with Bread still don't know how they hit that opening line! Listen to the lyrics and autotune yourself or you may do some damage. London Bridge, a lament to things changing, though not for the better is from a bygone era when the real London Bridge was being moved to the American Southwest. There are the classic tracks like It Don't Matter To Me (and we can always forgive Gate's Okie Grammerisms) and some tracks you may never have heard! Family Doctor is a silly throwaway, but endearing somehow.
Jim Gordon's drum on the studio album ties the group together well. He's replaced by Mike Botts when Gates, Griffin, and Robb Royer toured and produced their next two albums.
They put on a great pop show and this is where it began. Hear this album as a unit, played from end to end rather than the hit snippit albums - it's well produced and varied and well-connected!

The first Bread album is clearly the best and, at the time, the most promising. There is not one bad composition, either from a lyrical or musical perspective. These songs held lots of future excitement in the day since the lyrics and music promised a level of sophistication that, unfortunately, the band never again delivered. The remastering/recording here is very clean. Sadly, in spite of a pretty good 2nd effort with "On the Waters", Bread degenerated into a litany of trite pop tunes aimed at teenybopper audiences (witness the silliness of pop-hero worship David Gates shamelessly wraps his silky voice around on "Guitar Man" or the mushy-mouthed romantic blabber of "Baby I'm-A Want You"). Too bad, this first CD is a real gem, even today; Bread could have been much more than the gooey commercial cop-out it became. After all, there is nothing wrong with making a buck as long as your product is of value.