Manna

Bread | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 13, 2007)
• Original Release Date: 2007
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Wounded Bird Records
• ASIN: B000MGVCGS
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #127,333 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

CD reissue of the third album from California soft rockers Bread, led by the skilled songwriting of main man David Gates and masterful guitar playing of James Griffin. Originally released in 1971, Manna reached #21 on the Billboard Pop Albums chart and contains the enormously successful and oft-covered track 'If'.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of their best, May 2, 2005

By 

D. Moses (London, London United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Manna (Audio CD)

Why did the other reviewer write 'I have to admit...' for his opinion of loving Bread- one should be proud to like this sort of music!
As for the album, it is excellent. Not one weak song on here. It opens with two songs, that give a false impression, this might be a heavier album. 'Let your love go' is one of their best rockers, showing Gates could do other styles, not just ballads. 'Take comfort' goes from really bluesy bits to ballady bits in the middle and it really works, showing Griffin and Royer were as talented as the genius Gates.
'If' is the most beautiful heart wrenching ballad and the end of the song, if you close your eyes, will make you feel you are flying. Incredible stuff. The best song on here just beats that though, 'Come again'. what an incredible classical arrangement and what a beautiful melody. Definitely shows what depth goes into their songs. Awesome.
Another of my favourites is one that Griffin has not rated in retrospect, 'Live in your love', but to me, this is another incredible ballad, with a soaring melody.
All the other songs are great also. Highly recommended from these geniuses I am proud to love.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars great album for breadheads, December 13, 2000

By 

phillip - See all my reviews

This review is from: Manna (Audio CD)

I have to admit I love Bread. This album is a great addition for those who wish to add on to anthology or retrospective. The hit "if" is here, but there are also songs you won't find anywhere else such as "what a change", and the beautiful piano and violin in "come again". There are some duds here, but what other bands can say they had 10 top 20 hits and 7 top 40 albums in less than three years?

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The "Baroque" Bread; i.e. a true classic ..., June 3, 2006

By 

T. Atkins "Manna Maniac" (Baltimore, MD USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Manna (Audio CD)

Okay, maybe I'm a little biased here as far as judging which Bread album was the best of their half-dozen stellar studio efforts, but there are many factors convincing me that "Manna" should have featured the subtitle "From Heaven."

The legendary love ballad "If" alone is almost enough to justify the album's "heavenly" appeal, but songs such as (among others) the harpsichord-driven rocker "Let Your Love Go" and the church-like organ solos on the ethereal "What A Change", as well as the album's centerpiece, "Come Again" (which, for all its melodrama, succeeds brilliantly in its shifts of tempo, mood, and overall dynamics that even most pop music craftsmen ignore) ultimately give this album a warm "Baroque" feel that makes the album a wonderful first choice if you were forced to choose among Bread's studio efforts instead of any of their numerous and sometimes notoriously repetitive best-of collections (with the notable exception of 1996's 2-CD "Retrospective" of course).

Sure, seasoned Wall-Of-Sound Veteran Larry Knechtel, who joined the band following the album's 1971 release, contributed a wealth of experience and his own subtle signature touches to succeeding (and also massively successful) Bread recordings, but the tensions that had just begun to brew within the previous lineup were likely a factor in producing an ultimately masterful 12-song body of work that no Bread album before or since could touch with a ten-foot, uh, loaf.

Enough already - just enjoy the album if you already own it ... if not, then get it post haste!!!