Customer Reviews

Retrospective [2 CD SET]

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4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
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David Gates and Bread have always been my favorite artist and group. Gates' songs/music, in particular, have always helped me through both high and low times in my life as no other singer/songwriter has. (See my reviews of Bread's albums too.) This is the best comprehensive collection of songs that I believe gives an accurate representation of the breadth and scope of any group's musical "career." This 40 song collection not only includes Bread's hits and many lesser hits that I believe deserve to be on this 2-set collection, but a nice sampling from David Gates' five solo albums. I am perplexed as to why Mr. Gates' solo tunes never received the radio play and recognition he and his songs deserved. Many "best of" compilations simply "skim the surface" of a group's or artist's songs. This ensemble gives a true representation of the spectrum and variety of music that was produced by this group, including the extensive 29 page booklet that accompanies the 2 CDs- very informative! David Gates' production abilites have always been recognized and much appreciated by me and Rhino has released an outstanding collection again. Even if you have all Bread's albums, all David Gates' solo albums, James Griffin's solo albums, and all those released on CD as I do, this is still one additional set that stands alone and is worth adding to your Bread collection.

This two cd set from Warner Bros./Rhino takes me back almost 30 years when I was 18 years old. The songs are timeless and Bread put out some of the best soft rock there ever was. The songs on this compilation are from the different Bread L.P.'s plus some extra cuts from David Gate's solo L.P.'s as well (James Griffin has a few solo songs on this disc also). No matter where you lived you were almost certain to hear a Bread song on radio back in the seventies. David Gates still performs and I was lucky enough to hear him several years ago. He still sounds as good as he did years back and in my opinion is one of the best songwriters (not incl. Lennon & McCartney) I've ever heard. I would highly recommend this compilation for those who appreciate the great sounds Bread gave us.

There's probably no other "rock" band from the 70's that put out such easy listening, yet creative, albums than Bread. Led by singer-songwriter David Gates, the band hit the radio with several great ballads, including "Aubrey," "The Guitar Man," "If," "Make It With You," and "Everything I Own," to name only a few. What makes this collection so enjoyable, however, is the inclusion of several album tracks that demonstrated Bread was more than just a "mushy" group of guys. They take on innovative arrangements, and melodies that you can still hum 30 years later! Also included are some great solo efforts by Gates, including "Never Let Her Go," "Took the Last Train," "Clouds," and others to numerous to mention. When you listen to today's "romantic" music, by such acts as Backstreet Boys, D'Angelo, and N Sync, you can only wish these gentlemen would have listened a little more closely to Bread. No matter what year we're in, there's always room for songs that have melodies and that can be hummed by our grandchildren and great grandchildren in years to come. Listen to Bread; they have quite a musical sojourn to offer you!

This double-CD collection is definitely worth the price (your valuable "bread," that is). Production quality is superb, magnificent. This is one of those collections where you just have to say, "Yes! Yes! Yes!" Every Bread or David Gates song your heart could conceivably desire is on here, my audiophile friend, fan and lover, and everything sounds Top-Drawer! Clear, Crystal, Beautiful, Brilliant, Warm, Excellent. I'm very glad I bought this labor-of-love anthology, and I think You, Gentle Listener, will be as well. Nothing but Extremely High Kudos for "Bread Retrospective." Plus this compilation includes a very-well crafted 29-page booklet of great pictures, Bread lore, history and stories. Enjoy immensely.

Bread's Retrospective 2 CD set explores the popular early 70's band history in music.

This set contains all of Bread's finest hits as well as tons of album track from their 5 albums (or is it 6?). Also included are many solo tracks by James Griffin and David Gates (including Gates' theme for the Goodbye Girl).

While casual fans may prefer the cheaper single CD "The Best of Bread" (which Rhino generously expanded from the original 12 track album from 1973), that basically contains mainly just Bread's hits, this CD set digs deeper into the dough of Bread's material and as stated above, gives the listener a run through of their history - in the booklet that comes with it as well as musically.

Superb set.

A very complete retrospective of David Gates and Bread. Thankful that they saw fit to include some Gates solo material, which is seldom heard today on the radio.

This has to be it!

My Bread collection is extensive. I have everything they released, many CD reissues.

Bread, though often know for the sweetness of lyric and style and their lack of controversial topics, has a lot more to offer. As a young musician, I copped the guitar licks from Bread songs, eventually learning enough guitar, bass and theory to breeze through music college. For me, the musical arrangements and incredible production values of these recordings make them impressive historical documents.

Of course, if you are viewing this title, you are probably looking for all those hits from the '70's. You will see they they are here. What you want to know is about the other content.

It must have been hard to choose additional content for this album. There is a lot of material, and of course, there is the songwriting credits to balance.

Still, good choices were made. I really like the inclusion of "Daughter" (nice Knechtel organ solo on that one) and "Just Like Yesterday."

This compilation is chronological. Bread ended on Disc 2, Track 9 (after the "Guitar Man" album.) They came back together with "Lost Without Your Love" for one album, and have toured seperately and together since. The remaining cuts are from David Gates and James Griffin solo albums, and include some priceless music. "Ann," from David Gates "First," is an incredible song written for his infant daughter. "Part Time Love" from his second solo release is perhaps the best song he's ever written. I really miss another song from "First" called "Lorilee."

James Griffin is represented well, but not completely. "She Knows" is a wonderful song Bread would have probably put on an album if they had remained together.

The most touching addition on this record, a song that makes this compilation a must-have is James Griffin's Demo of "For All We Know." He and writing partner Robb Royer wrote this, and it became a huge hit for the Carpenters and won an Oscar.

Here it is in it's simple honesty, before all the production and hype. An incredible song.

It's inclusion is even more poignant now, since James died early this year.

So, if you can't take your entire Bread collection on your next road trip, get the Retrospective. You won't be fast forwarding past too many songs here.

Yeah that's right - the best-of of best-ofs ... PERIOD. With two 25-song discs both stuffed so full of the highest-quality eardrum art that very little disc space remains ... you can't be stuck on any desert island without it!

To this day, however, I still can't figure out why since day one much of the public has pigeonholed this legendary band as progenitors of soft-rock ... not even after thirty-some years later! Which is why this compilation reflects this reviewer's humble opinion that Bread excelled (at least, for the most part, aesthetically) in every notion of pop music imaginable - from folk-rockers like "Dismal Day" and "Any Way You Want Me" to country-rockers such as "Too Much Love" and "Truckin'" to stomping rockers including "Let Your Love Go" and, of course, the punchy "Mother Freedom" (the latter of which now bears a timely re-listening given the world's current state of absolute turmoil). Even drummer Mike Botts's sole Bread co-writing credit (with James Griffin), the infectiously groovy "Fancy Dancer", also makes a listener want to get up and get down instead of just sit and read Cosmopolitan magazines all the time ...

Which is not to suggest that Bread's legendary ballads were bad, let alone "sappy." "Everything I Own," David Gates' moving tribute to his late father, is an excellent example, not to mention his true signature tune, the immortal and much-covered standard "If" (which, incidentally, is prolific enough to have its own entry in Wikipedia!). Even James Griffin (God rest his soul), the hard(er) rocker of the group who often fought (unsuccessfully) to have his compositions released as singles (with the exception of 1969's "Could I", which unfortunately bombed miserably - as did the debut album from which it was featured), had his own share of outstanding Bread ballads to his resume'. Check out the dreamy "ballad section" of "Take Comfort" and the gospel-flavored Disc One closer, "Just Like Yesterday" - very convincing evidence indeed!

And for the compilation's overall lack of previously-unearthed treasures, the only such track included - the Griffin/Royer/Karlin composition "For All We Know" - is classic revelation enough to make up for that liability. In fact the original demo remains this reviewer's favorite rendition of this Oscar-winning gem!

Throw in several Gates solo recordings as well as an extensive booklet with massive and informative liner notes and first-rate photos to the mixing trough and VOILA! - you have the ultimate and most consistently satisfying platter in all of pop music. So in conclusion, to paraphrase one of the genre's most profilic writers, IT REALLY DOESN'T MATTER TO ME what style of pop music you crave - this outstanding compilation by an equally outstanding group is sure to meet the RIAA's USRDA of all of pop's subgenres in a manner that should be enough to satisfy even the most picky connoisseur - in spite of all the endless, unnecessary AND uneducated critical scorn.

Happy listening and Bon Appetit ... :-)

I remember back in the 70s when my Sister had bought the Best of Bread album and right away I became a fan . If you never owned a Bread album this is the one to pick up . All the hits and Album Cuts you want plus the David Gates Solo years and James Griffin solo songs including the Original Demo of For All We Know by James Griffin and Robb Royer under the pseudonyms Arthur James and Robb Wilson written for the film Lovers and Other Strangers which later became a Hit for the Carpenters !!!
A must to have in your collection although there was one song I had always liked off of Baby Im A Want You Cd that didnt make it on here and that was This Isn't Want the Government but its
still worth it!!

Melodic soft rock, predominately ballads, was the trademark of Bread, a major pop group of the early seventies, who wrote their own songs. Song writing was itself a cause of friction within the band. David Gates wrote ballads, while James Griffin and Robb Royer (who wrote as a team) wrote generally more up-tempo material. However, their songs were not very successful, so it is easy to understand why people think David Gates was Bread's only songwriter. Of the Griffin-Royer songs, perhaps Look what you've done is the best known - but it was another ballad, not one of their more customary up-tempo songs.

So more than half the songs to be found in this anthology of Bread's music were written by David Gates, including all the classics that everybody remembers. Make it with you, It don't matter to me, If (covered by actor Telly Savales, famous as Kojak, who had a British number one hit with it, but the original is far superior), Baby I'm a-want you, Everything I own (covered by reggae singer Ken Boothe, who had a British number one hit with it) and The guitar man. All these were huge hits in America, but only Make it with you was really big in Britain. However, the success that others had with covers proves that Brits like their songs.

Of course, you can find single-CD compilations that contain all the essential tracks, but this 50-track set contains many of their best album tracks, including those written by Griffin and Royer, while also including two solo tracks by Griffin and five by Gates. You therefore get more variation than you'll find on a 20-track CD, although ballads still dominate. You also get a booklet that gives plenty of information about the group and what they did musically after going their separate ways.