Retrospective

A terrific compilation of the best of Bread. Great to listen to and reminisce about those days when Bread was putting out top hits. 2 CDs full of songs - a few of which I never heard (or "remembered" hearing ;-)) back in the day...

I had searched high and low for many of the Bread albums, but could not find them. Here are all the great songs and some of even the lesser known hits together in one collection! A must for any breadhead!

This collection was exactly what I was looking for. Although the case was damaged, thankfully none of the cd's were and I was able to immediately begin listening to the cd's. After ditching my turntable and albums I've been trying to get back all the music I love. This definitely helped. Absolutely awesome...has every song anyone could want.

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 ... :-)

Finally, in 2 discs we get a proper very well remastered retrospective of not just Bread but also David Gates solo stuff as well. This is the one to get if you want a true representation of Bread and David Gate's work. With the great track selections and sound quality, it's fully worth the price.
Highly recommended!