Search - Bread :: Make It With You & Other Hits

That band is capable.

John A. Lindquist | Wisconsin, U.S.A. | 01/19/2008

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Why in the world this CD was released is beyond me, as Rhino has chanced to put out some very good compilations that show the group's great versatility over the years. This one looks like a reissue of some South Pacific bootleg. Bread at their best is certainly not Bread as they are best known (or as they are represented on this CD), and they could certainly rock with the best of them. "Fancy Dancer" and "Take Comfort" come to mind immediately.



Griffin and bass-player Gates almost had kind of a Mozart-Salieri thing going. However one can apply any analogy, what happened fairly quickly in their career was Gates becoming a household word for establishing the voice and tone of Bread in the public ear. Griffin - the real vocal talent of the group - suffered demotion to the nether regions of the pop-rock establishment caste system. When he passed away three years ago, I heard a few "tributes" on top-40 radio that just played the hits from the stations' playlists, and Griffin was hardly to be heard.



"Retrospective" is the probably the best Rhino compilation to date, and it does help in giving James Griffin his due. But Bread's legacy is probably best left to more capable rock archivists like Bear Family and Sundazed, and hopefully some day that will be the case. Both Griffin and Gates have some incredible solo recordings that go back decades. Some of Gates' innovative rockabilly efforts (he and Buddy Holly were contemporaries!) have to be heard to be believed. Through the 1960s, Griffin showed he could handle any style of rock - from teeny-bopper pop through psychedelia and some operatic turns that rivaled those of Roy Orbison.



Don't just take my word for the above. Google "Gates Griffin Bread" (without the quotation marks) and check out the stories and controversies about this most amazing group. Listen to the CD reissues of their original LPs - all of which are finally available. At least start with "On The Waters.""