$1 BIN MONDAY: Bread - The Best Of Bread

Bread were a moderately successful soft rock band from California. You may or may not know them, but you'll probably recognize a few of their hits. When you think of Bread, you probably think of Guitar Man. While you'll find that on the digital reissue of this vinyl, you won't find it on this vinyl (it was later released on Best of Bread Vol 2). I am sorry. But for only a $1 you get Bread's other great songs, which you may have never heard of, but are pretty wonderful.

Opening the compilation is Make It With You, a soft rock classic. Everything I Own has a great melodic guitar and is a tribute to lead singer David Gates father, a beautiful song.  The dreamscape set up by Diary gives it a very soothing and swaying feel. It reminds me of the intro of A Day In The Life. Baby I Want You can't help but make you sway and fill you with good feelings. The high notes Gates hit are serendipitous. Another dreamscape feel is crafted with If, which has been covered numerous times by folks like Dolly Parton, Tom Jones, Olivia-Newton John and many others. Then the B-Side kicks things up a notch with Mother Freedom, breaking the boarder of soft rock and venturing into rock. And things stay in that genre with Down On My Knees, with the fast crashes of cymbals to the up tempo. They take it back with Too Much Love, which features an Almond Brothers-esque guitar solo. The pounding drives of the guitar get your feet taping with Let Your Love Go. The pains felt from Look What You've Done is a great break up song for anyone. Ending the album is Truckin', the traveling song with the Fleetwood Mac feel.

If you like America, Dan Fogelberg or Jim Croce, you'll like Bread (notice I took the high road and avoided an Atkins joke). I scored this copy at the $1 sale this past weekend at The Record Parlour. Add them to your collection!

PAIR WITH:

If you like soft rock and great jokes, you should check out the series Hello Ladies. The series is on HBO, but you can stream it if you have Amazon Prime. It stars Stephen Merchant, partner of Ricky Gervais and is about a lonely guy looking for love in L.A. Living in L.A., it really captures the amazing scene of the city and how quickly that charm goes away and you are stuck by yourself. But it is a great comedy that has the awkward moments you get with a lot of Ricky Gervais' work. But the real highlight is the soundtrack! From the opening song All Too Long by Hall and Oats, to works from Bread, 10cc, Al Stewart, Roxy Music and more! Worth checking out.

$1 BIN MONDAY: War - Why Can't We Be Friends

Rock, Jazz, Funk, R&B, and Reggae. These are the many genres that War can fall in to. While they have a vast discography, Why Can't We Be Friends is a great $1 bin find and great intro to War. As you can see, my copy is less then pristine, the gold tooth is more a scratched off grey, and didn't come with the Poster. But it plays amazing non-the-less.

Opening with Don't Let No One Get You Down, which is a sensual slow groove. Lotus Blossom is a even more soulful track. Heartbeat starts to picks things up and provides the classic War sound. Then is the transformative Leroy's Latin Lament which starts off soulful, but then explodes into a energetic latin jam, and then back again into a soulful piano and horn instrumental. Flipping to the B-Side is where the singles off the album shine. It starts off with the elevator-esque Smile Happy, which as far as waiting music goes, isn't half bad. Then the most powerful song on the album, So, which can get to  anyone who's been recently heartbroken. At this point you'll be saying, Oh the George Lopez theme. That's right Low Rider, which no matter how many times I've listened to it, still makes me picture George Lopez slow-mo jumping on a trampoline. In Mazatlan is another slow moving latin funk, maybe my least favorite track on the album to be honest. Ending it all is the ever so great Why Can't We Be Friends? which really needs no explanation on why it's great.

While there are definitely better War albums out there, this album is still pretty great and for only $1 is an awesome find. If you're a fan of funky sounds like Rick James or Sly & The Family Stone, you should definitely check out War. I found mine at the 99 cent sale at The Record Parlour in Hollywood, which is quite possibly my favorite record shop in LA.

Happy hunting.

EOTE SUNDAY: The Carpenters - A Song For You

Every Sunday I want to feature something that's "Easy on the Ears" listening. A good listen to relax and unwind one last time before the work week.

The sibling duo of Karen and Richard Carpenter are considered to many as the greatest soft rock musicians of all time. With so many beautiful melodic hits, it's no wonder that The Carpenters were at one time one of the best selling artists.

If you aren't familiar with the Carpenters, you'll definitely know enough songs off this album to say, "Oh this is them!" But don't be alarmed if it sounds off, as this album contains several covers along with songs that have been covered several times. Top Of The World is probably one of the most popular songs on the album and ironically was thought of by Richard Carpenter as not "commercially appealing" until it hit number 1 in Japan, in which they later re-released it as a single. Hurting Each Other, which was originally written by Gary Geld and Peter Udell and prior preformed by many other groups including Chad Allan and The Expressions, who would later become The Guess Who (who reached mainstream popularity again in Superbad as Michael Cera "soulfully" sang These Eyes). It's Going to Take Some Time is a Carole King cover, which even Carole King thought was done so elegantly that she said her version sounded like a demo. The A-Side ends on an Intermission track, which is a short little harmony letting you know it's time to flip, a nice touch you don't really get in the era of iTunes. The B-Side features the theme to the movie with the same title Blessed the Beasts and Children. The playful piano playing give Flat Baroque it's wonderful charm, and it's no wonder, since it was originally composed by Richard and John Bettis when they worked at Disneyland. I Won't Last a Day Without You is so beautifully sung by Karen Carpenter, that it inspired covers by Diana Ross and Barbara Streisand. The album comes full circle with a reprise of A Song For You.

You can score this album at a majority of your local record shops $1 bins. You can search online, but why bother. Half the fun of vinyl collecting is the hunt, so go out there and grab it.

Happy hunting.