$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.

SOUNDTRACKED: David Bowie - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars

Although I like to shy away from classic albums, I made an exception in honor of the release of Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy. If I had the time I would do it on the 7" of Blue Swede's Hooked On A Feeling, which is available on Amazon for only $2. Instead I am doing it on David Bowie's alien rock star Ziggy Stardust and whose song is on Peter Quill's Mixtape in the Movie.

With so much history with this album, it's really hard to cover it all with just a post, so for more info check out it's wikipedia page for the Production, Back Story, and Reception of it all. But what's there to really say about this album. It opens with the solemn Five Years which tells the tale of the destruction of the Earth. Moonage Daydream can be found on Peter Quill's Mixtape, and maybe heard in the Guardians of the Galaxy movie, a true glam rock song. The classic Bowie pop sound comes out with Starman. On the B-Side, you open with the beautiful piano playing of Lady Stardust. The rockabilly-esque sounds that drive Hang On to Yourself give the album a nice change of pace. Then your hit the big ones, Ziggy Stardust and Suffragette City, which you'll probably recognize right off the bat if you never listened to this album before. Ending the album is the what as known as the final collapse of Ziggy, Rock 'N' Roll Suicide, a perfect ending in his saga.

There's no need to convince you on why this is a great album since it's pretty much a classic. This album will probably set you back though, Amazon has it at $40.00 new, while most record shops have it for around $30. If you can swing it, it's well worth owning for your collection. And remember the back, it's "to be played at maximum volume."

PAIR WITH:

Original Artwork Brought To You By Fandango

This is an obvious choice, but you can check out the midnight showing of Guardians of the Galaxy. The movie stars Parks and Rec's Chris Pratt as Peter Quill, Sci-Fi Princess Zoe Saldana as Gamora, Ex-Wrestler Dave Bautista as Drax, and Vin Diesel and Bradley Cooper as the voices of Groot and Rocket Raccoon respectively. The movie is directed by James Gunn whose also done Silther and Super. It's easy to get lost in all the super hero movies, but if there's one thing Whedon's Avengers taught us is that, they make great summer movies. And be sure to check out Peter Quill's Awesome Mix Tape for more rock hits! Unavailable on vinyl (and more likely coming out on cassette), you can buy the mix cd on Amazon.

Check Fandango for movie showtimes and midnight showings in your area.