$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.

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.