My Daily Bread - PortlandBarFly.com
By Tim Hinely
Somewhere along the line there's a thread, at least in my mind, that goes something like, Led Zeppelin to Black Flag to Pavement to Magnetic Fields to the Shins to, uh, Bread. I swear there is a connection. No, really.
I was always the pop guy. Back in the mid-'70s, when all of my buddies were digging Kiss, I was digging the Beach Boys. I mean, I dug Kiss too, but the golden boys from Hawthorne, Ca. were always my favorites. So a few years later, while I was digging songs like Minor Threat's "Filler" and "Bottled Violence," I was also getting in my head to the Beach Boys' "In My Room."
So there's my timeline: classic rock to new wave to punk to post-punk to indie-rock and back to pop. Some of my faves like the Free Design and the Cowsills both had plenty of indie cred so there was no problem there. Then I bought the Carpenters' "Greatest Hits" and my pals began curling their eyebrows at me. "What the fuck are you doing, Hinely? Fuck! From Social Distortion and the Butthole Surfers to —this ?!"
Yup. And then there's Bread. As in David Gates and Bread. As in "Make It With You" Bread. When I bought "Anthology of Bread" (I also later got the shorter "The Best of Bread." Both are on Elektra but at 21 songs, compared to 12 on "Best Of," "Anthology" is a better deal) I was hoping for a revelation since it had been years since I'd listened to them.
When I brought the CD up to the counter of the record store I swear I heard cheers, hoots and hollers, uproarious laughter, a round of applause and the sound of the store owner kissing my 10 dollar bill. But I was determined to prove that these guys weren't a third-rate Air Supply (or Toto). OK, so none of my friends have requested Bread mix tapes (not yet, anyway) but the songwriting is there, I'm telling you. Yeah, there's some cheese mixed in, but songs like the previously mentioned "Make It With You" as well as the solid "Dismal Day," "Look What You've Done," "Sweet Surrender" and the soft-rock ballad, "Lost Without Your Love," shows that Mr. Gates and company could write with the best of them.
So the "Anthology of Bread" sits on my shelf nestled in between Bratmobile and the Brian Jonestown Massacre. While I'm sure the ironic T-shirt and horn-rimmed glasses set would give me props, I listen to my Bread CDs more than the other two. And I'm not embarrassed to say I have them in my record collection anymore.
Oh, by the way, did I ever tell you how much I love Boston's first record?
Somewhere along the line there's a thread, at least in my mind, that goes something like, Led Zeppelin to Black Flag to Pavement to Magnetic Fields to the Shins to, uh, Bread. I swear there is a connection. No, really.
I was always the pop guy. Back in the mid-'70s, when all of my buddies were digging Kiss, I was digging the Beach Boys. I mean, I dug Kiss too, but the golden boys from Hawthorne, Ca. were always my favorites. So a few years later, while I was digging songs like Minor Threat's "Filler" and "Bottled Violence," I was also getting in my head to the Beach Boys' "In My Room."
So there's my timeline: classic rock to new wave to punk to post-punk to indie-rock and back to pop. Some of my faves like the Free Design and the Cowsills both had plenty of indie cred so there was no problem there. Then I bought the Carpenters' "Greatest Hits" and my pals began curling their eyebrows at me. "What the fuck are you doing, Hinely? Fuck! From Social Distortion and the Butthole Surfers to —this ?!"
Yup. And then there's Bread. As in David Gates and Bread. As in "Make It With You" Bread. When I bought "Anthology of Bread" (I also later got the shorter "The Best of Bread." Both are on Elektra but at 21 songs, compared to 12 on "Best Of," "Anthology" is a better deal) I was hoping for a revelation since it had been years since I'd listened to them.
When I brought the CD up to the counter of the record store I swear I heard cheers, hoots and hollers, uproarious laughter, a round of applause and the sound of the store owner kissing my 10 dollar bill. But I was determined to prove that these guys weren't a third-rate Air Supply (or Toto). OK, so none of my friends have requested Bread mix tapes (not yet, anyway) but the songwriting is there, I'm telling you. Yeah, there's some cheese mixed in, but songs like the previously mentioned "Make It With You" as well as the solid "Dismal Day," "Look What You've Done," "Sweet Surrender" and the soft-rock ballad, "Lost Without Your Love," shows that Mr. Gates and company could write with the best of them.
So the "Anthology of Bread" sits on my shelf nestled in between Bratmobile and the Brian Jonestown Massacre. While I'm sure the ironic T-shirt and horn-rimmed glasses set would give me props, I listen to my Bread CDs more than the other two. And I'm not embarrassed to say I have them in my record collection anymore.
Oh, by the way, did I ever tell you how much I love Boston's first record?
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