In some ways, an album like Baby I’m-A Want You by a band like Bread, is the epitome of what
this blog is all about: a long-forgotten, well-crafted, pop album by an
underappreciated band that deserves a dusting off and another spin on the
turntable (or another “click” on the iPod). And Bread was an exceptional band
that just never received its due for being one of the most consistently
listenable acts of the early 1970’s (although there was a terrific, non-ironic 2005 tribute album). Baby
I’m-A Want You stands as one of their very best albums (that said, there’s
something to appreciate about all of
their original albums released in the precious, few years they were together between
1969 and 1977).
But first, a few U.S. career highlights from this
significantly misunderstood band:
· In their heyday, Bread racked-up 12 top-40 hit
songs between 1970-1977
· 7 of those were top-10 hits
· Their solitary #1 hit, “Make It With You,” is a
classic slice of early-1970’s pop balladry and has been covered by many over
the years, including the legendary Dusty Springfield, whose tragically obscure version
stands as the definitive version and
is well-worth seeking out
But besides these points on a graph, Bread was simply an
exceptional band of songwriters and musicians, signaling in 1969, “…the birth
of Californian soft rock, as David Gates and compatriots blended the folk-rock
of The Byrds and Buffalo Springfield with a distinctly British melodicism and a
streak of sentimentality borrowed from McCartney” (All Music, 2013). Lofty and accurate comparisons, no? In fact,
beyond their work with Bread, individual band members had notable achievements
through the 1970’s and 1980’s and into the 1990’s, including band members Rob
Royer’s and James Griffin’s Oscar-winning song, “For All We Know,” from the
film Lovers And Other Strangers in
1970, as well as David Gates’ #15 solo hit from the Neil Simon film, Goodbye Girl in 1977 and his #30 hit,
“Took The Last Train,” in 1978. Additionally, Griffin, Royer, and Mike Botts
had continued success in the 1980’s and 90’s as songwriters and performers in
the Country Music genre. Clearly, band members were overflowing with talent and
ideas.
And peaking at #3 in 1972, Baby I’m-A Want You, the band’s fourth album, was its biggest hit, featuring
radio classics such as, “Mother Freedom,” #37 in July of 1971, “Baby I’m-A Want You,” #3 in October of 1971, “Everything I Own,” #5 in January of 1972, and
“Diary,” #15 in April of 1972. And beyond the radio hits, Baby I’m-A Want You included fan favorites, like the rocking, “Down On My Knees,” the surreal, imaginative “Dream Lady,” which I’ve always suspected inspired
Gary Wright’s 1976 hit, “Dream Weaver,” both musically and lyrically, the
equally dreamlike, “Games Of Magic,” the wistful, “Just Like Yesterday,” and
the finger-wagging, lecture song, “Daughter.” Along with “Mother
Freedom,” the album’s other civically minded tune, “This Isn’t What The
Governmeant,” (See what they’re doing there?) provides the typical
left-of-center, partisan political commentary rock bands were issuing in those
days. And Baby I’m-A Want You is an
exceptional album for its time; a sun-faded Polaroid of a remarkable and melodic
era in popular music.
But by 1973, internal tensions pulled the band apart, and depending
on the account to which you most prescribe, the rift was either caused by
ongoing tension between principle songwriters, David Gates and James Griffin,
over which songs would be selected as singles, with Gates’ mellow songs having
the best commercial track record over Griffin’s more rock-driven songs, or it
was caused by the record label, Elektra,
that wanted to keep the band pigeonholed as hit making, “softy” balladeers,
when the band wanted to explore other sounds and highlight their edgier,
guitar-driven work. Either way, the tension makes sense; if you look beyond
their best known, Gates ballad singles, the band rocked as hard or harder than
many of their contemporaries on the radio at that time (to wit, the
trend-conscious, “Truckin’,” which captured the early-mid 1970’s romanticized fascination with the trucking profession, “Let Your Love Go,” and
“London Bridge,” to name just a few). But whatever the actual formula for its
demise, I guess longevity wasn’t meant to be for the band, and the good lads
went their separate ways in 1978.
In the late 1990’s, Gates, Griffin, Botts and Knechtel came back together for the inevitable nostalgia reunion tour, but to the best of my
knowledge, they recorded no new material at that time. Sad, that, as just a few
years later, Mike Botts and James Griffin were dead from cancer. Larry Knechtel
died of a heart attack in 2009. And that, music fans, was the end of Bread. Most
folks who appreciate the hits have already sated their appetites with the
double-CD, Bread Retrospective,
released in the 1990’s, but there’s much buried treasure and even more insight
to be gained from picking up the original albums that carried these 1970’s pop
gems, which helped usher-in not only “soft rock,” but also the
singer-songwriter era of the early 1970’s.
