Bread Retrospective CD

RETROSPECTIVE includes classic Bread songs as well as tracks from solo projects of former Bread members.
Bread: David Gates (vocals, guitar, violin, keyboards, bass); James Griffin (vocals, guitar, keyboards); Larry Knechtel (guitar, harmonica, keyboards, bass); Robb Royer (guitar, keyboards, bass); Mike Botts (drums, percussion).
Additional personnel: Jim Gordon (drums).
James Griffin personnel: James Griffin (electric guitar); David Gates (12-string guitar, bass); Robb Royer, David Cohen (guitar); Larry Knechtel (keyboards).
David Gates personnel: David Gates (guitar, keyboards, bass); Dan Dugmore (steel guitar); Hadley Hockensmith (guitar, bass); Larry Carlton, Louie Shelton, Dean Parks, Robin Williamson (guitar); David Lindley (fiddle); Jimmy Getzoff (strings); Jim Horn, Tom Scott (alto saxophone); Dick Hyde (bass trumpet); Chuck Findley (flugelhorn); Larry Knechtel (keyboards, bass); David Miner (bass); Mike Botts, Paul Leim (drums, percussion); Jim Gordon, John Guerin, Russ Kunkel (drums); Craig Gates (percussion).
Producers: Bread, David Gates, James Griffin, Robb Royer, James Griffin.
Compilation producers: Bread, David McLees, Bill Inglot.
Engineers include: Bruce Botnick, Armin Steiner, Ed Barton.
Recorded at Elektra Sound Recorders and DG Studios, Los Angeles, California; Sound Recorders, Id Sound Studios and Wally Heider Studios, Hollywood, California. Includes liner notes by Barry Alfonso.
Personnel: David Gates (guitar, keyboards); Dean Parks, Hadley Hockensmith, Larry Carlton, Louie Shelton, Robin Williamson (guitar); Dan Dugmore (steel guitar); David Lindley (fiddle); James Getzoff (strings); Jim Horn, Tom Scott (alto saxophone); Dick Hyde (bass trumpet); Chuck Findley (flugelhorn); Larry Knechtel (keyboards); Michael Botts, Paul Leim (drums, percussion); Jim Gordon , John Guerin, Russ Kunkel (drums); Craig Gates (percussion).
Audio Remasterers: Geoff Sykes; Bill Inglot.
Liner Note Author: Barry Alfonso.
Photographers: David Gates; Frank Bez.
Arranger: David Gates.
Retrospective is the definitive compilation of Bread, perhaps the definitive soft rock group of the '70s. If anything, it may be too comprehensive for most listeners. Covering the entire course of Bread's career, plus selected highlights from David Gates in the late '70s and early '80s, the compilation spans two very full compact discs. For those who want more than the hits but are unwilling to delve into individual albums, the collection is ideal. Listeners who want the hits might find the album tracks a little tedious. Then again, the presence of Gates' solo hits like "The Goodbye Girl" is enticing for even casual fans, since he lacks a solo compilation and there are no sets that cover both his solo career and Bread. Since Retrospective does cover all the Bread hits plus solid obscurities and Gates' solo highlights, it does qualify as the definitive collection. In fact, it's hard to imagine how another set could be as thorough as this. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
It may have been the late rock critic Lester Bangs who first applied the tag "wimp rock" to the session men-turned-AM radio stars of Bread. They were an easy target, and the appellation stuck. Even at the band's most impassioned, rocking out wasn't the point; instead, Bread made some of the finest, most enduring soft rock singles ever.
Delicate, acoustic-based love songs such as "Make it With You" and "If" sound like they could have been recorded at any point in the last few decades. This handsomely-packaged two-disc set collects all of Bread's singles, both charting and otherwise, along with significant album tracks, rarities, and a handful of solo recordings made after Bread's late-'70s breakup, including David Gates' hit movie theme "The Goodbye Girl," in excellently remastered sound.

Live Recording

Rolling Stone (12/26/96, p.189) - "...Writing and singing about the pressures and rewards of monogamy, the group's David Gates sounds like the Uber role model for today's country-radio squires, with one crucial difference--his seductive melodicism....guilty pleasures don't always turn out to be embarrassments."
Q (10/96, p.175) - 4 Stars - Excellent - "...the understated, romantic pop rock of Bread helped to define the sound of the early-'70s..."