Best Of Bread CD

Bread includes: David Gates, James Griffin (vocals, guitar); Larry Knechtel (keyboards); Mike Botts (drums).
Compilation producers: Bread, David McLees, Gary Stewart.
Recorded between 1970 & 1976. Includes liner notes by Barry Alfonso.
Digitally remastered by Bill Inglot & Geoff Sykes.
Audio Remasterer: Bill Inglot.
Liner Note Author: Barry Alfonso.
Rhino's 2001 collection, The Best of Bread, is the definitive single-disc collection of Bread's hits, spanning 20 tracks and all of the group's hits, including lesser-known hits that didn't reach the heights of "Make It With You," "Everything I Own," "If," or "Baby I'm a Want You." Though this isn't as comprehensive as Rhino's previous double-disc set -- which means it doesn't contain the David Gates solo cuts that the first one does -- it still provides most casual listeners with all the Bread they'd need, in a highly listenable fashion, too. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
As The Best of Bread unfolds, its 12 tracks begin to tell a tale of two different types of bands. The first half dozen songs, all of which were composed by leader David Gates, are each studies in soft pop perfection. On these two- and three-minute gems, Gates crafts soaring, evocative melodies that can stand against rock's finest. And though these songs' lyrics tend toward sentimentality, the band offers enough tasteful instrumentation to prevent them from slipping into easy listening melodramatics. Though there are no such concerns for the album's second half, Bread's more aggressive approach is not nearly as compelling. Certainly, tunes like "Mother Freedom" are appealing, middle-of-the-road rockers, but they lack the polished, melodic sophistication of their gentler counterparts. ~ Brian Christopher Egan
In the mid-'70s, David Gates and his group Bread were the rulers of the soft-rock roost, and deservedly so. As this concise compilation shows, Gates was masterful not only at mating infectious hooks with pithy sentiments, but at finding the emotional truth beneath all the dewy-eyed melodicism. From the visceral ache in the bridge of the majestic "Everything I Own" to the almost-candid desire behind "Baby I'm-A Want You," Bread wasn't just passing sunny ditties off on a pop-hungry public, they were putting their all into these tunes. Dig a little deeper, and you'll even hear a hint of politicization in "Mother Freedom" and willful self-consciousness in "The Guitar Man." Many lesser groups followed in the footsteps of Bread, dominating the '70s airwaves, but as THE BEST OF BREAD proves, Gates and company not only did it first, they did it better.Rolling Stone (5/24/73, p.56) - "...The album is so perfect, so compact, so endlessly listenable....`Diary' is a real masterpiece..."