With his trademark angelic voice, David Gates is best known as a leader of the soft rock band Bread. After the last slice of Bread disappeared, Gates got a fresh start as a solo artist. His solo work is just another loaf of Bread, so to speak, but his songs never quite got the attention of the band's material. Gates first chart appearance as a solo artist was the long winded suite called "Clouds," which somehow floated to #47 in 1973. He managed better in 1975 with "Never Let Her Go," which hit #29 (incidentally, this is also his best solo album in my opinion). A successful Bread union in 1977 served to sandwich his solo career, and Gates scored a comeback hit with "Goodbye Girl" in 1977. Thanks to being featured in a movie of the same name, the sweet tune went all the way to #15. Gates couldn't hold on to that momentum though and scored his last charting single in 1981 with "Take Me Now" landing at #62. After that, Gates left the music scene to run a cattle ranch. No one expected Gates to release a brand new album 13 years later amid the grunge craze, but then again Celine Dion just scored a #1 hit, reminding us that soft rock never dies. The album was called "Love Is Always Seventeen" and is trademark Gates, with some leftover 80s electric piano. His voice sounded as silky smooth as ever. Highlights from the record include the title track, "Ordinary Man," and this one, "Dear World."
More bands should be named after food. Soft rock kings, Bread, dominated AM radio in the early 70s with their catchy songs and gorgeous harmonies. All of their hits were written and produced by David Gates, whose smooth and heartfelt vocals kept the band on the charts for years. After a couple great songs like "Dismal Day" failed to chart, the band debuted in a big way with the #1 smash "Make It With You" in 1970. Legend has it that the boys came up with the band name after getting stuck behind a Wonder Bread truck. All these years I always thought they were being clever, since bread was popular 70s slang for money and their self-titled record even featured them on dollar bills. I wonder if they would have had the same success if they had gotten stuck in traffic behind an Oscar Meyer Weiner truck. Along with Gates, guitarist James Griffin wrote and sang a number of songs for the band. However, none of his tunes were ever selected by the record company to be released as a single. This spurred rifts in the band leading to their first breakup in 1973. Griffin provided more of a muscular edge to the band's usual light rock fare and his songs should not be overlooked. "Down On My Knees" is one of my favorites sung by Griffin, and just listen to the excitement in the drums played by Mike Botts, who was probably thrilled at the chance to do an upbeat song for a change! The tune comes from the mega-successful 1972 record, "Baby I'm-a Want You", which got to #3.
