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Post by lonelysummer on Apr 23, 2022 0:22:49 GMT
I love Bread. And, talk about underrated artists. David Gates was kinda the Brian Wilson of Bread. David Gates was surrounded by outstanding musicians, but HE wrote all of those great songs. It's about time he gets his due.
It's true that Gates always got the A sides of the singles, but Griffin/Royer had half of the songs on the albums. I guess David sucked up to the right people at Elektra; and this lopsided situation was the main cause of their breakup in 1973. I agree Gates' songs are amazing, but I could make an excellent Bread comp of just the songs James sang.
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Post by lonelysummer on Apr 23, 2022 0:31:49 GMT
Burton is great. Got to see him in concert on two different NYE's in the last decade.
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Post by carllove on Apr 23, 2022 2:58:28 GMT
I love Bread. And, talk about underrated artists. David Gates was kinda the Brian Wilson of Bread. David Gates was surrounded by outstanding musicians, but HE wrote all of those great songs. It's about time he gets his due.
It's true that Gates always got the A sides of the singles, but Griffin/Royer had half of the songs on the albums. I guess David sucked up to the right people at Elektra; and this lopsided situation was the main cause of their breakup in 1973. I agree Gates' songs are amazing, but I could make an excellent Bread comp of just the songs James sang. And Griffin/Royer have an Academy Award as well. I can see why Royer left early and Griffin and Gates had a strained relationship. They did get back together briefly in the late 70’s. Also, Larry Knechtel had a Grammy for “Bridge Over Troubled Water” for which he played the piano. I love Mike Botts solo work too. That band was not all David Gates. Most people would have no idea of the talent that was there. Still, Bread is very under appreciated and almost forgotten, which makes me very sad.
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Post by carllove on Apr 23, 2022 3:19:08 GMT
And to bring this thread full circle, the song that Jimmy Griffin and Robb Royer won the Academy Award for in 1971 (“For All We Know”) was performed by The Carpenters.
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Post by carllove on Apr 23, 2022 3:37:43 GMT
Burton is great. Got to see him in concert on two different NYE's in the last decade. I saw him perform with the Guess Who during the reunion tour in 1983 and was very impressed by his talent. As I was watching the Gordon Lightfoot video, I noticed that he actually sounded Canadian in some of his songs. So who better than to do Gordon Lightfoot, than another Canadian.
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Post by jk on Apr 23, 2022 9:13:39 GMT
I am curious jk - how do you feel about Kraftwerk? I have two of their albums, Autobahn and Trans-Europe Express. I don't know how I got to buy the first one (maybe it was cheap and of course I knew the name) but Express was one of a glut of albums I bought in the early 2000s after reading Mark Prendergast's The Ambient Century: From Mahler to Moby. I never played Autobahn much -- it tired quite soon -- but the later album got quite a few spins for a while. It feels more like a well-rounded whole, whereas Autobahn is the long title track plus bits and bobs. I remember Gary being appreciative of them (they must have influenced him) "but they look so boring"! He found the time was right for a genuine synth star and he certainly was that for a while, mainly in the UK. I believe he hit with "Cars" in the States and that was all. What do I feel about Kraftwerk? Well they don't grab me the way Gary's music does. But I don't dislike them -- which probably doesn't answer your question but there you go... Actually, now I think of it, my favourite Kraftwerk track is not by them at all but by the Balanescu Quartet. I love Alexander B's accent on "Pocket Calculator"!
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Apr 23, 2022 11:52:55 GMT
It's true that Gates always got the A sides of the singles, but Griffin/Royer had half of the songs on the albums. I guess David sucked up to the right people at Elektra; and this lopsided situation was the main cause of their breakup in 1973. I agree Gates' songs are amazing, but I could make an excellent Bread comp of just the songs James sang. And Griffin/Royer have an Academy Award as well. I can see why Royer left early and Griffin and Gates had a strained relationship. They did get back together briefly in the late 70’s. Also, Larry Knechtel had a Grammy for “Bridge Over Troubled Water” for which he played the piano. I love Mike Botts solo work too. That band was not all David Gates. Most people would have no idea of the talent that was there. Still, Bread is very under appreciated and almost forgotten, which makes me very sad. On The Doors' first album, The Doors, Larry Knechtel overdubbed bass (over Ray Manzarek's keyboard bass) on several tracks to give them more "punch".
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Post by lonelysummer on Apr 24, 2022 7:14:16 GMT
And Griffin/Royer have an Academy Award as well. I can see why Royer left early and Griffin and Gates had a strained relationship. They did get back together briefly in the late 70’s. Also, Larry Knechtel had a Grammy for “Bridge Over Troubled Water” for which he played the piano. I love Mike Botts solo work too. That band was not all David Gates. Most people would have no idea of the talent that was there. Still, Bread is very under appreciated and almost forgotten, which makes me very sad. On The Doors' first album, The Doors, Larry Knechtel overdubbed bass (over Ray Manzarek's keyboard bass) on several tracks to give them more "punch". Larry was such an amazing musician. When Bread was recording The Guitar Man, David tried to do a guitar solo for the song, but he couldn't come up with anything. James gave it a try, it was a little better, but they still weren't satisfied. Well, Larry, who played keyboards and bass in the band, offered to try doing the guitar solo. Walked out onto the studio player, nailed it first time through. It was a big boost for him to join that band - not to dismiss Robb Royer, who continued to write songs with James. There's an excellent biography of Bread, A Sweet Surrender, by Malcolm Searls. He pops up on Beach Boys forums occasionally.
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Post by lonelysummer on Apr 24, 2022 7:19:23 GMT
Burton is great. Got to see him in concert on two different NYE's in the last decade. I saw him perform with the Guess Who during the reunion tour in 1983 and was very impressed by his talent. As I was watching the Gordon Lightfoot video, I noticed that he actually sounded Canadian in some of his songs. So who better than to do Gordon Lightfoot, than another Canadian. I got to see The Guess Who during their 2001 reunion tour. That was one of THE best concerts ever. I don't think I fully appreciated the scope of Burton's talent until I saw him in concert. But that whole band was great. I never hear Garry Peterson's name mentioned among the all time great drummers, but he should be. I think about his playing on some of their songs - Undun, No Time, No Sugar Tonight, Hang On to Your Life, Albert Flasher....he always played what was right for the song, very tasteful. It's a crime those guys aren't in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. When I think of Canadian music, The Guess Who and Lightfoot are the first names that come to mind.
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Post by jk on Apr 24, 2022 8:28:03 GMT
On The Doors' first album, The Doors, Larry Knechtel overdubbed bass (over Ray Manzarek's keyboard bass) on several tracks to give them more "punch". Larry was such an amazing musician. When Bread was recording The Guitar Man, David tried to do a guitar solo for the song, but he couldn't come up with anything. James gave it a try, it was a little better, but they still weren't satisfied. Well, Larry, who played keyboards and bass in the band, offered to try doing the guitar solo. Walked out onto the studio player, nailed it first time through. It was a big boost for him to join that band - not to dismiss Robb Royer, who continued to write songs with James. There's an excellent biography of Bread, A Sweet Surrender, by Malcolm Searles. He pops up on Beach Boys forums occasionally. So that was Larry -- wow! As for "Malc", I know he drops in at EH from time to time. On one recent occasion he was looking for a hi-res image of the cover of the recent orchestral Beach Boys tribute album...
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Apr 24, 2022 11:29:22 GMT
I saw him perform with the Guess Who during the reunion tour in 1983 and was very impressed by his talent. As I was watching the Gordon Lightfoot video, I noticed that he actually sounded Canadian in some of his songs. So who better than to do Gordon Lightfoot, than another Canadian. I got to see The Guess Who during their 2001 reunion tour. That was one of THE best concerts ever. I don't think I fully appreciated the scope of Burton's talent until I saw him in concert. But that whole band was great. I never hear Garry Peterson's name mentioned among the all time great drummers, but he should be. I think about his playing on some of their songs - Undun, No Time, No Sugar Tonight, Hang On to Your Life, Albert Flasher....he always played what was right for the song, very tasteful. It's a crime those guys aren't in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. When I think of Canadian music, The Guess Who and Lightfoot are the first names that come to mind. The Guess Who is usually my first choice for artist(s) who should be in the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame. Fourteen Top 40 singles in the U.S. I have The Guess Who - Greatest Hits CD - one classic after another.
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Post by jk on Apr 24, 2022 12:31:11 GMT
The Guess Who is usually my first choice for artist(s) who should be in the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame. Fourteen Top 40 singles in the U.S. I have The Guess Who - Greatest Hits CD - one classic after another. The Guess Who are one of several major North American acts that made little to no impact in the UK. Others are Gary Lewis and the Playboys, The Grass Roots and Grand Funk Railroad. Perhaps they were all too... North American? Maybe it's just serendipity and there's no logical reason to be sought...
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Post by Kapitan on Apr 24, 2022 16:22:20 GMT
The Guess Who is usually my first choice for artist(s) who should be in the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame. Fourteen Top 40 singles in the U.S. I have The Guess Who - Greatest Hits CD - one classic after another. The Guess Who are one of several major North American acts that made little to no impact in the UK. Others are Gary Lewis and the Playboys, The Grass Roots and Grand Funk Railroad. Perhaps they were all too... North American? Maybe it's just serendipity and there's no logical reason to be sought... It's always interesting how so many bands have success in both markets, while some (for whatever reason) never seem to translate.
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Post by jk on Apr 25, 2022 14:46:12 GMT
The Guess Who are one of several major North American acts that made little to no impact in the UK. Others are Gary Lewis and the Playboys, The Grass Roots and Grand Funk Railroad. Perhaps they were all too... North American? Maybe it's just serendipity and there's no logical reason to be sought... It's always interesting how so many bands have success in both markets, while some (for whatever reason) never seem to translate. Another big US star who failed to dent the UK charts was Johnny Rivers, who weathered the British Invasion with a string of US hits...
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Post by jk on May 2, 2022 12:02:45 GMT
Getting back to topic, I'd say big bands are a guilty pleasure of mine -- and the brasher and more raucous, the better. This goes against all my principles but gosh darn it, at the end of the day stuff like Buddy Rich's "Senator Sam" (here 20 seconds in) is unashamedly thrilling! Digging Jimmy Bruno on guitar:
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