BREAD, LOVE AND DREAMS

The first Bread Love & Dreams album, much like the band’s brief career, is a study in glimpses of unfulfilled promise and underappreciated talent. It would be followed up with the more eclectic and ambitious duo of records ‘Amaryllis’ and ‘The Strange Tale of Captain Shannon and the Hunchback from Gigha’. The former explored the ‘acid’ side of acid folk more fully then the debut; and the latter employed a broader array of guest musicians including Carolyn Davis, who departed the band after the first album. Both albums (originally intended to be a double-disc release) would be the more memorable contributions the group gave to progressive folk music, with their self-titled debut relegated to back shelves for years before being quietly reissued on the dubious Hugo-Montes Productions label in 2001.

But in some ways this opening exhibits charms that draw belated fans like me to acid folk, more so than their more well-known works. This one is rather sparse despite having both Angie Rew and Carolyn Davis to accompany multi-instrumentalist David McNiven on the abundant vocals that fill every track. The latter two albums featured only Rew and McNiven for the most part, with more emphasis on varied instrumental arrangements and psych-leaning lyrics as opposed to rich vocal harmonies. The band also doesn’t seem to be taking themselves all that seriously on this record, with songs like the hangover anthem “Switch out the Sun” and the somewhat silly “The Yellow-Bellied Redback” showing a tongue-in-cheek sense of humor on the band’s part.

At times the trio doesn’t stray far from what most would consider traditional folk, particularly in the middle of the album with the laconic “Lady of the Night”, the almost too-staid “Falling Over Backwards” and the slightly self-indulgent ballad “Poet's Song”. But elsewhere there are little flashes of creativity. “Main Street” layers backing vocals from both ladies with harmonica and an upbeat tempo for what is probably the liveliest song on the album. McNiven lapses into ballad-like vocals and acoustic guitar- strumming on “Mirrors”, but here again the vocal harmonies are quite beautiful and the string arrangements and other keyboard flourishes make for a charming vignette.

This isn’t a very memorable album, but it is certainly good enough to merit a proper reissue on some prog-friendly label at some point. Bread Love and Dreams were clearly heavily influenced by the Incredible String Band, and although they began their brief career in a similar vein, the duo of McNiven and Rew would never reach the level of creativity or establish the following that kept ISB going for so long. Too bad. Three stars (but just barely) for this record, with a mild recommendation for serious prog and acid folk fans if you can find it. The Hugo-Montes CD is the only reissue I’m aware of, and doesn’t include any bonus material or anything else to enhance interest, but like I said – hopefully someone, someday will give this a proper re-release with handling appropriate to its place in prog folk history.

peace

As a folk album it's perfect. Well, maybe except few songs. But I find myself quite a confused and I'm wondering how to rate album which sounds not much like prog

Songs flows slowly, I must say that I quite like folk music recently (I wonder why), but only unusual thing here is bass guitar (used for few tones) and maybe strings. Fact is that I'm not prog folk expert, nor any other genre expert, so my knowledge is not as good as it could be, so I have to use just my ears. And they're big ears (I hope it doesn't sound funny).

Songs are average by my opinion, not some of these 3.5 stars (with 3-rating), but fully deserves middle mark. I like "Switch Out the Sun" which indeed is funny one about results of excessive drinking and hangover. "Until She Needs You" part 0:39-0:44 was used in many country/folk songs. It's well known one, but fits perfectly here. "Yellow Belly" is rather strange, but listenable, instead of last song about some recipe. Maybe I didn't get it at all, but except nice Dylanisque music it's good part is just first 2/3.

Listenable, but not so prog rock. But it's prog folk, so it's not so important Still I quite like and will listen from time to time.

EDIT: And I do, I like it a lot. Funny thing is that it reminds me my first experience with alcohol (before I started to drink Pilsen beer, which relieves you from any kind of hangovers. They simply aren't here), but even funnier thing is that I like one particular second in this song. It's in interval 00:00-00:05, the first time where bass guitar player puts his finger on strings. This exact tone is unique.

3(-), wild endings, at first I hated them, then never-minded them, now I like them. Funny cycle, as a lot of things about this album.

Nice Folk album. I liked the band´s name and it made me curious about this obscure band from the late 60´s/early 70´s. Their debut is a very simple affair, with nothing really prog on it. Mostly acoutisc guitars, nice vocal harmonies, some strings, a little flute here and a little harmonica there. Although in their biography here on PA The Incredible String Band is cited as a major influence, I see nothing like that here. It reminds more of other folk groups in the vein of early Strawbs, Fairport Convention and The Pentangle, with a much simpler sound, of course.

It´s easy to understand why this album failed to chart: there were just too many artists doing the same thing at the time, or earlier. The tracklist is ok too: some traditional stuff, some original ones, some funny lyrics about drinking (the opener Switch Out The Sun is a good exemple), other more whimsical (The Yellow-Bellied Redback ) and the almost obligatory dylan like stuff (Virgin Kiss) and blues tune (95 Octane Gravy). All done with efficient, but very basic accompaniment. Production is very clear and good.

Conclusion: a nice record, even if it adds nothing to the style. No prog in here. I´m looking forward to hear their next releases to see if they did improve. If you like obscure 60´s folk stuff, this is a CD worth listening to. But for a prog site I can only give it 2 stars. Collectors, completionists and fans only.