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Reviewed in the United States on September 8, 2018
Just a few notes: in comparing the release on the Bread Anthology, the track Let Your Love Go is noticeably better on this release. Comparing the opening bass line as one example shows the notes were tonally a notch lower. In addition the improved quality at around 45 seconds (not as tinny) over the Anthology version is much improved. The other track that shows significant improvement on Manna is "If" over the anthology version which is less superior.
Bread broke through commercially in 1970 with the David Gates-penned classic "Make It With You" which was released as a single in May of that year. "Make It With You" then went on to appear on Bread's second album "On The Waters" which is quite a showcase as far as the David Gates-penned material is concerned, but unfortunately that is not the case for the material by James Griffin and his writing partner Robb Royer.
"Manna", Bread's 3rd album, was originally released in March of 1971. There's a heck of a lot going on stylistically here which gives the album sort of a tug-of-war feel, and although the results are ultimately uneven, it's still a really interesting effort. As far as the songwriting is concerned, the album is split down the middle, with 6 tunes written solely by Gates and the remaining 6 written by the Griffin/ Royer pairing.
On the whole, Gates is in pretty strong form here with his compositions. His weakest tune on the album by far is "He's A Good Lad"--it's got a lightweight McCartney-esque feel to it, but unfortunately it's annoyingly slight and dull, with toothless and excessively repetitive lyrics. The album-opening "Let Your Love Go" had been released as a single in late 1970 and peaked at #28--it's certainly catchy, but the attempt at a punchy and relatively hard-rocking sound sounds somewhat forced. "Come Again" is an extremely ambitious tune, starting off as a stately classical-inspired ballad, shifting into a jazzy nightclub feel, and containing a complexly melodic instrumental segment with piano and orchestration--it's quite intriguing, with impressive and effective melodicism, but unfortunately the song's melodrama takes away much of its impact. Gates does come up with three irresistible songs--there's the somewhat roots rock-flavored "She Was My Lady" in which he delivers an excellent echoing lead vocal and savvy lead guitar soloing; the breezy pop-rocker "What A Change" which has him soaring up to a blissful falsetto on the choruses; and of course, the immortal "If", a heart-wrenching, transcendant ballad of eternal devotion, fittingly enchanced by the 'underwater'-sounding electric guitar.
As for the Griffin/ Royer combo, they're showing signs of improvement over their "On The Waters" material, although Gates' production and arranging probably deserve a considerable amount of the credit for this, and the results still leave a lot to be desired. "Take Comfort" moves back and forth between a relatively hard-rocking section and a ballad section--the rockier part does have a catchy melody, but the song's 'meaningful' lyrics are lame-brained and obvious, and Griffin's typically overwrought vocals make them sound even worse. They go for edginess on the lustful, R&B-flavored "Be Kind To Me", but the tune sounds considerably like a throwaway, with lame lyrics and excess repetition of the title. They do come up with an engaging moody ballad with "I Say Again", a nice acoustic-based pop-rocker "Too Much Love", plus a couple other respectable tunes--the orchestrated ballad "Live In Your Love"; and the relatively revved-up album closer "Truckin'" which is typically overwrought but reasonably catchy.
In the end, "Manna" has its moments for sure, but it's frustratingly disjointed, with uneven songwriting. The 1995 CD release on Rhino does sweeten the pot with excellent, extensive liner notes and a typically valiant remastering effort--try to track it down for a reasonable price if you're a big-time Breadhead.
I had this album when it was released, and have always enjoyed their music. Some of their music is like comfort food for my soul. Like most albums, it has a couple of songs on it that I don't particularly care for, but I do enjoy most of them. The songs have been remastered, and sound very good.
I'm not a Bread Head but I've listened to this album hundreds of times. The only other Bead album I ever owned was their first which I could never get into. In my opinion this is not an album to listen to. However, it is the best album to study with. I could put this album on and it was the best background music ever. I would put this on my turntable with auto start on and let it play at least 2 or 3 times while I studied. Then I could turn it over and do the same on the other side. It sounds real good but if you tried to really listen to it I think you would get bored. I mean if you want to actually listen to Bread I would definitely go for "Baby I'm a Want You" but you could never study to that because it would always grab your attention away. I would play this all the time when I studied and I would never be pulled away to listen to it. The amazing thing is that it helped me think when I stopped to think. I used to try all kinds of other albums back then and none of them were decent to study with. Either they would pull my attention away with the music or would bother me because they were just not good. I would have to say that this is the best album I know of to have on if you want music on but you don't really want to listen to it or be bothered by it. Let's admit it this is a really great album with really good music which doesn't try in any way to grab you. Most pop music is trying so hard to either force your ear, blow you away, overstate something or worse that you either listen to it if you're in the mood or shut it off. This is just really sweet, simple rock with nice harmony without a bad song. Probably the most unpretentious pop music I have ever heard. To me it is the best I have heard of the entire genre - America, James Taylor, Loggins & Messina, early Eagles, Cat Stevens... I would have never known that this was a good album if I didn't get it in the bargain bin one day. How can you lose for $.99? You cannot go wrong if you get a copy of this album. Just don't expect to be able to put it on and blow you away or evn be singing the songs a week later. Just put it on and do something else and it will grow on you in a very subtle way. It always got me after I turned it off or when it would get to the end I noticed how nice it was.
The third release from Bread is an excellent example of the group's ability to create extremely listenable pop. The Gates/Griffin conflict was an unfortunate dispute because both writers contributed immensely to the overall entity and identity of what we devoted fans appreciated. MANNA does have the colossal hit IF which has become synonymous with BREAD, but every track has its own merits and I still enjoy listening to them. I particularly like I SAY AGAIN, COME AGAIN, TAKE COMFORT, SHE WAS MY LADY and TOO MUCH LOVE. But the entire collection still brings me immense pleasure and I highly recommend it!
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