Bread: A Sweet Surrender: The Musical Journey of David Gates, James Griffin & Co.

by Malcolm C. Searles

Researched in detail, Bread: A Sweet Surrender includes exclusive interviews with founding member Robb Royer, along with friends, family, and former musical associates of the band. This first-ever biography of Bread reveals the story behind the group members' formative years, their coming together, the rise of Bread, and the subsequent break-up and the messy lawsuits that were to dog them in later years. Also features exclusive insights into their successful but short-lived 1990s reunion.

Malcolm C. Searles is a freelance rock music writer and lifelong Bread fan. He lives and works in Essex, United Kingdom.

300 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2012

Reviews

[Mark Wager · Rating 5 out of 5]

Malcolm Searles hit it out of the park on this one. It took me a long time to find the book, but finally purchased thru ebay. Well worth the wait. The research is so thorough, it will fill any void for a true Bread fan who, like me, was left with a lot of questions about the split up.

I don't want to give away any surprises, but there are some. Feelings about band members may change. I can tell you this, David Gates had always been my favorite. After reading the book, my appreciation of the other members increased significantly. I cannot thank Malcolm enough for bringing us up to speed on each band mate individually, and tying them all together collectively.

There will never be another band like Bread. Thank you to Malcolm for perpetuating their legacy thru his book.

[Jeff Crosby · Rating 2 out of 5]

Published in the United Kingdom by Helter Skelter Publishing and not readily available in the United States, Malcolm Searles' "Bread: A Sweet Surrender" tells the story of the formation and brief chart-topping career of the soft-rock band Bread, comprised of David Gates, James Griffin, Robb Royer, Michael Botts and Larry Knechtel. With songs such as "It Don't Matter to Me," "Everything I Own," "Guitar Man," "Diary," and "If" (among others) dominating the airwaves from 1970 to 1973,the band seemingly had a bright future when it dissolved amid discord shortly after releasing "The Guitar Man" LP on Elektra Records in late 1972. Searles' book explains (in, at times, painstaking details) all of the reasons for the band's demise. Neither David Gates nor James Griffin, Bread's two principal leaders, come off very well in the book. Drummer Mike Botts and guitarist/keyboard player Larry Knechtel are more sympathetic figures.

Royer, who was an original member but departed prior to Bread's best-selling records, is the only member of the band who participated directly in the research for the book by consenting to interviews. Gates declined, and Griffin, Knechtel and Botts are deceased, with their deaths portrayed in the final two chapters of the book.

"Bread: A Sweet Surrender" needed to be edited more tightly than it was to make the book more interesting and worthy of more than two stars. The chapters devoted to the post-Bread solo careers (or attempts at building one) could have been condensed considerably. Recommended to devoted followers of Bread's music. You'll enjoy it. But you may want to skip some of the excursions into uninteresting terrain.

[Jethro Wall · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pretty hefty but enjoyable biography of everything Bread. It covers a tonne of things, not only outlining in depth the history of the band, but the various side projects and lives of all the members, (which at times can actually be a little monotonous, and definitely needed some condensing). A point of greatest interest for me, was definitely the discussions about the creation and contents of each of the records, which the author did a fabulous and fair job of dissecting. Although at times there is a slight tendency to ‘victimise’ James Griffin, the story was handled professionally and was thoroughly insightful - especially for a Bread fan prominently here for David Gates’ ballads. If only David had contributed to this book personally, as that really would have allowed us to get deeper into his feelings regarding the dynamics of the band. Regardless, I’m thankful to now know the ins and outs of the group responsible for soft rock’s finest melodies.

“The music that the five members of Bread created together remains timeless. It may always remain distinctly associated with that brief period of early 1970s soft rock, but today, over 40 years later, it still sounds fresh each time it appears on radios around the world.”

[Ron Fowler · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the kind of book that every music bio should aspire to be. It's not gossipy, it's not a hachet job; the author is clearly a fan of the band, but he doesn't feel he has to worship the ground they walk on. It's a very balanced portrait. The focus throughout is on the music, and these five gentlemen made some of the best music of the 20th century. They were no overnight sensations, either. Each of the guys paid his dues in the biz for many years before making it big. Their time in the spotlight was relatively brief, primarily because of tensions between the two lead singer/songwriters, David Gates and James Griffin. Elektra Records seemed to have picked Gates early on to be the star they wanted to promote in the group - nearly every Bread single featured a Gates song on the top side, and a Griffin song on the b-side. If there's tragedy in this story, I think that's it - having a strong songwriter in the group with one of the best voices in popular music who is pushed to the back because of the popularity of his partner. Bread got tagged early on as a soft rock band, but that does not do their music justice. Their albums encompassed everything from country flavored tunes to hard driving rock. Maybe Mr. Searles book will help to encourage a second look at Bread's catalog.

[Alice Dobson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been a fan of the soft rock group Bread since the 1970s and always wondered why there has never been a biography on such a talented band. Well, here it is and what a brilliant book it is. Not only does it tell the full story of the band - how they met, their chart successes, disagreements within the band, breakups, lawsuits and eventually a successful and well received 1996/7 reunion tour - it also takes you on an in depth musical journey (starting in the late 50s) of five extremely talented musicians, David Gates, James Griffin, Robb Royer, Larry Knechtel and Mike Botts. All have had amazing individual musical careers as well and it is all here in this book. Brilliant stuff! This book has been well researched and is beautifully written by Malcolm Searles. Once I had started to read this fascinating book I found it hard to put down until I had finished it - always a sign of a good read!

[Phil Melton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a remarkable labor of love, and should be of great interest to anyone who is a fan of this seminal soft-rock group of the 70s. It fulfills at least one of the things that should result from reading a biography of a musical entity: it makes you want to get out the albums and hear them again. And with David Gates and James Griffin as the songwriters, what a pleasant revisiting of memories the music of Bread brings back.

[Larry Shackley · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are generally two types of pop music biographies: those written by journalists, and those written by fans. This is one of the latter. Searles has done an amazing job of rooting out all manner of trivia about recordings done by the members of Bread, and he apparently owns most of them. If you have this book, you should check YouTube for the titles the author mentions, because he himself has posted many of these rare tunes, something we should all be grateful for. I frequently put down the book just to hunt down another rarity online.

I am grateful to Searles for his work on this book, but I wish he were a better writer. There are many errors sprinkled throughout (including misspelled words), and amateurish touches such as putting an ellipse at the end of a chapter, as if the book were a matinee serial. There are details about tours, releases, Billboard charts, etc. but very little about the music itself or the recording sessions (except that they were done during business hours). The book itself had production problems: many of the pages were stuck together at the bottom edge.

Here are just a few personal notes:

I had a vague memory of watching a TV special around the time of the Bicentennial that had music from various eras of American history. I hadn't been paying attention but suddenly I perked up because I knew I was hearing James Griffin. He was dressed as a hobo, singing "Hallelujah, I'm a Bum." Thanks to this book, I now know it was "They Said it with Music," which aired on July 4, 1977 (I was off by a year). Searles has posted a long clip from this 2-hour show, which has some lovely bits sung by Griffin, but unfortunately not the segment I remember.

Barely mentioned in the book was a tour David Gates did in the mid-70s, opening for Olivia Newton-John. I caught the tour in Chicago. At the time, I wrote down the band members and set list, but have lost it (although I remember "Everything I Own" and "If). I do remember that Dean Parks was playing guitar, and his wife Carol was doing backups. I'm not sure if Mike or Larry were on this tour. One memorable bit was in Olivia's set. She had a string section in the back of the stage on risers - only visible as silhouettes. At one point she mentioned that her tour music director was ill, but that a friend of hers was filling in directing the strings. The lights came up on the players and there was David Gates, conducting the string section. I was impressed.

In the 1990s, teaching at a small college, I happened to mention Bread to one of my piano students. He said, "I know Jamey Griffin" - James Griffin's son from his first marriage. The two boys had met at a school for "troubled youths." Unfortunately, the book reveals that Jamey died at a fairly young age.

RE: the album "James Griffin & Co." I had this LP at one time. The inner sleeve was unique in that it had reproductions of the track lists for each song. A couple of the lists included names like "David" and "Larry." I figured these were albums done for a possible Bread album that never came about; the book confirms this. I wish I could see that album sleeve again!

In conclusion, this is a not-to-miss book for Bread fans, but I wish it had been edited better, and had more analysis of the music.

[Joe Poturica · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the story of one of the 70's most popular bands and a personal favorite. You know the hits, "Make It With You", "If", "Baby I'm A Want You", "Everything I Own", "The Guitar Man"....12 top 40 hits from 1970-77. All were written and sung by David Gates (who comes across as a bit of an ass, especially concerning the group's reunion tour in 1996-97). The focus of the book however, is on the bands other lead singer James Griffin. We see his frustration with Gates songs constantly being chosen as the group's singles. His substance abuse problems of the late 70's that forced him to leave the band. The group continued to tour without him which lead to Griffin suing the other band members. He had co-ownership of the band's name. The issue wasn't resolved for several years causing animosity among the members as royalty money couldn't be collected until the matter was settled. Eventually, they set their differences aside and went on a reunion tour in '96-'97. Though very successful, bitterness once again flared by the tours end. I have two quibbles with the book. One, I wish there was more detail on the bands prime years, 1970-73, but as the author was only able to speak with one of the five principal members, guitarist/keyboardist, Robb Royer, who himself left the band in 1971, it shouldn't be all that surprising. Gates would not consent to an interview and Griffin, drummer Mike Botts and keyboardist/guitarist Larry Knechtel, who had replaced Royer, have all passed away. Second, I disagree with the author on his assessments of Gates solo work. Praising the lesser recordings while brushing off the better ones. Still, this is a must read if you're a fan of the band or of 70's pop music in general. I don't believe the book is sold in the US as of now. I ordered mine through Amazon UK.

[James Dohn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Malcolm’s extensive research, musical knowledge background and sweet attention to the heart and soul of Bread’s incredibly gifted musicians and support staff are all harmoniously reported. Even as he recorded the justified and appropriate enormous egos with each of them giving sway to their demons from time to time, Malcolm kept the respect, love and admiration present. I say this as someone who knew and loved all the members of the band and support staff. Well written, thank you for the tour down memory lane.
Jim Dohn

[Martha Scannell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perfect for a musician. IMHO; too detailed for the non-musician to follow. BTW; LOVED the group, still do!