David Gates Songbook Audio CD – CD, December 17, 2002

... if you like supporting a great deserving artist like David Gates, despite the fact this is the highest priced CD I have ever purchased. It is interesting to know that Mr. Gates hand picked the songs selected for this album- ten of his songs from the six Bread albums; five songs from his five solo albums; and five new penned songs never released on his prior recordings, with the exception of one. The CD, then, gives me a bit of personal connection to my favorite artist. It was interesting and a bit of fun to match David Gates's choice of his chosen 20 favorite songs compared to mine. (Where is "Clouds"?! <smile>) For those not familar with David Gates's total musical career, this CD gives you a small but decent sampling and proves his musical talent as a singer and songwriter did not diminsh after Bread's demise.Supposedly, there are "five" news songs on this CD... "Find Me," "I Can't Play The Songs" (a classic David Gates unrequited love song), "The Mustang" (one of Mr. Gates' more up-beat tempo songs), "Mirror, Mirror" (a very touching coming of age song Mr. Gates has sung in his concert appearances over the past several years) and "Love Is Always Seventeen." As I have his "Love Is Always Seventeen" CD (which was released in late 1994), the self-titled song was not new to me. It is interesting, though, to hear the new orchestration. The original recording has a country influence as many of the songs on his 1994 album. The new arrangement more aligns with Mr. Gates' classical influences with more prominent string arrangement.My favorite new song on the CD is "Find Me," which has an underlying spiritual, religious connotation to it. Anyone who knows David Gates' music knows this is not the first time he has written such songs... "The Other Side of Life" and "Do You Believe He's Comin' " also ring true of this genre. The words and melody in "Find Me" are hypnotic. I'll always remember the effect it had on me the first time I listened to the song and it still really gets to me everytime I hear it.My only trepidation is the title..."David Gates Songbook- A Lifetime of Music." I certainly hope this doesn't mean Mr. Gates is hanging up his hat. David Gates states in the booklet that he hopes we enjoy the new songs, know that he is still writing, and not to forget him. As an ardent David Gates fan for the past 34 years, I know I can say that I can not see that thought ever coming true. I am confident that position echoes the sentiment of all his fans. My fingers are crossed that there's a lot more melodies, music, lyrics, and great songs he has yet to write and share with us in his lifetime. And- fingers and toes crossed, that David Gates finally releases a "best of" compilation of his songs from his early 70's/80's solo albums! Don't ever forget your fans, Sir! We will NEVER forget you!

I bought this mainly because I've been a fan of Bread/David Gates since the early 70's. I enjoyed listening to the hits once again from his days with Bread and from his solo career and especially 5 new songs. I especially enjoyed the liner notes and getting to know more about him. He's lived the life he wanted, married his sweetheart and still married to her after all these years. Raised children, etc ... I know he's retired but I wonder if he still does small shows. I enjoyed the very small crowd at the Orange Country Fairgrounds in the mid-to-late 90's with just David on guitar. This is a must for any Bread/David Gates fan.

For die hard bread fan, only tracks 2-4-6-8 and 10 are new and never released before. But I tell you, track 2, Find Me, is my all time David Gates favorite tune, and that is saying something, and by it self worth the price. A MUST buy for Gates fans. Great quality sound.

I pretty much missed Bread while raising my daughter and son. Thankfully, a friend recently posted one of their videos on Facebook. I fell in love with David’s voice. And the “soft rock” style. My cup of tea. I YouTubed him. Then, I found this album! Yay! His voice is SO pleasant, as are his songs. I very often play this album as I unwind in the evening.

I have never heard a bad song by David Gates! So glad i bought it!

This CD, "The David Gates Songbook--A Lifetime Of Music", was released in 2002, and it brings to mind a lot of things.Of the 20 songs here, 10 of them are original versions of big Bread hits--"Make It With You", "Baby I'm-a Want You", "If", "Lost Without Your Love", etc. There are a pile of other Bread/ David Gates compilations out there containing all 10 of these hits, and if you're a major fan, you probably have all of them in your collection at least twice.There are also 5 songs from David's pre-'90s solo career, and although Gates' solo career is drastically underrated and hasn't been anthologized to the extent that Bread has, 4 of these 5 songs do also appear on Rhino's 1996 two-disc "Retrospective" release. The one surprising inclusion from this era is a welcome one--the sumptuous "This Could Be Forever" which is a lush, exquisitely-harmonized soft rock ballad from his splendid 1981 album "Take Me Now". Gates has an absolute pile of great songs from his solo career that don't appear to have ever been released officially on CD, at least not in the US, and it's unfortunate that there isn't a CD collection that brings together all of these gems; even if an additional handful could have been included here would have been very nice.I can't help but see this CD largely as a vehicle for its new songs. That said, this disc also recalls David's 1978 "Goodbye Girl" album which reused songs from his two previous solo albums, seemingly due to Gates' being short on unused compositions at that time.Despite all the redundancy, I basically forgive the guy. One thing that does set this disc apart from most other Bread compilations is that everything is a David Gates solo composition. If you happen to be new to David Gates' work, this disc is a solid introduction to the man's music, although it's worth pointing out that of the 20 tracks, at LEAST ¾ of them are inarguably ballads, with not a rocker anywhere in sight (Gates COULD really rock out when he wanted to). So, despite all the great individual songs, the disc comes up WAY short in terms of showcasing his impressive stylistic range. You also notice after a while how Gates relied very heavily on very similar arranging techniques, especially in regard to his use of orchestral arrangements.The brief-but-interesting liner notes point out that David Gates personally selected the songs for this CD, but it's clear to me that this doesn't mean he exclusively picked his own personal favorites per se. David makes his intentions clear--basically, he hopes people will be drawn to the disc for the old songs, and in turn will "latch on" to the new songs and discover that he hasn't lost and/ or abandoned his musical talent.And sure enough, the new songs bear this out--the man certainly hasn't lost his songwriting talent at all. Once again, this CD gets one thinking of how David Gates is man of quality over quantity. He may release new material extremely infrequently, but when he does, he releases quality.Although the disc claims there to be 5 brand new songs, one of them is a re-recording of "Love Is Always Seventeen" which appears in its original form on his 1994 album of the same name. The version here isn't much different--the strings are more prominent--yet it remains a great, profoundly moving song.That leaves us with 4 honest-to-goodness newly-released songs. "Find Me", with its afterlife-oriented lyrics, is a little sappy and off the mark, but it's still an undeniably tender and heart-tugging song of eternal devotion, very much along the lines of "If" from over 30 years prior. "I Can't Play The Songs" is a great tune that uncannily mixes heartbroken-yet-slyly humorous lyrics with an upbeat-yet-yearning melody. "The Mustang" is a fun, lighthearted ditty that finds David in country-folk territory. And lastly, the wonderfully melodic "Mirror, Mirror" is a truly beautiful, heart-warming coming-of-age song, wisely done in a stripped-down, orchestra-free arrangement.So, despite the reusing of so many hit songs that fans already own, this disc does have a lot going for it, and if you love David Gates (and who in the right mind wouldn't?), you won't want to be without it.

THIS CD BRINGS FULL CIRCLE WHAT THE GENIUS OF DAVID GATES AND THE FINE GROUP BREAD REALLY WERE. THE SONGS ARE TIMELESS AND PERFECT TALES OF LOVE AND HOPE. GREAT TO LISTEN TO OVER AND OVER AGAIN. AND THE SONGS THAT WERE NOT BIG HITS BUT ONLY ON GATES SOLO ALBUMS ARE JUST AS GOOD. A MUST HAVE.

Arrived in great condition, excellent compilation of his songs, a few I'd never heard before and totally love like Find Me.

Old well loved music, enjoyed it immensely and not expensive.

Breadの中心メンバーDavid Gatesの、2002年のソロ第7弾アルバム。このアルバムは「Goodbye Girl」とやや似ていますが、新曲に加えてBread時代とソロ時代（Arista時代は除く）代表曲が多数収録されています。なので、難しい事抜きで彼のプロフィルを辿る素敵なアルバムと言えると思います。昔からのDavid Gates大ファンとしては、まずこの年齢で(当時62歳）新曲を出して頂けた事自体で感激、彼に感謝の気持ちで一杯でした。もちろんその新曲も往年のDavidのままでした。感動ものです。David Gatesというアーティストは、私にとっては地味ながら、佳きアメリカを代表する”アメリカの良心”のような存在です。アメリカの厳しい音楽業界でよくぞ棲息できたという位に誠実で優しい、そして温かいハートを持った稀有なアーティストだとも思います。プライベートでも、ハイスクール時代からの奥様とずっと一緒で、（確か）4人のお子様に恵まれてそのお子様達も弁護士などになっていて、立派育て上げています。一時は音楽活動を控えた時期もありましたが、こうしてまた戻って来てくれた事に、彼のファンをずっとしてきた者としては何ものにも代えがたい素晴らしい宝を頂いた気持ちになりました。既にBreadのメンバーは彼を除いて全員他界してしまっておりますが、そういう意味でも可能ならずっと音楽を届けて頂きたいアーティストです。おっと、このアルバムは先の通り、彼のキャリアの代表曲ばかり＋素敵な新曲で、もちろん★5つです。

A good friend of mine had this album with him on holidays and when he played it one evening after we'd come back from dinner, I made up my mind to buy it the minute I got back home... and I did!!I've been a big Bread fan since the early '70s but didn't have any solo work from David. I knew "Goodbye Girl" from seeing the film.This is a lovely collection. The track selection is well thought out. First you have a Bread track, then a new track, then a Bread track, etc. Then it switches (like switching to side 2 if you remember LPs) and then it's a Bread track followed by a solo track. So, the pace is perfect between the well-known track and lesser-known tracks.His voice is still in fine fettle. I don't know when those newer songs were recorded. The CD was released in 2002, so perhaps they were written around that time.You know, listening to all those old hits again made me appreciate all the more what a fine songwriter David is and what a magnificent band Bread was. They had such a sweet, complete sound. We were lucky to have grown up in that period of music history!

購入してからこんなにも愛聴してしまうなんて驚きました！幼少から歌謡曲、新旧問わず邦楽・洋楽ロックを聴き漁り、ソウル、ジャズなどのいわゆるブラックミュージックも存分に楽しんできました。そんな最中、Paul Simonの素晴らしさにいまさら気付いた恥ずかしさと興奮を思い起こされた喜びでした！Dvid Gates！全く無理のないソングライティングと名曲感…まさに自然体の歌とメロディにすっかりメロメロです。昔、何度も聴いたレコード・カセットテープ・CD達の仲間入りしてしまった名盤。

Had this CD for many years and was delighted to get a replacement. Brilliant quick delivery. Great service.