What's in a band name? Is a band named Bread doomed to be bland? Or perhaps most good bands have uninspiring names, and they only sound like good names because they're associated with great music. Indeed, the greatest band of the rock music era has a name derived from a pun that was almost instantly dated. Still, I find there to be something almost onamatopoeic about a band called Bread whose musical specialty is bland soft-rock.
I will readily confess that I was prepared to be biased against Manna, as the critical reputation of Bread is a poor one, 4.5 star reviews from allmusic.com notwithstanding (I certainly have the impression that any band from the 60s and 70s gets a 4.5 star review for their best album on that site as long as they weren't totally obscure). I was prepared to be grievously offended by the sounds emanating from my speakers, but of course, a band called Bread could never make offensive music. Instead, their music sounds perfectly pleasant and nice, with gentle harmonies and lilting melodies. Perhaps also unsurprising to someone who has diagrammed his musical taste buds as carefully as I have, I simply couldn't find a way to enjoy music this smooth, this calculated. Presented differently, I suspect these songs might have some substance, but as is, it's much more like eating bread than it is like receiving manna. Blue bin!
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