David Gates Songbook Review

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David Gates Songbook ReviewThis 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.David Gates Songbook Overview

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