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Billboard Top 40 Hits 1971: #139: ‘Mother Freedom’- Bread. July 17, 1971.
- Single: ‘Mother Freedom’- Bread
- Record Company- Elektra
- Genre: Pop Rock
- Written by David Gates
- Time: 2:35
- B-side: ‘Take Comfort’
- Album- Baby I’m- A Want You
- Grade: C
- Peaked at #37 9 weeks in Billboard Hot 100
Bread was a soft-rock band out of Los Angeles- emphasis on soft- lead by David Gates. Of the dozen Top 40 hits they had from 1970-77 this was the least successful on the charts- and I’d rank it as their ‘worst’- they are better at the soft rock stuff than when they try to speed things up.
When I was around 5 or 6 I thought this was hard rock. I found a song by them the other day that surprised me…it was a Byrds type song called Down On My Knees…pure power pop.
Not bad, though “Let Your Love Go” was a better uptempo single for them. But you’re right, they were much better with the swooners.