Album of the Day

For Bread's second album, the original trio of David Gates, James Griffin and Rob Royer added a fourth member, drummer Mike Botts. ON THE WATERS proved to be the group's commercial breakthrough, reaching #12 on the album chart – thanks largely to “Make It With You,” which debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 this month in 1970 and eventually reached No. 1. That track isn't entirely representative of the set; on the whole, these dozen songs rock harder and boast more lyrical bite than you would expect given the mellow sound of Bread's sole chart-topper. But ON THE WATERS is consistent throughout in its superb singing and attention to melody, which are two reasons that the entire album still “makes it.”