great start
If you are a Toad fan, your collection is incomplete without this album. Toad's first venture, recorded for only several hundred dollars and released initially only on a few cassettes, is the solid foundation upon which twelve years of phenomenal music were built. Non toad fans should probably buy Fear and Dulcinea before picking up Bread and Circus, simply because the more refined tracks on their later albums are more apt to capture the interests of first-time listeners, but overall, Bread and Circus is one of the best entries in Toad's musical library.
if you are a real "TOAD" fan you gotta have it... that would be like a Beatle fan without "Meet the Beatles"... yes.. the production is not stellar.. yes , they were young.. but to me, this record gives you the opportunity to pick up on the "Santa Barbara" vibe.. the energy of young musicians before a major record company had the chance to "make things better" and you get to hear the best Toad song ever .. "Covered in Roses".. I saw them many times live before they got a deal.. the last time at "Charlies"..in Ventura and I gotta tell ya..that was something special..and "Bread and Circus"..is the one album that re-creates the original vibe..I think you will dig it..this is coming from a guy who managed another "famous" Ventura-Santa Barbara band while Toad was making it happen..great buy..great music..great band..buy it. Truth only,... Rod Ensminger
feels like the very first time
I will admit as w/ a few others here, Bread and Circus was my last addition to my Toad collection. It's hard to really compare this album to any other Toad ablum though. Simply b/c they were in the early stages of their music.1989 wasn't really a year full of great music, it was a year full of experimenting music. You see alice in chains working on their debut, nirvana working on songs, but not yet clicking until a couple years later. R.E.M. doing their own little thing drastically altering their sound (see Out of Time) which they release in 91, a full 3 years after "green". U2, Soul Asylum, Soundgarden, Metallica, etc, etc. all these top bands are really actually starting to change their sound. So when Toad steps in, they fell right smack in the the middle of the crowd.
Bread and Circus, is a classic nonetheless, if you are a devoted fan. It seems like every song has this dark, eerie, kinda sleepy tone to it, maybe w/ the exception of "One Little Girl" and "Unquiet" which shows some signs of pep, but even then, the haunting guitars and vocals overlook that. I think that the music scene at the time, really set toad on a direct path of songwriting. They sorta wanted to make it big, but also have a quality of sound that was unique and could compete with the soon ever so popular genre of "mainstream."
The album, although really no singles i believe, provides some great songs. My favorites would be "Know Me" and "One Wind Blows". These may have found themselves easily on the "Pale" album, b/c they do bring the same quality of sound, but mainly b/c they are probably the most developed songs on the album. "Know Me", the longest song at 5:13, sorta starts off w/ some kind of storytelling which almost foreshadows the rest of the song which really actually picks up almost at the 45sec point. It's sort of a testiment of a young man trying to make a name for himself in the world, and wants everyone to really start to realize who he is.
"One Wind Blows" which picks up immediately, is a nice little "pale"ish sort of upbeat guitar rythym ditty. There's really nothing too special about the words, but it shows signs that the band will be something for years to come.
My other top picks include "Way Away", which in my opinion, sets the stage for the rest of the album. It's easy to listen from beginning to end, and is very free flowing. "When We Recover" is a short 3min depressing song in a sense that tells of hardships and unfortunate circumstances and hopes for a better life after the "recovery". It's a song of hope. "Always Changing" seems like a predesessor to other songs such as "Little Heaven", "Something's Always Wrong" and "Crazy Life". It's Bread and Circus' idea of the good slow song single.
The rest of the album is fantastic of course, for me being a huge toad the wet sprocket fan. However, opinions often may vary. Check it out, it's a great album, then and now. Even in that turmultous time in music. The dreaded year of 1989.
As a faithful Toad fan I had the luck to grab this cd one time I was in the States. Knowing this is the begining, one must have it. And what a begining. These guys recorded the album without much production or instrumentation. Yet they did a great cd, so emotional, letting us know what was about to come. Too bad you guys are gone as a band, I would have loved more songs like one of my all-time favorites: One Wind Blows. After a song like that, there's not much left.
Solid Album
I regret not buying this album before ALL the other Toad albums. Infact Bread and Circus was the last in my Toad collection. Their music has been daily bread in my circus-life for years...
