James Griffin "Beachwood Band" 1969 Bread David Gates

Among the rarer recordings by Bread is one actually released as a solo song by James Griffin, five years after it was recorded. Written by Griffin and Robb Royer, the brooding "Beachwood Band" was put out in April 1974 as the B-side to James Griffin's lovely "She Knows," another one cowritten with Royer. "She Knows" was the second single culled from Griffin's solo album Breakin' Up Is Easy. "Beachwood Band" was recorded during sessions for the first self-titled Bread album. The first few sessions in early March had David Gates, James Griffin and Robb Royer, with Ron Edgar as drummer. Ron was the drummer in the group Music Machine who had the 1966 hit “Talk Talk.”Session drummer Jim Gordon was brought in in mid-March and was part of this April 26, 1969 session, led by Royer. The track, "Any Way You Want Me," written by Griffin and Royer, was also recorded during that afternoon session and put on their debut album in 1969. Left in the can was "Synthetic Satisfaction." Jim Gordon was replaced with Mike Botts, and Royer stepped into the shadows as Larry Knechtel became a member of Bread.