...and here's the top ten albums of Poco, as decided by the One Buck Guy!
10. Poco - Poco (1970)
Oh well, there'd be some disagreement over this, I reckon, if we woud have enough people who like and know Poco and also would deign to comment, but, alas, I guess I can rank anything anyway I want without much protest. I already made a lot of points in my write-up for my reimagined version of this album, You Better Think Twice, so I'll keep it short. The production is a little better than the debut, but the band is still sounding uncertain, and the terrible (almost) sidelong jam stays an exceedingly awful idea. You Better Think Twice would trade places with the next entry, but Poco stays stuck here.
PS: Also, what the fuck is going on with that cover? It makes Poco sound like a brand for orange juice. Fresh from, uh, the fields in the mountains?!?
9. Pickin' Up The Pieces (1969)
I know, I know. I'm sorry, I just can't get into this album. Sure, it's historically important as their debut, but man, this thing has aged badly. The cheesy late 60s countrypolitan instrumentation. The forced 'we're having so much fun' yeehaws and laughter. The compositions which are kind of twee. Here, they don't sound much like country-rock stalwarts, having more in common with rootsy jugband music bands like the early Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, The Lovin' Spoonful or The Beau Brummels. The title song is a classic, of course, and "Just In Case It Happens, Yes Indeed" a semi-classic. But this record has to overcome its sound and aesthetic, and struggles to do so.
8. Seven (1974)
Pretty good, but not truly top notch. My recent resequencing helps, as do a number of quality cuts like Cotton's "Driving Wheel", Young's "Rocky Mountain Breakdown" and Schmit's hard-edged "Skatin'". But there's only eight cuts, and one or two are only so-so. Still, the playing and singing here is impeccable, showing right out of the gate how good the Cotton-Young-Schmit-Grantham group could be. Also notable: Phil Hartman's first Poco cover, and a memorable one at that.
7. Blue And Gray (1981)
Well, I've said a bunch of stuff about this album in my write-up to its slighly altered configuration on this blog. So I'll keep it short: A welcome stab of the Cotton-Young iteration of the band at coherence and respectability, even if they arguably can't quite pull the whole Civil War song cycle thing off entirely. But there are some welcome reminders of Poco's country-rock past on this, Cotton's "Sometimes (We Are All We Got)" is a totally underrated classic and - despite the band already planning their exit from ABC Records - here they sound as if they are trying. And, well, they mostly succeed.
6. A Good Feelin' To Know (1972)
I'm pretty sure that a lot of Poco fans would find this ranking way too low for what is generally considered one of the best - if not the best - of the Furay era. But I have some...reservations. A Good Feelin' To Know was the band's overreaction to what they felt was a limited and limiting production courtesy of Steve Cropper on predecessor From The Inside, so they veer into a very slick production. Also, seemingly every songwriter in the band strives for epics, not always with entirely convincing results. Cotton's "Ride The Country" is a nice first stab at the western epic he always tried to write, only slightly let down by his pressed nasal faux-Neil Young vocal, while Schmit's "Restrain" gets a bit on my nerves and Furay's "Sweet Lovin'" can never quite live up to its grandiose gospel opening. The shortest song here, a cover of Stephen Stills' "Go And Say Goodbye" with split lead vocals, is also one of the best, because it isn't overwrought, just a great cover of a very good song. And then there's the title track, the album that should've made Poco and finally broke them. When the album barely made the Top 75 and the single failed to find commercial success, Richie Furay decided that Poco were probably never going to make it commercially and started to look elsewhere.
5. Rose Of Cimarron (1976)
An ultra-underrated album from the tail end of the Cotton-Young-Scmit-Grantham era. After predecessor Head Over Heels flirted a lot with being a pop record with country leanings, Rose Of Cimarron redresses the balance towards country, even if production and playing stays pop-adjacent, adding to the questions of why the original(ish) Poco never did break through. Young's title track has become a genre-classic, and tracks like the country medley "Company's Comin'/Slowpoke", "Too Many Nights Too Long", "Starin' At The Sky" and "P.N.S. (When You Come Around)" should have been. Great album, top to bottom.
4. From The Inside (1971)
Again, I talked quite a bit about this album in the write-up of its One Buck Records companion album From The Outside In, so I'll keep it short here. Unloved dry soundscape by Steve Cropper and everything, this is a great album, no matter how many doubts the band has. The songs are what counts: Other than the long, slow and way too long remake of "Do You Feel It, Too?", every song here is good, and some are great, like Richie Furay's "Just For Me And You".
3. Head Over Heels (1975)
For their debut with ABC Records, Poco brought out a twelve-song set full of short, crisp, beautifully arranged songs, mostly straddling the line between country and pop. Which, incidentally, is the sweet spot for this band. This is what they do best. Highlights are too numerous to mention, although it's again a mystery why a song like Timothy Schmit's "Keeop On Tryin'" didn't become a hit. Story of their career...
2. Cantamos (1974)
Yes, this also got resequenced around here, and yes, I said a bunch of stuff, so no need for many more words. The songs are a batch of winners with only one so-so number (Young's ) in the middle. Honestly, this is a 100% effort for what could have been a record contract filler, as this turned out to be the last record for Epic. It also has two of my absolute favorite Poco songs of all time, Cotton's "Western Waterloo" and Schmit's "Whatever Happened To Your Smile". Just great stuff, but not quite as great as...
1. Crazy Eyes (1973)
And here it is, folks, the end of this first installment of Discography, which hopefully puts you in the mood to give a listen or relisten to the best the band had to offer, which I maintain, is some of the best of its genre.
And since all of you faithful deserve a little something for reading along, today's musical bonus is The Last Roundup, the live album that was prepped for release as Poco's thirtienth album in 1978, but was shelved when Schmit was recruited by the Eagles and left the band, with the band going on an indefinite hiatus, that finally wasn't very indefinite...It's a really nice album that gives you tons of highlights from the band's mid-to-late 70s output. It also has Richie Furay guest on two numbers (though weirdly he takes lead on "Magnolia", instead of one of his own numbers).
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So, Poconuts, and Poconuts in training, enjoy some of the finest country-rock of its time, with the albums listed above or The Last Roundup, with the link for once part of the write-up...
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