Search - Poco :: Gold

+ 1/2 stars...Good Companion to 'Forgotten Trail'

Steve Vrana | Aurora, NE | 10/28/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"For Poco fans who want a single collection that illustrates why Poco was a groundbreaking country rock band, 1990's THE FORGOTTEN TRAIL is still the album to own. It contains 38 tracks taken from their first seven albums, covering 1969 to 1974. While they wouldn't have a Top 40 hit until 1979 with the Rusty Young-penned "Crazy Love," FORGOTTEN TRAIL covers the peak years of this influential band.



While GOLD does duplicate five tracks from FORGOTTEN TRAIL (CD-1, tracks 1-5), it includes nothing from 1973's CRAZY EYES (Richie Furay's last album until the LEGACY reunion in 1989) or from CANTAMOS or POCO SEVEN (both from 1974). So essentially GOLD picks up where FORGOTTEN TRAIL left off by covering the next thirty years of the band's history from 1975's HEAD OVER HEELS through 2005's live BAREBACK AT BIG SKY.



What Hip-O does is cherry pick tracks from all thirteen albums released during this period. Disc one has standout tracks like "Keep on Tryin'," "Rose of Cimarron" and "Indian Summer." However, by 1979 (where disc two begins) the band had only one original member left (Rusty Young) in addition to Paul Cotton, who joined the band for their third studio album FROM THE INSIDE in 1971. While LEGEND produced their first Top 40 hits with "Crazy Love" (No. 17) and "Heart of the Night" (No. 20) in 1979, their albums from the Eighties and beyond were not of the same quality as their Seventies output. Consequently, only one or two songs are presented from each of these albums. Despite the previous reviewer's lament, "Cajun Moon" is taken from COWBOYS & ENGLISHMEN (arguably the band's worst album) and "Days Gone By" is from INAMORATA, that album's only highlight. [Note: Days Gone By" was released as a single and peaked at No. 80.]



The only other two Top 40 singles were taken from LEGACY, the much anticipated 1989 reunion album that brought Richie Furay, Jim Messina, Rusty Young, Randy Meisner and George Grantham back together in the studio one last time. The album was a bit over produced (I blame Richard Marx), but it resulted in the singles "Call It Love" (No. 18, 1989) and "Nothin' to Hide" (No. 39, 1990). [Trivia Alert: The horse illustration on the cover and horse shoe logo on the back of the booklet was originally designed by SNL alum Phil Hartman.]



Bottom Line? Start with the essential 2-CD collection THE FORGOTTEN TRAIL. Then if you want to know the rest of the band's history, GOLD does a more than adequate job of hitting the highlights. [Disc One - 71:50, Disc Two - 68:56] RECOMMENDED"

Gold for Poco Fans

Richard Frost | Monterey, Ca | 01/14/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Poco has been and will continue to be one of the leading proponents of country rock. Gold reemphasizes this

by including a glimpse of one of the truly underated great country rock bands in music. The double CD covers

their entire career starting in 1968 to the present. The first CD starts with their first single, Pickin' Up The

Pieces from their first CD. Poco was founded by ex Buffalo Springfield members Richie Furay and Jim Messina.

All of their hits are represented here. Highlights include: Keep on Tryin', Rose of Cimmaron, Indian Summer,

The Heart of the Night, Crazy Love, Under the Gun, Shoot for the Moon, and Streets of Paradise. Disc 2

concludes with the classic Save A Corner of Your Heart For Me. I have been a Poco fan since 1968.

This compilation is a very good start for someone wishes to experience the unique magic and talent of this

great group. For the more serious fan, you may wish to buy some of their individual albums, ie. Indian Summer,

Under The Gun, From The Inside, and Deliverin'. Hipp-O could have easily issued a second double CD, there

exists that many great Poco songs not included in this compilation. I still give it a 5 because of the content

and how it is presented. You will not be disappointed. The Eagles, Lonestar, Alabama, Restless Heart, Rascal

Flats, and all country rock groups that came after Poco, owe Poco for laying the groundwork and establishing

country rock as a force to be reckoned with in the music world. Thank you Poco."

Nice Compilation of Latter Day Poco

IJEFF | Milwaukee, WI USA | 11/11/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"As a previous reviewer correctly stated, this makes for a nice companion cd to the Forgotten Trail though certainly not as essential as that cd. For someone looking for a nice summation of the middle and late period Poco this is the one to get. Interestingly, it includes only 2 Richie Furay songs though I question why they included any since the focus of this cd is clearly on the most recent Poco. Since its not intended to be a career restrospective (how could it be with only 2 Furay songs?) I think they should have just concentrated on the middle and late periods where they could have found a couple more additional good songs to include.



That said, most all that is here is very good including the most recent recordings that date to the current Poco line-up. Most of the songs on this cd are Rusty Young and Paul Cotton songs which is as it should be since they represent both the middle and ending Poco years. But, there is also a generous sampling of Timothy Schmit songs which are without exception all excellent.



What also makes this compilation work so well is it presents the best songs from some not very good Poco cd's such as Inamorata and Cowboys and Englishmen. You also get some good songs from the last Poco cd to include Schmit, Indian Summer without having to endure some of the painful filler also on the original cd. Plus a few very nice new songs from a couple recent mediocre Poco releases. A terrific live version of Magnolia is also a nice bonus. It truly does eclipse the studio version.



Above all else this cd does justice to the post-Richie Furay Poco configurations. It highlights the truly excellent work they did away from the original context for many of these songs where they were often surrounded by other less than stellar songs."