Poco Epic Years 1972-1976 CD

The highly influential Poco are, along with the likes of the Flying Burrito Brothers, best known for being early proponents of what would soon become recognised as country rock. Poco were originally formed by Richie Furay, Jim Messina and Rusty Young when Buffalo Springfield split in 1968, joined by George Grantham on drums and future Eagle Randy Meisner on bass. Playing their debut at LA’s legendary Troubadour in October 1968, they signed to Epic Records in 1969. When Randy Meisner left to join the newly hatched Eagles, he was replaced on bass guitar by another future Eagle bass guitarist, Timothy B. Schmit.

This set kicks off with their fourth album, “A Good Feelin’ to Know”, released in September 1972, by which time they had been joined by Paul Cotton on guitar and vocals. The album features the single ‘And Settlin’ Down’, plus bonus two tracks, a remix of ‘I Can See Everything’ and the single edit for ‘A Good Feelin’ To Know’.

Released a year later, their fifth LP “Crazy Eyes” was issued in September 1973. Recorded at RCA Victor studios in Los Angeles, it was produced by Jack Richardson, best known for his work with Alice Cooper, Bob Seger and Canada’s The Guess Who. It would be Richie Furay’s last Poco record for more than a decade, as he was already planning to jump ship to the newly formed country rock super-group, the Souther–Hillman–Furay Band with J.D. Souther and Chris Hillman, even before “Crazy Eyes” was released. Alongside the originals is a cover of J. J. Cale’s ‘Magnolia’ which was released as a single, plus an early take of Gram Parsons’ ‘Brass Buttons’, which would later appear on Parsons’ own “Grievous Angel”. “Crazy Eyes” became their best charting studio record to date, and now features the bonus tracks ‘Nothin’s Still The Same’, ‘Get In The Wind’ and ‘Believe Me’.

Their seventh album, “Seven”, was their sixth studio record, and first without Furay. Released in April 1974, it featured the single ‘Faith In The Families’. Bands didn’t hang around in the 1970s, and a mere six months later Poco followed “Seven” with “Cantamos”, Spanish for “to sing” or “we sing”, which features the single ‘High And Dry’.

Switching to ABC Records for their next few releases, the self-explanatory “Live” had been recorded shortly after the “Cantamos” album in November 1974, but not released until 1976. Building on the foundations from their years on Epic, they were gaining more commercial success with their ABC LPs in 1975 and 1976, leading to Epic releasing what at the time was an archive release, demonstrating what Poco did best, performing live on stage.

Although going in to semi-retirement in 2013, Poco would carry on until the present day. Already a fertile ground for a lot of talented musicians, Timothy B. Schmit would play on his final Poco record in 1977 before he was invited to join the Eagles for their “The Long Run” album, and with whom he tours with until the present day.