Charts "Pickin' Up the Pieces": U.S. #63 / "Pickin' Up the Pieces" U.S. #58; AUS #34; CAN #15.
Poco
, seminal West Coast country-rock band of the 1970s. Membership: Jim
Messina, lead gtr., bs., voc. (b. Maywood, Calif., Dec. 5, 1947); Richie
Furay, rhythm gtr., voc. (b. Yellow Springs, Ohio, May 9, 1944); Randy
Meisner, bs., voc. (b. Scottsbluff, Neb., March 8, 1946); Rusty Young,
pedal steel gtr., dobro., voc. (b. Long Beach, Calif., Feb. 23, 1946);
George Grantham, drm., voc. (b. Cordell, Okla., Jan. 20, 1947). Timothy
B. Schmit, bs., voc. (b. Sacramento, Calif., Oct. 30, 1947) replaced
Randy Meisner; and Paul Cotton, gtr., voc. (b. Los Angeles, Feb. 26,
1943) replaced Jim Messina, in 1970. Schmit and George Grantham left in
1979, to be replaced by Steve Chapman, drm.; Charlie Harrison, bs.; Kim
Bullard, kybd.
Poco
did not attain the popularity of the Eagles, the first commercially
successful band of the genre, until the late 1970s. By that time
founders Jim Messina and Richie Furay had moved on, as had founder Randy
Meisner, who subsequently joined and departed the Eagles. Despite the
personnel changes, Poco maintained a remarkably consistent sound,
featuring group vocal harmonies and rock instrumentation. They recorded
several outstanding albums, including 1973’s Crazy Eyes, eventually
breaking through with 1979’s Legend and its two hit singles. The group
disbanded in 1984 and reunited with the original members in 1989.
Jim
Messina and Richie Furay, both former members of the Buffalo
Springfield, formed Poco with Rusty Young, Randy Meisner, and George
Grantham in August 1968. Debuting at the Troubadour in Los Angeles in
November, Poco auditioned for Apple Records but signed with Epic. Given
the chaotic career of the Buffalo Springfield, Poco’s debut album was
appropriately titled Piekin’ Up the Pieces. The album sold only modestly
and failed to yield a hit single. By the time of the album’s release,
Meisner had already departed to join Rick Nelson’s Stone Canyon Band,
later to help form the Eagles. Poco remained a quartet until February
1970, when Timothy B. Schmit joined the band. Poco and Deliverin’
yielded minor hits with Messina’s “You Better Think Twice” and Furay’s
“C’mon.”
In
November 1970 Jim Messina left Poco to form the successful Loggins and
Messina duo with Kenny Log-gins. He was replaced by Paul Cotton, the
erstwhile leader of the 111. Speed Press. This lineup-Furay, Young,
Cotton, Schmit, and Grantham-recorded three albums and toured
extensively, usually as a support act. Crazy Eyes, probably their finest
album for Epic, sold moderately and included Furay’s title song as well
as excellent versions of Gram Parsons’s “Brass Buttons” and J. J.
Cale’s “Magnolia.”
Richie
Furay left Poco in September 1973 to form the ill-fated
Souther-Hillman-Furay Band, with singer-songwriter John David Souther
and Chris Hillman, a former member of the Byrds and the Flying Burrito
Brothers. An early associate of Jackson Browne and Glenn Frey, Souther
had cowritten several songs for the Eagles and contributed three songs
to Linda Ronstadt’s album Don’t Cry Now. Formed at the behest of Asylum
Records president David Geffen as a prospective supergroup, they scored a
major hit with Furay’s “Fallin’ in Love” from their debut album.
However, the group encountered a credibility problem brought on by
Asylum’s massive hype campaign, and they disbanded in late 1975. Furay
later recorded three solo albums for Asylum, managing a moderate hit
with “I Still Have Dreams” in late 1979.
With
Furay’s departure, Poco continued as a four-piece, with Paul Cotton
taking over as lead vocalist and Cotton and Young composing most of the
material. They recorded two more albums for Epic before switching to ABC
Records in 1975. They were able to achieve minor hits with “Keep On
Tryin’” and the title songs to Rose of Cimarron and Indian Summer.
However, by March 1978 Timothy B. Schmit had left to join the Eagles and
George Grantham had left, to eventually join the Doobie Brothers. Rusty
Young, the only remaining original member, and Paul Cotton
reconstituted the group for their best-selling album Legend, which
yielded the major hits “Crazy Love” and “Heart of the Night.” Buoyed by
the album’s success (it stayed on the album charts for a year), Poco
continued to tour and record until 1984, when they disbanded.
In
1989 the five original members of Poco-Jim Messina, Richie Furay, Randy
Meisner, Rusty Young, and George Grantham-reunited to record Legacy for
RCA. The album yielded a moderate hit with "Nothin' to Hide," cowritten
by producer Richard Marx, and "Call It Love." They toured in 1990 with
drummer Gary Mallaber, but the band soon disintegrated.
(encyclopedia.com/arts/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/poco-0)
CD1 "Pickin' Up the Pieces" (1969):
01. Foreword-What a Day (03:19)
02. Nobody's Fool (03:29)
03. Calico Lady (03:05)
04. First Love (03:11)
05. Make Me a Smile (03:18)
06. Short Changed (03:19)
07. Pickin' Up the Pieces (03:22)
08. Grand Junction (03:00)
09. Oh Yeah (04:09)
10. Just in Case It Happens, Yes Indeed (02:47)
11. Tomorrow (03:14)
12. Consequently, So Long (03:52)
CD2 "Poco" (1970):
01. Hurry Up (04:06)
02. You Better Think Twice (03:21)
03. Honky Tonk Downstairs (02:43)
04. Keep On Believin' (02:51)
05. Anyway Bye Bye (07:00)
06. Don't Let It Pass By (02:33)
07. Nobody's Fool (02:36)
08. Nobody's Fool-El Tonto de Nadie, Regresa (15:50)
