Legacy

Performer: Poco
Engineer: Rick Holbrook; David Cole; Rick Holbrook; Peter Doell
Producer: David Cole; Richard Marx
Distributor: Bayside Record Dist.

Notes: Poco: Jim Messina, Ritchie Furay, Rusty Young, Randy Meisner, George Grantham. Additional personnel: Brian Mendelsohn (synclavier programming). This recording is from the original Poco line-up. (It's interesting to note the original line-up of Poco never recorded an album before now; there were personnel changes before the first album was recorded.) Personnel: Randy Meisner, Richie Furay, Rusty Young (vocals); Brian Mendelsohn (programming). Audio Mixers: David Cole; Rick Holbrook. Recording information: Capitol; Ocean Way Recording Studios, Hollywood, CA; Studio 55. Illustrator: Lendon Flanagan. Photographers: Jim Shea; Lendon Flanagan. Arrangers: Richard Marx; Bruce Gaitsch. The original 1968 lineup of Richie Furay, Jim Messina, Randy Meisner, George Grantham, and Rusty Young, which never got to record (Meisner quit on the eve of their first session), finally goes into the studio, and it's as though 20 years dissolve away. The singing is impeccable, the playing awesome -- maybe a little too good -- and unlike a lot of reunion projects of this kind, the songs are as good as any the group ever recorded, with a couple ("When It All Began," "Call It Love") that would belong on any truly honest best-of collection. The only flaw, if that's what it is, is the decidedly modern sound and production -- the group's country-rock sound is nearly compromised by the modern engineering, which gives the drums too much presence and the guitars too much volume. The playing is loud and precise and often beautiful, but also at times mechanical and soulless compared with the group's old recordings; the exceptionally passionate singing more than compensates for this flaw, however. It might have been interesting to see the re-formed group do a couple of the songs off of the first album that they never got to do as a quintet, but the point behind that had long ago been made by the quartet that did record. A must-own alongside the MCA best-of and the original eight Epic albums (or the Epic double-disc Forgotten Trail anthology). David Cole was the overall producer, but Richard Marx signed his name as producer to one of the best tracks here, "Nothin' to Hide," which he also co-wrote. ~ Bruce Eder

Poco was part of the first wave of West Coast country-rock bands, emerging from the ashes of the seminal Buffalo Springfield and initially built around Springfield's singer/guitarist Richie Furay and producer/sessionman Randy Meisner. They combined the harmony-laden folk-rock sound of the '60s with a country twang (mostly courtesy of pedal steel guitarist Rusty Young) and made a few noted country-rock albums in the early '70s before their sound turned slicker and poppier later in the decade.

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