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1,990 E-Pages of In-Depth Information
Over 260 Reviews from the discs themselves...
Over 260 Reviews from the discs themselves...
"...A Good Feelin' To Know..."
Never
as wildly successful or for that matter (IMO) as musically good as their tuneful counterparts
EAGLES – yet across five decades now (1969 to 2019) - the American band POCO has nonetheless
clawed their Dobro-picking Steel Guitar pickaxe slashing way into the hearts of
many a Country-Rock music fan.
And
this excellent and rather natty little box set shows us why – containing as it
does five albums lifelong fans have loved to distraction (four studio and one
live) - boosted by five rare bonus cuts only recently issued in 2015. And the
whole brass buttons is available in great audio and cool presentation and for
not a lot of wonga either, considering what’s on offer.
There's
a ton of detail to wade through, so let's have at those Driving Wheels, Western
Waterloos and Crazy Eyes...
UK
released Friday, 30 August 2019 (9 August 2019 in the USA) - "The Epic
Years 1972-1976" by POCO on HNE Recordings HNEBOX121 (Barcode
5013929922105) is a 5CD Mini Clamshell Box Set of New Remasters (Andy Pearce
and Matt Wortham) offering five albums (four studio and one live) plus five
Bonus Tracks and it plays out as follows:
CD1
"A Good Feelin' To Know" (47:35 minutes):
1.
And Settlin' Down [Side 1]
2.
Ride The Country
3.
I Can See Everything
4.
Go And Say Goodbye
5.
Keeper Of The Flame
6.
Early Times [Side 2]
7.
A Good Feelin' To Know
8.
Restrain
9.
Sweet Lovin'
Tracks
1 to 9 are their fifth album "A Good Feelin' To Know" - released
November 1972 in the USA on Epic KE 31601 and January 1973 in the UK on Epic
Records S EPC 65216
BONUS
TRACKS:
10.
I Can See Everything [Remix] - first appeared in July 2015 on the 2CD POCO
compilation "The Forgotten Trail (1969-1974) on Retroworld/Floating World
FLOATD6229 (Barcode 0805772622920)
11.
A Good Feelin' To Know [Single Edit] - A-side to a June 1972 US 45 on Epic
5-10890 (3:27 minute edit) with the album track "Early Times" on the
B-side - 19 January 1973 UK 7" single on Epic S EPC 8240 with same
flip-side
CD2
"Crazy Eyes" (53:56 minutes):
1.
Blue Water [Side 1]
2.
Fools Gold
3.
Here We Go Again
4.
Brass Buttons
5.
A Right Along
6.
Crazy Eyes [Side 2]
7.
Magnolia
8.
Let's Dance Tonight
Tracks
1 to 8 are their sixth album "Crazy Eyes" - released September 1973
in the USA on Epic Records KE 32354 and November 1973 UK on Epic Records S EPC
65631.
BONUS
TRACKS:
9.
Nothin's Still The Same [Remix]
10.
Get In The Wind [Remix]
11.
Believe Me [Remix]
Tracks
9 to 11 first appeared in July 2015 on the 2CD POCO compilation "The
Forgotten Trail (1969-1974) on Retroworld/Floating World FLOATD6229 (Barcode
0805772622920)
CD3
"Poco Seven" (35:57 minutes):
1.
Drivin' Wheel [Side 1]
2.
Rocky Mountain Hoedown
3.
Just Call My Name
4.
Skatin'
5.
Faith In The Families [Side 2]
6.
Krikkit's Song (Passing Through)
7.
Angel
8.
You've Got Your Reasons
Tracks
1 to 8 are their seventh album "Poco Seven" - released May 1974 in
the USA on Epic Records KE 32895 and June 1974 in the UK on Epic Records S EPC
80082.
CD4
"Cantamos" (36:44 minutes):
1.
Sagebrush Serenade [Side 1]
2.
Susannah
3.
High And Dry
4.
Western Waterloo
5.
One Horse Blue [Side 2]
6.
Bitter Blue
7.
Another Time Around
8.
Whatever Happened To Your Smile
9.
All The Ways
Tracks
1 to 9 are their eight album "Cantamos" (Spanish for "We Sing"
- released November 1974 in the USA on Epic PE 33192 and December 1974 in the
UK on Epic S EPC 80595
CD5
"Live" (38:20 minutes):
1.
Medley: Blue Water/Fools Gold/Rocky Mountain Hoedown [Side 1]
2.
Bad Weather
3.
Ride The Country
4.
Angel [Side 2]
5.
High And Dry
6.
Restraint
7.
A Good Feelin' To Know
Tracks
1 to 7 are "Live" - their second live album and eleventh album
overall - released March 1976 in the USA on Epic Records PE 33336 and in the UK
on Epic EPC 80705.
The
mini clamshell box set is pretty to look at and the 16-page booklet with
MALCOLM DOME liner notes contains all the data and discography info a body
would need - including page photographs of the inner gatefold for "A Good
Feelin' To Know" LP, the back sleeve of "Crazy Eyes", the inner
for "Seven" and so on. The
band featured RICHIE FURAY [ex Buffalo Springfield], PAUL COTTON [ex Illinois
Speed Press], RUSTY YOUNG, TIMOTHY B. SCHMIT [later with The Eagles] and GEORGE
GRANTHAM. The five single card sleeves are nice (each CD label is unfortunately
a generic HNE Recordings logo instead of the original American labels) but the
real news is AUDIO from two fave engineers of mine - ANDY PEARCE and MATT
WORTHAM. After the ever so slight crudity of "A Good Feelin' To Know"
- Jack Richardson's Production values seemed to settle down and from
"Crazy Eyes" onwards - the Audio is great - really clean and
expressive ("Poco Seven" and "Cantamos" too). To the
music...
Richie
Furay provided "And Settlin' Down", "A Good Feelin' To
Know" and "Sweet Lovin'" for the debut while their other lead
vocalist and songwriter Paul Cotton stumped up "Ride The Country",
"Early Times" and "Keeper Of The Fire". Balladeer Timothy
B. Schmit threw in "I Can See Everything" and "Restraint"
with "Go And Say Goodbye" being a rather workmanlike cover of a
Buffalo Springfield song penned by Stephen Stills. The funny thing about
"...Good Feelin'..." is that the band somehow considered it better
than "Crazy Eyes" because Furay was still on-board with the band -
his contributions to the follow-up "Crazy Eyes" being entirely
contractual.
But
for me the production values of "Crazy Eyes" and the fact that
Furay's departure seems to have woken up the other songwriters by virtue of
necessity see stunners like the Eagles Country-Rock speaker-to-speaker panned
guitars of "Blue Water" vie for attention with the first of two
really good covers - Gram Parsons heartbreaker "Brass Buttons" and
the gorgeous melody of J.J. Cale's "Magnolia". But for me the winner
has always been the extraordinary 9:37 minutes of the Side 2 opener and album
title track "Crazy Eyes". I've often wondered was Randy Meisner
listening to this when he did his similar track "Journey of The
Sorcerer" on the Eagles 1975 album "One Of These Nights". Poco's
"Crazy Eyes" throws in everything - strings, banjos, steel and
electric guitars, drum rhythms and an epic-ness that they never again achieved
nor attempted. And those five bonus tracks are shockingly good - especially the
remix of Schmit's "I Can See Everything" which irons out some of the
originals rougher instrumentation edges.
There's
amazing audio quality on the slide guitar for "Angel" from "Poco
Seven" but the "Krikkit's Song..." from Schmit feels cheesy -
things redeemed by the lovely acoustic guitars within 'You've Got Your
Reasons". The "live" set
is a weird one - recorded across 3 dates in November 1974 on the
"Cantamos" tour - "Live" was belatedly released by Epic to
spite the band for defecting to ABC Records. When Poco felt Epic no longer had
their backs (which they didn't) and left for a new label and a new beginning -
when they released the July 1975 and May 1976 albums "Head Over
Heels" and "Rose Of Cimarron" (firm fan faves) - Epic went
head-to-head by also releasing a double-album "Very Best Of" in July
1975 to try to steal the thunder from their "Head Over Heels" album.
"Live" warmed up fans only weeks before "Rose Of Cimarron".
That notwithstanding - the band's performance in those Yale University gigs (9,
28 and 29 Nov 1974) is that of a well-oiled machine - one of the LP's track
titles being ignored by a petulant Epic Records - "Restraint".
It's
not all banjo-yee-haw genius for sure, but Poco's "The Epic Years 1972-1976"
is nicely presented and combined with the great new Audio, quantity of material
and tasty extras actually worthy of the moniker 'bonus' - will have the Poco
nut in your home feelin' real good this festive holiday...
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