Poco

Poco – Head Over Heals (1975/2018) [Official Digital Download 24bit/192kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · March 10, 2024 · Comments off

Poco - Head Over Heals (1975/2018) [Official Digital Download 24bit/192kHz] Download

Head over Heels is the eighth studio album by the American country rock band Poco, and their first on ABC Records. Schmit’s “Keep On Tryin'” shows off the band’s skills in harmonizing and became a cut that the band played in concert for many years. It also contains Rusty Young performing his first lead vocal on a Poco album on the track “Us”, and a recording of the rare Steely Dan song “Dallas”.
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Poco – Blue And Gray (1981/2021) [Official Digital Download 24bit/192kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · March 10, 2024 · Comments off

Poco - Blue And Gray (1981/2021) [Official Digital Download 24bit/192kHz] Download

Blue and Gray is the thirteenth studio album by the American country rock band Poco, released in 1981. The album is a theme-based record, similar to Desperado by The Eagles, only the theme on this record is the American Civil War. The band scored minor chart success with “Widowmaker”. The colors in the title refer to United States Army and Confederate States Army uniforms of the period, respectively.
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Poco – Pickin’ Up The Pieces (1969) [Audio Fidelity 2013] SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

SACD / DSD By admin · October 31, 2022 · Comments off

Poco dealt with a lot during the recording of their debut album – the sudden departure of bassist Randy Meisner, the frustration of working with an engineer who didn’t quite get what they were trying for, and a lot of pressure to deliver a solid collection of country-rock songs – and came up with this startlingly great record, as accomplished as any of Buffalo Springfield’s releases, and also reminiscent of the Beatles and the Byrds. Pickin’ Up the Pieces is all the more amazing when one considers that Jim Messina and George Grantham were both covering for the departed Meisner in hastily learned capacities on bass and vocals, respectively. The title track is practically an anthem for the virtues of country-rock, with the kind of sweet harmonizing and tight interplay between the guitars that the Byrds, the Burritos, and others had to work awhile to achieve. The mix of good-time songs (“Consequently So Long,” “Calico Lady”), fast-paced instrumentals (“Grand Junction”), and overall rosy feelings makes this a great introduction to the band, as well as a landmark in country-rock only slightly less important (but arguably more enjoyable than) Sweetheart of the Rodeo.

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Poco – Cantamos & Seven (1974) [Reissue 2018] SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

SACD / DSD By admin · October 31, 2022 · Comments off

Dating from 1974, this 2-on-1 from country rock’s most under-appreciated band followed the departure of founder Richie Furay, Poco by this point dominated by Paul Cotton. Both albums – Vocalion has chosen not to put them in chronological order – were filled with a mix of hard-driving rockers and wistful ballads, the best moments belonging to Timothy B Schmit, who would soon leave to join The Eagles. This SACD offers the original quadraphonic mix as well as stereo, and the 4-channel format’s spatial oddities are less intrusive than one might imagine. A welcome reissue, especially given the 44-year gap since the quad mix was available.

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Poco – Rose Of Cimarron (1976/2018) [Official Digital Download 24bit/192kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · October 5, 2022 · Comments off

Rose of Cimarron is the ninth studio album by the American country rock band Poco, released May 1976. Former Loggins & Messina sax/fiddle player Al Garth joined the band to record this album, but left shortly after due to internal conflicts. The title track became one of the band’s signature songs, and was later recorded by Emmylou Harris on her album, Cimarron. The band’s old label, Epic Records, released Poco Live just one month before Rose of Cimarron, causing confusion among listeners and helping sales of the former at the expense of the latter.

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Poco – Legend (1978/2021) [Official Digital Download 24bit/192kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · October 5, 2022 · Comments off

Poco’s biggest-selling album of all time also presented the biggest personnel change at one time for the then-decade-old group, whose lineup had hardly been a model of stability up to that time. Co-founding drummer/singer George Grantham and longtime bassist/singer Timothy B. Schmit were both gone, the latter off to the Eagles. Listening to parts of this album, one gets the sense that, with the arrival of Charlie Harrison (bass, harmony vocals) and Steve Chapman (drums) in the group, Poco was deliberately adopting a change in sound similar to what the Eagles went through when Joe Walsh joined, into much harder rocking territory, at least part of the time. Longtime fans were probably disheartened to hear Rusty Young and Paul Cotton give up any semblance of their country roots on the opening track, “Boomerang,” a bracing, heavy rock number (for this band) that didn’t sound a great deal like the Poco of previous years. Most of the rest of the album, however, was closer to what one wanted and expected from this band – “Spellbound” a beautifully lyrical ballad that benefited from Young’s instrumental range and his and Cotton’s harmonizing, and Cotton’s “Barbados” offering similarly alluring musical textures with more of a beat. Cotton’s “Heart of the Night,” however, dominated everything around it, as one of the most finely crafted songs in the group’s history, highlighted by a beautiful sax solo from Phil Kenzie. And then there’s “Crazy Love” (composed by Rusty Young), with its soft, ethereal textures, which was a little lightweight for this band but unassuming enough to dominate the adult contemporary charts at the time. Young’s “The Last Goodbye” and “Legend” closed out the album on a more thickly textured, higher-wattage note, representing the group’s newer sound, the latter with a memorably driving beat that, with “Boomerang,” bookended the album.

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Poco – Indian Summer (1977/2021) [Official Digital Download 24bit/192kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · October 5, 2022 · Comments off

Although Indian Summer wasn’t the commercial breakthrough Poco had hoped for (it would come a year later with Legend), there’s nothing inherently bad here. The band was more compact than ever, evenly sharing songwriting duties, and Rusty Young’s confident pedal steel seemed to distinguish Poco from most other country-rock bands. However, this record is also a few notches down from their best, early material. The strongest song is the title track, which has some nice steel guitar and harmony vocals, but this high point is balanced by the closing number, “The Dance,” a clumsy suite that’s burdened by an over-the-top string and horn arrangement. The only other item of note is a courtesy appearance by Steely Dan’s Donald Fagen, who plays Arp synthesizer on a couple songs. File this under the “treading water” category.

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