Customer Reviews

20th Century Masters

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If this is your first introduction to Poco, you're going to get the wrong impression of this influential band. By the late-70's when these songs were recorded, the band was down to only two original members--pedal steel player Rusty Young and drummer George Grantham. [And Grantham is on only about half of these tracks since he left the band in 1978. Longtime bass player Timothy B. Schmit left the year before.] This is competent country-rock, but nothing like what the band recorded during its heyday (1969-1973) when Richie Furay led the band.

Ironically, it was in 1979 when Poco had its only Top 40 hits: "Crazy Love" and "Heart of the Night." The material on this collection is good, but really for completisits since the albums from which these songs were taken are all out of print.

If this is going to be your first Poco album purchase, a better choice would be Very Best of Poco which hits the highlights from their Epic label years with songs like "Pickin' Up the Pieces" and "You'd Better Think Twice." Or better yet, spring for the 2-CD collection The Forgotten Trail.

This isn't by any definition a true "best of" album. The song selection is miserable. Don't buy it. Get "The Essential Poco" if you want a decent one-disc overview. It has a lot more songs, as well.

When Poco and Epic Records parted ways in 1976, nobody would have ever expected the band to resurface again with 2 Top 40 hits in one year. But, they signed to ABC Records, and in 1979, that's exactly what they did, when 'Heart of the Night' and 'Crazy Love' cracked the Top 40. It was a major sigh of relief for this band, who had admittedly seen their better days by that point.

'20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection' represents Poco during their latter-day period, when their sound changed from country-rock to a more radio-friendly and accessible sound. If you like The Eagles, you'll like this CD. (In fact, two members of the Eagles -- bassists Timothy B. Schmit and Randy Meisner were both members of Poco prior to joining the Eagles -- ironically Schmit replaced Meisner as bassist in both bands).

Schmit is featured prominently on this CD. His voice leads songs like 'Keep on Tryin',' and he also can be heard on 'Widowmaker.'His harmony vocals simply are not to be missed. If you loved him with The Eagles, you'll love him here as well.

Ultimately, however, 'Heart of the Night' would prove to be their last major hit single. Poco would stay with ABC (now MCA) Records until 1983, but the band's successes declined rapidly. They released a few albums on RCA and Atlantic Records at the end of the decade, however, none were successful.

Now, to the review.

This disc does an adequate job at covering the latter-day Poco. It spans the comeback era, and features plenty of Eagles-esque songs. However, by the time Poco signed with ABC, only George Grantham and Rusty Young remained from the original (and admittedly best) lineup. Richie Furay, Jim Messina, and Randy Meisner were all long gone.

Overall, only buy '20th Century Masters' if you have the early years of Poco on Epic Records covered. I would start with either 'The Very Best of Poco' or 'The Essential Poco,' both excellent starting points covering their early years brilliantly. Once you get the early and formative years of Poco, this is an excellent place to begin covering their latter-day period. It's cheap, it is (for the most part) readily available, and it does cover a lot of bases for just 11 songs (and it has mostly everything the casual Poco fan will have heard from this period).

Recommended if you have the Epic years covered.

This is an album I like to listen to quietly over a tinny CD player as background music. It really is good--for this purpose. As a compilation of the "best" of Poco, it is blatantly bad, though. This record was the first Poco compilation I acquired and fortunately I'd already become familiar with some of their earlier country songs, so I knew how misleading the "best of" title really is. Like the previous reviewer said, don't buy this as your first Poco listening experience, get something like "The Forgotten Trail". I was thus initially quite disappointed, but before long it grew on me. The only track that recalls their original style is "Rose of Cimarron", which is more rock than country anyway. Beyond the misrepresentation of the band's best material, though, there are some agreeable tracks if you consider them in an easy-listening context. My picks in this context are "Heart of the Night", "Crazy Love", "Midnight Rain", "Barbados", and "Indian Summer". "Makin' Love" would be right at home on one of the later Eagles albums, reminding the listener of the connection between the two bands. Lastly, a very unique track is "Keep On Tryin'". It's in the key of B and consists of just a subtle acoustic guitar and the tight harmonies of the band members, with Timothy Schmit leading the vocals. It's a great song for mellowing out or even moping late at night. Re-reading this review, I have to admit that of the eleven tracks on the record, I've recommended eight, so if you can appreciate it for what it is and not as a compilation of "traditional" Poco, give it time to grow on you and give it a listen on a rainy evening when you want to just chill out.