Customer Reviews

Crazy Eyes

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This was the fifth and final studio album to include founding member Richie Furay, who contributed only two songs: a nearly ten-minute tribute to Gram Parsons, "Crazy Eyes," and the closing track, "Let's Dance Tonight."

The other band members continue to mature as songwriters. Rusty Young adds the bluegrass-flavored instrumental "Fools Gold." Timothy B Schmidt offers the lovely ballad "Here We Go Again." On his third album with the band, Paul Cotton has two songs: the country/rocker "Blue Water" and the hard-driving "A Right Along." The album is rounded out with two covers: a lovely Gram Parsons ballad "Brass Buttons" and J.J. Cale's gorgeous "Magnolia."

Poco would continue to record for another ten years and even have a few hit singles after Furay's departure, but they were never as good without him. And, unfortunately, Furay's post-Poco career never really caught fire. As such, I've always treasured his work with Poco--it's among his best. RECOMMENDED

The 1973 classic CRAZY EYES was founding member Richie Furay's last album with Poco. But while his mood is somewhat somber on both the title song and Gram Parsons' haunting "Brass Buttons", the other four bandmembers harmonize superbly, play as well as ever (especially the amazingly versatile Rusty Young), and otherwise seem not at all bothered by the impending split. Standout tracks include "Here We Go Again", Tim Schmit's look at ill fated, symbiotic romance; Paul Cotton's environmentally cryptic "Blue Water", and Young's "Fool's Gold", which is rivaled in quality among Poco's legendary hillbilly-style thigh-slappers only by "Rocky Mountain Breakdown" off perhaps the group's most underrated effort, 1974's SEVEN. And as usual, Cotton ably carries the responsibility of showcasing some no-frills western-style rock with "A Right Along", as well as doing ballad honors on J.J.Cale's lush,languid "Magnolia". However, even as I recognize fully the talented artists who remained in the band, it must be honestly noted that Poco, even though they produced several excellent albums after CRAZY EYES, was never really the same group after Furay left. Songs like "Let's Dance Tonight" and the panoramic title tune cement Furay's irreplaceable value as the band's best "chemist" when it came to consistently pleasing the tastebuds of country-rock fans who came of age in the 1970s. All things being equal, if you've only heard OF Poco but never actually HEARD them, This is definitely the CD to start with. CRAZY EYES is Poco's very best album - straight up!

CRAZY EYES is Poco's finest recorded moment, period. It's basically a culmination of what the band had been working up to since forming in 1968, and, along with the Allman Brothers Band's BROTHERS AND SISTERS, the Marshall Tucker Band's first three albums, and the Outlaws anthology BEST OF THE OUTLAWS: GREEN GRASS AND HIGH TIDES, one of the best country-rock albums of all time. The main problem that kept this album from selling well among country-rock fans is that the Allman Brothers Band's BROTHERS AND SISTERS and the Marshall Tucker Band's self-titled debut were getting all the attention in 1973 in country-rock circles, so this one got left out in the cold. That's unfortunate, since it's just as good as those two.

Poco started off as a kind of super group of sorts and later morphed into the lite-rock group that many people associate with Poco.
This album is great without a clunker on it.
The title song, "Crazy Eyes", is a great rock/country anthem. One of my all time favorite songs.

This is a very good disc. Why it wasn't remastered and treated with the respect it deserves I don't know. Why Furay left after this disc I'll never understand. I love many of the post Furay discs but I can't help but feel greatness lost.

As innovative as the Byrds and with twice the talent of the Eagles, Poco remains one of rock's most underrated groups. Crazy Eyes is not as simple and sunny as some of their earlier classic country-rock albums, but the patient listener will be rewarded. Close your eyes and let Brass Buttons and Magnolia take you to deep bittersweet places in your heart. Timothy B Schmidt's voice is as smooth as ever on Here We Go Again, and Richie Furey shows again why he deserved to play along side Stills and Young in Buffalo Springfield. This album is impossible to categorize and is not for everyone but i'm still appreciating it after 25 yrs.

Outside of the title track(Poco's magnum opus of 9:39)this is a straight ahead great country-rock album. However, if you have the patience for some interesting music the title track will absolutely amaze you. If Pink Floyd and Poco mixed together sounds interesting, you should hear it...one of the most ambitious pieces of music ever recorded. I'm sure someone somewhere blasted it, but quite frankly next to 'Rose of Cimarron' it's my favorite Poco number.

If you're looking for a good starting point for the 70's country/rock band, this is the one. The title track is a salute to the late Gram Parsons and "Brass Buttons" is a Parson tune, ably sung by his buddy Richie Furay. The highlight for me is Magnolia, for personal reasons, but every track is good. Often people want to compare Poco to the more commercially successful Eagles, but that is unfair. Their song selection and styles are worlds apart, and Poco is the better of the two, and this CD is one of the reasons why.

Meet Poco -- perhaps the most underappreciated band ever -- at the end of their first life.

The original Poco recorded exactly one album together before bassist Randy Meisner quit. He was replaced by Timothy B. Schmidt, and the band recorded two more albums, charting a couple of songs, before lead guitarist Jim Messina quit. Both Meisner (with the Eagles) and Messina (with Loggins & Messina) became huge stars. Poco, meanwhile, added Paul Cotton and struggled with its fourth album.

Then, in a stroke of genius, Poco was paired with the Canadian producer Jack Richardson (who produced everything from the Guess Who to Alice Cooper to Bob Seger's "Night Moves"). The result was a brilliant song and album, both titled "A Good Feelin' to Know," that everyone from Poco leader Richie Furay to CBS Records chairman Clive Davis thought would be monster hits. But both unexpectedly flopped, stunning the band and the label. Then Richie's long-time friend and country-folk-rock pioneer Gram Parsons died.

In that depressed state, Poco and Richardson recorded one of the true masterpieces of the 1970s, the album "Crazy Eyes." The haunting title track (about Gram Parsons), one of Richie's only two compositions on the CD, is still -- 30 years later -- an epic mixture of band (featuring dobro, banjo and electric guitar) and orchestra, while Richie's vocals cover enough range to remind everyone why HE was the lead singer in a band with Neil Young and Stephen Stills as members. Richie also contributes vocals on Gram's "Brass Buttons" and gives the song a rendition equal to Gram's best. Meanwhile, Paul Cotton's strong vocals highlight another lengthy and melancholy cover tune, J.J. Cale's masterful "Magnolia," and future Eagle Timothy B. Schmidt performs his own ballad, "Here We Go Again" -- making this Poco's most reflective album ever.

Mixed in with the slower tunes are more typical Poco offerings for balance. Paul Cotton contributes the ecological "Blue Water" (the only song on the album that seems dated) and the side 1 closer (on the LP, that is) "A Right Along." Multi-talented Rusty Young's instrumental "Fool's Gold" is perhaps the strongest of his many "hoedowns," and Richie's "Let's Dance Tonight" starts off slowly (which makes sense, as it follows the 15-plus-minutes of "Crazy Eyes" and "Magnolia") but then brings the album to a rousing close.

Although it's only occasionally given its due, "Crazy Eyes" is one of the all-time classic albums of country-folk-rock. When the album was finished, Richie left the group, and Poco (Version 2)'s long journey through obscurity continued for six more albums before it finally had a breakthrough hit. What an unfortunate time for Richie to give up ... but at least he helped give us "Crazy Eyes" first.

Side note: in addition to the songs on the CD, Richie wrote and recorded "Believe Me," his best-known song from the Souther-Hillman-Furay Band, for this record. It (and several other good songs) had to be omitted because CBS wasn't willing to give Poco a double album after the flop of "A Good Feelin' to Know." Poco's version can be found on the marvelous anthology "The Forgotten Trail (1969-1974)."

Crazy Eyes is classic Poco. This album, next to Seven is probably my favorite Poco album due to the fact that every track on the album is a winner.

From the bluegrass openers Blue Water and Fool's Gold, to the southern flavored Magnolia and Brass Buttons, to the epic title track (which in my opinion should have closed the album), Cotton's rocker A Right Along, Schmitt's Here We Go Again, and the album's uptemo closer, Let's Dance Tonight.

Great stuff and well recommended!