Customer Reviews

Forgotten Trail: 1969-1974

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Poco became more successful in the late seventies, but this collection covers their equally interesting formative years. During that period, their success was modest, so a double-CD seems somewhat generous, but it's all good stuff - and I love the cover picture too.

Poco were one of the earliest country rock bands. Most such bands placed the emphasis on the rock rather than the country, but Poco included a steel guitarist in their band to emphasise the country. This may explain why they struggled - rock fans have long regarded the steel guitar as a symbol of what is (to them) everything that is wrong with country music, while country fans (at the time) wouldn't touch country rock. Throughout the period covered by this collection, the steel guitar remained a feature of Poco's music, but it never dominates, always being used effectively and well in just the right places.

The albums represented here are Picking up the pieces (5 tracks), Poco (4 tracks), Delivering (3 tracks), From the inside (3 tracks), A good feeling to know (3 tracks), Crazy eyes (4 tracks), Poco Seven (2 tracks) and Cantamos (3 tracks). The other 11 tracks were recorded during the same period, but did not appear on any album. Some were released as singles, while others were not released at all, or are remixes.

Poco's influence is obvious but hard to measure. Two of their members later joined the Eagles, the most successful country rock band of them all, while other country rock bands of the seventies all owed something to Poco. Today, there are many bands who mix rock and country in various ways, but they also owe something to Poco, either directly or indirectly via other bands.

This mammoth collection, with mammoth liner notes, provides a fascinating insight into the early evolution of country rock. Unlike the mammoth, the music is alive and flourishing.

selection, this is the one to get. While the Gram Parsons-era Flying Burrito Brothers, Buffalo Springfield and the Sweethearts of the Rodeo-era Byrds are more favorably remembered by critics for pioneering the country-rock movement, it would be a gross miscarriage to not give Poco their due. Formed from the ashes of Buffalo Springfield, Richie Furay and Jim Messina along with pedal steel player Rusty Young and George Grantham (drums) and Timothy B. Schmidt (bass) wrote and performed some the the greatest feel good music of the 70s. It's appropriate that this collection pretty much ends with Furay's departure from the band. [Although Paul Cotton--who replaced Messina after only three albums--and Rusty Young recorded throughout the late 70s and into the 80s, their commercial success did not match the band's early 70s artistic success.] This 2CD collection hits the highlights of the band's first seven album's. Of the four bonus tracks, the acoustic version of "You Better Think Twice" is amazing! Along with tracks like "Pickin' Up the Pieces," "Anyway Bye Bye" and "Good Feeling to Know," Richie Furay and Co. show why they rank among the best of the country-rock bands of the past three decades. If your budget permits it, also purchase their debut "Pickin' up the Pieces," which is a classic in its own right.

For a band which, quite frankly, released its share of duds over the years, this is a remarkably consistent compilation. Not strictly a hits collection (widespread commercial success came to Poco only years after the period covered here) or a rarities collection (though it does contain a generous portion of previously unreleased material), The Forgotten Trail is a best-of in the truest sense of the term. Most of the original albums from this era are worth picking up in their own right, but for new fans, this is a worthy cross section of them.

As the liner notes point out, Poco was so influential on more commercially successful bands like the Eagles (two of whom were ex-Poco members) that it's easy to forget how radical their country-rock approach was when they appeared on the scene in 1969. More than most country-rock bands - including the later and more popular Poco lineups - the original Poco leaned heavily on the country half of its genre. For that reason, this album might be offputting to fans of later country-rock at first, but repeated listenings will be rewarded. If you know these guys mostly from the later years, this is the best place to start when it comes to "how it was when it all began."

I am not usually fond of compilation albums, particularly when the artist has a recorded output as strong as that of Poco's, but I'll make an exception in this case.

The 38 tracks cover eight albums which, between them yielded the grand total of two charting singles ("You Better Think Twice" and "C'mon"), neither of which made the top 50. This means album tracks abound, as do rarities (including the "My Kind Of Love"/"Hard Luck" non-album single)and for the most part the selection is inspired. Sure, there are ommissions (Most of all I miss Paul Cotton's rocking "Railroad Days" from "From The Inside")but that's inevitable...most Poco albums, and certainly the ones from the era covered by this release were consistently strong with at least two thirds of any given album being brilliant.

Most people probably don't feel the need to purchase all the albums now and this compilation works as a superb introduction to the group. I should know...I was interested in Buffalo Springfield and hadn't heard a single Poco track when I took a gamble and bought this set - it was worth every cent, and now I'm an avid fan. Speaking of avid fans, they cannot possibly keep this album from their collection...the rare tracks, and even the pre and post song studio banter makes this an absolutely essential release from their point of view at the same time as it works as a nice introduction/overview for the more casual listener.

This compilation came out in 1990. That said, it's obvious that it could benefit from a modern remaster, but that hasn't happened, and there are no newer alternatives as comprehensive as this available at this time. Personally, I like the song selections here, and I hope they remaster it instead of issuing a new compilation. Until then, we have The Forgotten Trail, and that's not a bad thing because in spite of its age, it sounds pretty darned good.

took me an the misses back to a time long ago such sweet sounds from those who influenced generations granddads to all alt country today

I just got this set after reading such positive reviews about it. I'd like to echo those thoughts. This collection is simply one of the best I've heard from this very underrated band. I personally go for the "Older" sound of Poco. The more country sounding Poco (the way they meant to be heard) rather than the later Poppy sound found on albums like Legend and Under the Gun.

Excellent album tracks complimented by unreleased gems makes this collection a must for any Poco fan.

Highly recommended!

Most of the cuts on this cd are great. A few fall abit short but all in all a pretty good buy

As someone not introduced to Poco until the release of Rose of Cimarron (1976)and Indian Summer (1977), I had no idea what I had been missing. And while Timothy B. Schmit is awesome with "Keep On Tryin'", "Starin' At The Sky", and "Me And You" (all released after 1974 and found on "Poco Gold"), the music of Messina, Cotton, Furay and Young is timeless. I'm not sure anyone who didn't grow up in the 70's listening to country rock can understand this, but you can't own too much Poco haha. If I was on a deserted island and could only have one bands music, I would have to choose Poco over Marshall Tucker Band because of the expansive collection and variety of styles they provided over 3 decades. This is an awesome collection of earlier works.

being a poco fan from the start, i thought this was a good collection of their music. this group never got the recognition it deserved.