Customer Reviews

Legend

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Simply put, this was the right album at the right time for me. We all have those- albums or songs that came out at just the right time where we heard them loud and clear. Their songs practically spoke to us. Though Poco had put out a slew of records before "Legend," none matched it for impact. By the time this CD was released in 78 there were few California Sound bands still putting out strong music. Though Poco never matched The Eagles (who swiped Timothy B. Schmidt right before Poco recorded this CD) for number of hit songs (much less radio play), as this CD proves, they were capable of putting out powerful, catchy radio worthy music. I'll admit this CD has a strong sentimental value to me. "Crazy Love" hit me like a brick when it came out. Judging by how high the song charted, I'm sure I wasn't the only one. Who can't relate to the simple, efficient lyrics that say so much, so beautifully. To me this song is flawless from beginning to end and is one of my all time favorite songs, period. But other spellbinding songs are, "Spellbound" and "Love Comes, Love Goes" both equally potent in delivering heartfelt emotions. "Heart of the Night" and "Little Darlin" are well produced tunes that caught radio play, as this was Poco's most polished sounding recording, if only in sound quality. You'll get debates over whether the material was also as polished, but also like the Eagles, Poco had evolved since their beginnings, culminating in a more pop sounding product that many early fans felt was a sell out (that's how I felt about the Eagles.) Endless numbers of bands have their fan base whose favorite musiic is either the old stuff or the new. Poco's "Legend" falls into that type of debate. They do offer a mere trickle of songs bearing some, albeit a sliver, of resemblence to their previous recordings. "Legend" and "Barbados" are songs where that influence is present. But that wasn't the point of this record. Poco, like the Eagles started to become more the balladeers in their more appealing offerings, as did any surviving remnants of the California sound. This is one of my favorite CDs of the 70s with some of my favorite songs of all time.

This album came along during my "formative" musical listening years, and remains one of my all-time favorites. The album cover is one of my all-time favorites as well. Outstanding from beginning to end, this CD to this day sees a lot of action in my CD changer. The kind of music you never grow tired of. There was a lot of good music recorded during the 70's. This album ranks right up there with the best.

As with alot of bands then inspired by the Byrds "Sweethearts Of The Rodeo", Poco was one of these original bands that combined rock and country back in the late 60's and did so with more of a vision of creating a newer, different sound than the others at the time by combining roots of bluegrass and delivering vocals and harmonies in a high-pitched intensity matched with their electric on stage and in the studio performances.

With the likes of extremely talented musicians in their history such as Rusty Young, Richie Furay, Jim Messina, Randy Meisner, and Timothy B. Schmit, Poco has put out some of the best music in the country/rock scene ever. However, up to the point of "Legend", their swift electrifying music was virtually unnoticed commercially unless you were a well-rounded country/rock or a devoted Poco fan.

The band went through numerous lineup changes throughout their career. In late 1978 when "Legend" came out, Rusty Young led the band. With similar bands like Firefall, Orleans and Pure Prairie League hitting the airwaves with catchy-hooked hits, Young directed the band to a more radio-friendly, pop orientated focus with bigger production touches.

The result is "Legend", the bands best selling album that resulted in two Top-20 songs, "Crazy Love" and "Heart Of The Night", the upbeat "Barbados", and several beautifully cascading ballads with "The Last Goodbye", "Spellbound", and "Love Comes Love Goes" as absolute standouts. The gritty, thumping title track ends this album as one of their best songs ever.

"Legend" sounds as good today as it did then. Simply timeless.

This is one of those albums that's fallen between the cracks of time. Virtually every song here is worth a listen. Crazy Love, In the Heart of the Night, Legend are classics. I can't figure out why a lot of reviewers insist on comparing Poco with the Eagles. I know, they had similar country rock roots. But by the late 70s, the Eagles had formulated a harder-edged sound that had little in common with their first couple of albums. In fact, Legend has more in common with the early Eagle material than than with what the Eagles were doing in 1978, when Poco released this record. So check it out. It's good stuff.

Just on an aside, the late great comedian Phil Hartman (of SNL fame) did the cover art for this album. He was a graphic artist before he became an actor and actually created quite a few covers for many different bands (i.e. America's Greatest Hits and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.)

This album stands as proof that great commercial success does not signify a great album. Poco recorded many far superior albums prior to Legend, but for some reason this one hit the spot for the masses.

Legend was a departure for Poco for a variety of reasons, not the least of which was the loss of bassist Tim Schmit and drummer George Grantham, two of the greatest country-rock vocalists ever. For this reason, the vocal power that was Poco's long-time trademark is missing. It also marked the transformation of founding member Rusty Young from a full-time pedal steel player to his new role as guitarist/vocalist. Finally, the album is driven by the arrival of a rock-oriented rythm section featuring Charlie Harrison on bass and Steve Chapman on drums.

The primary thing that makes this album work are the songs. Rusty Young's had previously emerged as one of the band's primary songwriters and on this album he continues to shine. As Young himself likes to point out, his songs are simple and straightforward and there is great power in that simplicity. Young also steals the show on the few occasions when he does return to the pedal steel, particularly on Cotton's "Boomerang" and "In The Heart of the Night".

Legend stands out as the best of the post-Schmit/Grantham era of Poco. It did bring a lasting reputation and well deserved commercial success to a couple of guys that truly deserved the recognition for many years of great music.

Poco's Legend album is by far one of their best pop albums they done which is a far cry from their country oriented albums they did during their 10 year period. This album itself is a perfect for listening after a long night out on the town with your lady which with it you can put this album on your cd player with the candles lit all over. This a perfect after hours album you can play to your lady when you're in the mood to make love.

Timothy B. Schmit left Poco after 1977's "Indian Summer" to join, of course, the Eagles. His departure pulled the rug out from under the group from a songwriting standpoint, and as a result, all the songs on 1978's "Legend" were written either by Rusty Young or Paul Cotton. The resulting album certainly isn't bad and is a clear improvement over "Indian Summer", but it still does tend to feel workmanlike with songwriting that leaves quite a lot to be desired. Cotton offers the nicely funky album-opener "Boomerang" although it's got some annoying falsetto vocals, and "Barbados" also has some nice moodiness though it's weighed down by an underdeveloped chorus. Young's "Spellbound" is an engagingly tuneful ballad with a nice layered electric piano and acoustic guitar hook, and the mid-tempo pop-rocker "Little Darlin'" is pretty catchy. The hit "Crazy Love", also by Young, is nicely tuneful though a bit drippy, and it also suffers a bit from some thin, shaky harmonies. The problems with the aforementioned tracks get to the core of what's so frustrating about this album--Cotton and Young had some solid songwriting ideas, but it's like they either didn't have it in them or just got too impatient to bring these songs to the level of truly high quality. This is extremely noticeable in the lyrics which are uniformly weak--painfully shallow and unimaginative to the point where you often can see the next line coming a mile away. The one tune that's a total dud is "Love Comes Love Goes" which is a sluggish, sappy ballad. Cotton's hit ballad "Heart of the Night" is listenable, but the sentimentality of it is pretty dull. Young's album-closing title track has some nice catchy riffage, but it's frustratingly aimless. "The Last Goodbye" is another track with some nice moodiness, but again, it's underwritten, and at over 5 & ½ minutes, it's impossible to escape the feeling they were just trying to jack up the album's length in lieu of enough worthy material. So, if you see "Legend" dirt cheap, there IS some stuff here that makes it worthwhile, but it leaves a lot to be desired.

"Legend" is a great album!
While fans of their early "Country-Rock" albums may find this album to Pop oriented and a far cry from their earlier work, musically Legend is wonderfully done with great harmonies and not to mention excellant songwriting of Paul Cotton and Rusty Young.
Before Legend was recorded, the band seemed to have been on their way out with the departure of bassist Timothy B. Schmidt and drummer George Grantham. With their well known vocal harmonies and Schmidt's lead vocals and songwriting skills gone with them, many predicted Poco was about to call it a day....
Surprise! Young and Cotton recruited British musicians bassist Charlie Harrison, drummer Steve Chapman and fellow American keyboardist Kim Bullard and hit the studio once again. The result is Legend!
Rusty Young and Paul Cotton prove to everyone that their talents have been greatly underrated. Young's "Crazy Love" and Cotton's "Heart of the Night" gave Poco the top 20 hits that eluded them for so long.
The rest of the album is nothing to sneeze at either....listen to "The Last Goodbye" (great harmonies) and the album title track,"Legend" which shows Poco can rock w/ the best of them!
The Disco feel is there in "Boomerang" but this track is well done.Young's "Little Darlin" is one of the best tracks on the album and should have been released as a single.
Musically this is a great album!! If you are only a casual fan of Poco or you are partial to the Richie Furey era of the band, you may be disappoined in Legend but if you are a loyal fan, you will be glad you have this album in your collection. I am!
I highly recomend it.

Legend is perhaps the greatest album Poco has ever done after being over looked for nine years trying to carve a nitche into being a pop act taken seriously. This album from 78 really was the high point in the groups see-saw career.Although i was only kid back in 78 it certainly got a lot airplay which finally broke them into the mainstream which they been struggling to get to for so long. Over the last five years Poco were going in a more pop oriented direction they felt would be a big step for them to finally get over the hump which at long last it did pay off when they scored Legend which featured Crazy love which to date is Poco's biggest seller. This is the kind of album you would travel home after a gig or partying with friends especially on a late rainy night to relax and enjoy some soft rock to soothe you.