Picking up the pieces after the legendary Buffalo Springfield split up, Poco went on to define the genre of country-rock in American music. Poco has spawned a wealth of legendary musical talent and inspired generations of musicians from the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and the Eagles to Restless Heart and Foster and Lloyd. As pioneers of a unique blend of country and rock, Poco s former members include Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame inductees Richie Furay, Randy Meisner and Timothy B. Schmit. LEGEND is the first book to document the development, evolution and legacy of Poco from its formation in 1968 to the present day. Featuring insightful and personal accounts from Poco members and associates, LEGEND illuminates the trailblazing career of this underrated and influential band.
Book Description
Frequently Bought Together
Editorial Reviews
Review
In the latter sixties when many bands out of Southern California were merely imitating country music, Poco emerged from the pack as innovators of a genuinely original and exciting blend of rock n roll energy and attitude with country music textures and instrumentation. Rising from the ashes of the much-loved Buffalo Springfield, Richie Furay and Jimmy Messina conceived and crafted Poco from the get-go as the first truly country-rock band. Throughout all their various incarnations the band members remained true to that vision. Poco expert extraordinaire Jerry Fuentes offers a meticulously researched, detailed and insightful chronicle of an influential band whose legacy endures and can be heard today in the music of countless country music artists. Legend is required reading for country rock fans and aficionados alike. --John Einarson, author of Desperados: The Roots of Country Rock
Jerry has produced a masterpiece documenting the history of the country-rock band, Poco. Extensive interviews allow those in, out, and associated with the band to tell the story, while Jerry's meticulous research fills in the gaps. Legend: The Story of Poco will be the definitive book on this highly influential band. In 2008, Poco turned 40 and I can think of no better way to join the celebration than by reading Legend. From the band's beginnings out of the breakup of Buffalo Springfielfd, to the present, Jerry reveals the legacy like he's been "livin' in the band" for the last four decades. --Steven Casto, editor of Good Feelin' to Know fanzine
Jerry has produced a masterpiece documenting the history of the country-rock band, Poco. Extensive interviews allow those in, out, and associated with the band to tell the story, while Jerry's meticulous research fills in the gaps. Legend: The Story of Poco will be the definitive book on this highly influential band. In 2008, Poco turned 40 and I can think of no better way to join the celebration than by reading Legend. From the band's beginnings out of the breakup of Buffalo Springfielfd, to the present, Jerry reveals the legacy like he's been "livin' in the band" for the last four decades. --Steven Casto, editor of Good Feelin' to Know fanzine
About the Author
Jerry Fuentes is a professional historian specializing in rock history. His writing experience includes a Goldmine cover article on Buffalo Springfield, and articles on popular musicians including Neil Young, Buffalo Springfield, and Poco for Broken Arrow and Good Feeling to Know. Mr. Fuentes is the acknowledged expert on Poco, having researched the band's career for over two decades.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Flawed But Worthwhile,
By Born Band Creature (Wilmington, DE United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Legend: The Story of Poco (Paperback)
Jerry Fuentes is an historian by trade, and his new book "Legend: The Story of Poco" is meticulously researched, footnoted and indexed. Poco certainly has merited a book of its own for many years. In addition to meticulous research, the book contains some surprises (Jim Messina, a player whose guitar style is instantly recognizable, is reported to have been a reluctant guitarist who, according to the others, tends to over-rehearse). Particularly interesting, to me, is the back story of the band between Richie Furay's departure in 1973 and the break through MOR single `Crazy Love' in 1978, a time when Poco made music that was in equal parts brilliant and ignored. And the chapter on the 1988 `reunion' album Legend fascinates in the way that VH1's `Bands Reunited' fascinates.
There are, however, some problems. The book contains a fair number of small factual (Glassboro State College is, for instance, in southern New Jersey, not upstate New York), grammatical and punctuation errors. Without wishing to be nit picky, the cumulative effect of these to undermine the narrative's credibility. I can't tell from the credits whether or not this book was self-published. If so, this book demonstrates that there is certainly a place for self-publishing, since the story needed to be told. But it would have benefited from more professional editing. Fuentes also has a disconcerting habit of putting album titles in capital letters, JUST LIKE THIS, like a teenager in a chat room. The book is long on facts, but short on big-picture analysis. Fuentes does not attempt much discussion of the ultimate Poco question-- why did Poco as a band not succeed on the level that competitors like Eagles and former bandmates like Randy Meisner, Jim Messina, and, to state the obvious, Stephen Stills and Neil Young did? Anyone who saw Poco in 1972, when "Good Feelin to Know' had just been released (as I did--and the opening act was Jim Croce), saw a band that played with the passion of their fingers being inches from the brass ring. It does not spoil the book at all to attempt some conclusions, after the reading the book and listening to the music for 40 years: Their timing was always just off enough to undercut whatever project they were working on. They lacked the single mindedness of others, particularly The Eagles, to succeed at all costs demonstrated most vividly by Poco deciding in the early 70's to relocate to Colorado. Finally, the "too country for rock, and too rock for country" cliche is essentially correct; there was never a large commercial niche for their signature music, and they were unable to create one. Another writer once characterized Poco as the best farm team in rock and roll. This book is a fitting tribute to a great band in every single one of its incarnations, and is a very worthwhile read.
2 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very Well Done!,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Legend: The Story of Poco (Paperback)
I'm finding out stuff about Poco that even I didn't know. And the author actually uses bits of info that I provided to him in the book. Very cool to see this! Thank you, Jerry!
0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
for fans only,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Legend: The Story of Poco (Paperback)
I'm a big Poco fan and enjoyed this book. But there was mediocre writing and I wouldn't recommend it to a non-fan. After I read it I sent it to my sister whose birthday just happened to be coming up. But she'll enjoy it since she's a big Poco fan also.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
