Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
If you must limit your music collection to one Poco, October 30, 1999
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.
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18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Mammoth compilation of early Poco music, June 5, 2003
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.
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12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great selections from a hard band to catalog, August 17, 2001
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."
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