Poco
Pickin' Up the Pieces

THE REVIEW

“Picking Up the Pieces” refers to regrouping, starting over, putting together a new musical project after the previous one ended badly. This is exactly what the two guitarists and songwriters Richie Furay and Jim Messina did at the end of 1968, recovering from the breakup of Buffalo Springfield, dominated by the clashing egos of Stephen Stills and Neil Young. They replaced the latter two with drummer George Grantham, bassist Randy Meisner, and finally multi-instrumentalist “Rusty” Young, whose real name is Russell and who, by the way, is no relation to Neil, being from Los Angeles and not Canada.

On the cover of this debut album (1969), however, instead of Randy Meisner, there's a... dog! That's because the young Nebraska bassist had a major quarrel with the founding duo while they were still working on the final mix: he wanted more space and importance for his voice and, in general, more say in the production. The result is that he gets kicked out, but his bass guitar track is left in the mix, as is his voice when part of the backing vocals. His solo parts, on the other hand, are all cut and replaced with the equally tenor-like, though less appealing, tone of drummer Grantham. Thus, Meisner ends up duly thanked in the liner notes as an external collaborator... After all, getting kicked out of bands seems to be something of a habit for him—it would happen again with the Eagles, seven or eight years later.

The album offers eleven tracks of pure late 1960s country rock—still pioneering at that time—closely tied to the sounds of the Byrds, Flying Burrito Brothers, Gram Parsons... and, logically, Buffalo Springfield. The harmonies, which would later become a signature strength of the band, are for now not yet sufficiently refined and lush. Rusty Young still has a marginal, ornamental, and delicate role; he doesn’t sing, writes little, and leaves Messina to play the dominant guitar role. Things would change dramatically over the years, with the talented Long Beach native becoming the main songwriter and singer for Poco, as well as the band’s most prominent instrumentalist thanks to his exquisite touch on many stringed instruments he was able to play virtuously: steel guitar, dobro, mandolin, banjo, as well as the standard acoustic and electric guitars.

There are no tracks that truly stand out... I feel like mentioning only “Grand Junction”, a semi-bluegrass instrumental—no coincidence, mainly due to Rusty Young—and perhaps also “Oh Yeah” sung by Messina. The latter and Furay are competent songwriters, though not exactly brilliant; both also have nice voices, but well within the (albeit very high) American standard.