Legend: The Story of Poco
by Jerry Fuentes
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Book Summary Information
Author: Jerry FuentesEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2008-12-01
ISBN: 0981759203
Number of pages: 312
Publisher: Groundhog Press
Book Reviews of Legend: The Story of Poco
Book Review: Flawed But Worthwhile
Summary: 4 Stars
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.
Those things said, this book is a fitting tribute to a great band in every single one of its incarnations, and is a very worthwhile read.
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