Word: poco
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Rusty Young's steel and dobro playing is the instrumental core of Poco. His strength is his willingness to explore the rock possibilities of his country music instruments. From the steel, he pulls the Hammond organ sound vital to the ballads by playing through a Leslie tone cabinet, the standard Hammond amplifier. He's content to play the dobro through a wah-wah pedal, making "Good Feeling" sound like it's being played in a wind tunnel. Yet he can also provide country licks that would do the folks at the Grand Ole Opry proud...
...POCO REALLY functions on Richie Furay's limitless energy. Furay is the embodiment of how much fun it is to play rock 'n' roll for people. He must be a joy to play lead guitar for--he's one of the finest rhythm guitarists playing. Laugh not--playing good rhythm is tough, because you're responsible for pushing the lead guitarist to whatever heights he's trying to achieve, as well as keeping the music on an even keel by keeping the time and most of the beat, and most importantly, filling out the sound as though there...
...Poco's live show is an hour and a half of good, solid, adolescent fun. Good-time music, as homemade and homegrown as the assemblage that's the cover of their latest album. An encore is just icing. Yet, from last year, I knew their encore highlights their show. It's so theatrical--five minutes of screaming, shouting, chanting applause, with a personal attempt by the MC that finally brings them back, and into "El Tonto de Nadie, Regressa," 27 minutes that proves their musical expertise. The song is a montage of tempo changes, and a collage of guitar styles...
...chair, and plays on his knees, and then he plays pedal steel with the chair. More Hendrix; then feedback; and finally some Moog licks. The element of surprise is as effective as the sheer wildness of the music. The listener is utterly destroyed. And the song is over. Poco leaves in arm-wrestling, hugging disarray...
...Poco's so folksy that they just naturally appeal to that romantic, simple soul that resides within a lot of us: you gotta like them just for their attitude of easy rollin' good country fun. Not that they're antiseptic, God knows, just cleaner than most. Though I admire them for that alone. Besides. Anne's never been wrong about a group yet. She and her friends practically made Elton John...