Album Review: All Fired Up by Poco

PocoAll Fired Up(Drifter’s Church)Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars There’s nothing on the order of earlier classics like “Rose of Cimarron” or “Crazy Eyes” on Poco’s first studio album in over a decade, but there is plenty to enjoy. Guitarist/vocalist Rusty Young remains the last man standing from the original 1969 combo, an act that may not have invented country rock but were among the first to popularize it. This most recent Poco incarnation — whose constant personnel changes over the past 45 years would make rock family tree artist Pete Frame dizzy– is a solid roots, C&W outfit with sharply written songs and pleasing vocal harmonies that maintain and enhance the band’s breezy vibe.

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Country-rock veterans return Though they’ve existed in one form or another for an impressive 45 years, All Fired Up is only the second visit to the recording studio this century by the country-rockers whose name crops up regularly in the biographies of more celebrated acts (Buffalo Springfield, Eagles). Singersongwriter Rusty Young remains the constant, this latest line-up bolstered by another pair of solid and sympathetic writers, bassist Jack Sundrud and keyboardist Michael Webb. However, while the album is bristling with competent and perfectly palatable songs, it struggles to reach any of the band’s earlier high-water marks, suffering from a general sense of anonymity.

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