[Review] Poco: Head Over Heels (1975)

Three songwriters and four-part harmonies add up to another solid album.

Kronomyth 9.0: Musician, heel thyself.

Poco signed with ABC Records and was shuffled into a deck that now included Crosby-Nash, Steely Dan, and Joe Walsh. Despite the label change, Head Over Heels isn’t a departure from their last album, Cantamos. With three songwriters and four singers (including Rusty Young’s lead debut on Us), you’ll find a little of everything on here: sweet country harmonies (Keep on Tryin’), soft rock, strings. At this stage, Poco had outgrown its country-rock roots and effectively branched out into mainstream rock. You’ll still hear country elements in Young’s pedal steel and a little fiddle on Lovin’ Arms (which serves as the album’s title track), but no more than you would on their new labelmates’ records. Down in the Quarter, for example, could pass for a Joe Walsh song, and Sittin’ on a Fence sounds a lot like the work of Crosby-Nash. There’s even an actual Steely Dan song on here, Dallas, featuring Victor Feldman as an added bonus to Dan fans. Without Richie Furay, Poco had become a country-rock collective of distinct musical personalities. Paul Cotton is complicated, Rusty Young rocks, Timothy Schmit is, well, a little schmaltzy. It all adds up to a pretty good album, although Poco had few hits to show for all their effort. “Keep on Tryin’” almost cracked the Top 40; despite the lovely harmonies, it’s not one of their stronger songs. Oddly, Head Over Heels doesn’t shake out to be much different than those Souther-Hillman-Furay albums, begging the question of why Furay felt he needed to leave in the first place.

Original elpee version

A1. Keep on Tryin’ (Timothy Schmit) (2:54)
A2. Lovin’ Arms (Rusty Young) (3:29)
A3. Let Me Turn Back to You (Paul Cotton) (3:37)
A4. Makin’ Love (Rusty Young) (2:55)
A5. Down in the Quarter (Paul Cotton) (4:32)
B1. Sittin’ on a Fence (Rusty Young) (3:31)
B2. Georgia, Bind My Ties (Paul Cotton) (3:25)
B3. Us (Rusty Young) (1:56)
B4. Flyin’ Solo (Timothy Schmit/John Brennan) (3:36)
B5. Dallas (Donald Fagen/Walter Becker) (3:29)
B6. I’ll Be Back Again (Timothy Schmit) (3:02)

All songs arranged by POCO. String arrangements on A5/B4 by Jimmie Haskell.

Original 8-track version
A1. Keep on Tryin’
A2. Lovin’ Arms
A3. Makin’ Love
B1. Let Me Turn Back to You
B2. Sittin’ on a Fence
B3. Us
C1. Dallas
C2. I’ll Be Back Again
C3. Flyin’ Solo (cont.)
D1. Flyin’ Solo (concl.)
D2. Down in the Quarter
D3. Geogia, Bind My Ties

The Players

Paul Cotton (vocals, electric and acoustic guitars), George Grantham (vocals, drums), Timothy Schmit (vocals, bass, percussion, drambuie), Rusty Young (pedal steel guitar, steel guitar, mandolin, electric and acoustic guitars, dobro, banjo) with Victor Feldman (percussion on B1/B5/B6), Al Garth (violin, viola and laugh on A2), Garth Hudson (piano on A4), Mark Henry Harman (pipe organ on A3), Michael “Von” Verdick (scat vocal on B1). Produced by POCO and Mark Harman; engineered by Mark Harman and Michael “Von” Verdick.

The Pictures

Art direction by Peter Whorf. Album design by Don Bryant and Philip Hartman. Photography by Ron Selnzak.

The Plastic

Released on elpee and 8-track in June 1975 in the US (ABC, ABCD-890/8022 890 H), the UK (ABC, ABCL-5137) and Japan (Probe, IPS-80306) with lyrics innersleeve. Reached #43 on the US charts. (First appeared in 6/28/75 issue of Billboard.)

1. Re-issued on elpee in 1976 in the US (MCA, ABCD-890) and Japan (ABC, YQ-8003-AB).
2. Re-released on elpee in 1978 in Japan (ABC, YW-8028-AB).
3. Re-released on elpee in the US (MCA, MCA-37009) without innersleeve.
4. Re-packaged with Rose of Cimarron on remastered 2-for-1 compact disc in 2011 in the UK (Beat Goes On, BGOCD1003).