| Legend | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Cover by Phil Hartman | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | November 1978 | |||
| Recorded | April–August 1978 | |||
| Studio | Crystal Sound Studios (Hollywood, California); The Village Recorder (Los Angeles, California) | |||
| Genre | Country rock | |||
| Length | 37:54 | |||
| Label | ABC | |||
| Producer | Richard Sanford Orshoff | |||
| Poco chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Singles from Legend | ||||
| ||||
Legend is the eleventh studio album by the American country rock band Poco, released in 1978.
After ABC Records canceled the 1977 release of Poco's planned 13th album: the live set The Last Roundup , the three remaining members of the band: Rusty Young, Paul Cotton and George Grantham, agreed to the suspension of Poco as a recording or performing outfit. By 1978 Young, a founding member of Poco from 1968, and Cotton, with Poco since 1970, had decided to launch as essentially a duo act, ABC Records greenlighting the recording of the intended debut album of the Cotton-Young Band. Although Poco had self-produced the group's six studio album releases plus one live album release between 1974 and 1977, Cotton and Young elected to have the Cotton-Young Band sessions - recorded in the summer of 1978 at Crystal Sound Studio in Hollywood - overseen by Richard Sanford Orshoff, feeling an "outside" producer dealing with the recording process and with ABC Records would allow Cotton and Young to focus strictly on their songs. Young and Cotton also deferred to Orshoff in regards to which songs proffered for the album were actually recorded and included on it, Orshoff nixing some bluegrass songs composed by Rusty Young which (Rusty Young quote:)"would probably have...made the album too country ...for the pop market." [1]
November 1978 saw the release of the Cotton-Young Band recordings as Legend the eleventh studio album by Poco, ABC having decided to continue the "brand" of Cotton and Young's supposedly defunct outfit, two sidemen from the Cotton-Young Band sessions: drummer Steve Chapman and bassist Charlie Harrison, being afforded tenure in a new Poco lineup (and veteran Poco drummer George Grantham thus being ousted from the group):[ citation needed ] shortly after the release of Legend, Kim Bullard was recruited as keyboardist in Poco's new lineup (Legend had featured session keyboardist Tom Stephenson).
After spending eight weeks in the lower half of the Billboard 200 album chart, Legend was afforded a boost with the release in mid-January 1979 of the track "Crazy Love" as a single which debuted at number 72 on the Billboard Hot 100 dated 20 January 1979 and rose into the Top 40 within four weeks. "Crazy Love" was to eventually stall at number 17 [2] but the cachet of generating a Top 40 hit - Poco's first - was enough to propel the Legend album into the Top 20 of the Billboard 200. Peaking at number 14 on the Billboard 200 dated 7 April 1979, [3] Legend would the next week be certified as a Gold record for sales of 500,000 units: [4] according to Rusty Young, sales for Poco's precedent albums had typically hovered between 200,000 and 300,000 units. The breakout success of Legend was attributed by some to the efforts of ABC's promotional staff to prove their value to MCA Records who absorbed ABC in February 1979. An alternate contention is that Legend and its "Crazy Love" single began breaking-out prior to ABC's takeover by MCA, the latter label taking a counter-productive disinterest in Poco: ( LA Times 27 April 1979 quote from "a source close to ABC":) "[Poco]'s sales would be better now if that change [ie. ABC's takeover by MCA] hadn't happened. Poco's records really suffered. Those guys are hexed." [1]
Legend would also generate a second Top 20 hit: "Heart of the Night", written and sung by Paul Cotton, meaning that Legend afforded both of Poco's veteran members a hit single, "Crazy Love" being written and sung by Rusty Young: the title track - another Rusty Young number - would prove a Hot 100 shortfall as a third single release. [5]
The cover art for Legend was done by Phil Hartman, the brother of Poco manager John Hartmann; Phil Hartman worked as a graphic designer creating album covers for his brother's clients (including America) while attempting to break out as a comic. [6]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    [7] |
| The Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [8] |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [9] |
Contemporary reviews of Legend typically noted how the album evinced the shedding of Poco's country rock provenance: The Philadelphia Inquirer considered that Poco had shifted "emphasis to an extremely tasty straight-on pop-rock, nicely executed with strong vocals and pretty harmonies." [10] Stuart Goldman of the Los Angeles Times was less enamored of the band's new direction: "The songs on 'Legend' are well crafted. The hooks are strong and the guitar breaks concise. But the end result is vapid and spiritless. Gone are Young's soaring steel guitar lines and Cotton's ultrathin voice quickly becomes irritating. The lyrics to the tunes - fraught with 'easy evenin' breezes', 'cool southern rain', and 'faded memories' - simply aren't tolerable without the livelier stance [Poco] used to take." [11] Record World praised the title track for its "stinging lead guitar, bulldozer rhythm and clean lead vocals." [12]
In his AllMusic review, music critic Bruce Eder wrote, "Listening to parts of this album, one gets the sense that, with the arrival of Charlie Harrison (bass, harmony vocals) and Steve Chapman (drums) in the group, Poco was deliberately adopting a change in sound similar to what the Eagles went through when Joe Walsh joined, into much harder rocking territory, at least part of the time." He called "Heart of the Night" "one of the most finely crafted songs in the group's history." [7]
Poco
Additional musicians
Weekly charts
| Year-end charts
|
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| United States (RIAA) [19] | Gold | 500,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. | ||
Buffalo Springfield was a rock band formed in Los Angeles by Canadian musicians Neil Young, Bruce Palmer and Dewey Martin and American musicians Stephen Stills and Richie Furay. The group, widely known for the song "For What It's Worth", released three albums and several singles from 1966 to 1968. Their music combined elements of folk music and country music with influences from the British Invasion and psychedelic rock. Like contemporary band the Byrds, they were key to the early development of folk rock. The band took their name from a steamroller parked outside their house.
"Crazy Little Thing Called Love" is a song by the British rock band Queen. Written by Freddie Mercury in 1979, the track is included on their 1980 album The Game, and also appears on the band's compilation album Greatest Hits in 1981. The song peaked at number two in the UK Singles Chart in 1979 and became the group's first number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US in 1980, remaining there for four consecutive weeks. It topped the Australian ARIA Charts for seven weeks. It was the band's final single release of the 1970s.
Poco was an American country rock band originally formed in 1968 after the demise of Buffalo Springfield. Guitarists Richie Furay and Jim Messina, former members of Buffalo Springfield, were joined by multi-instrumentalist Rusty Young, bassist Randy Meisner and drummer George Grantham. Meisner quit the band while they were recording their first album, Pickin' Up the Pieces, though his bass and backing vocal parts were kept in the final mix. He was replaced by Timothy B. Schmit in 1969, and Messina left in 1970 to be replaced by Paul Cotton. The line-up would change numerous times over the next several decades, with Rusty Young being the only constant member. A reunion of the founding members occurred in the late 1980s-early 1990s, and the band continued in some form through 2021, though they retired from active touring in 2013, with Young citing health concerns as the primary cause of his retirement. Young died from a heart attack in April 2021.
Daniel Earl Hartman was an American pop rock musician, multi-instrumentalist, producer, singer, and songwriter and original frontman for several bands, including The Soploids, Mak and the Turnarounds, Our Wringer, Last Wing, and Orion. Among songs he wrote and recorded were "Free Ride" as a member of the Edgar Winter Group, and the solo hits "Relight My Fire", "Instant Replay", "I Can Dream About You", "We Are the Young" and "Second Nature". "I Can Dream About You", his most successful US hit, reached No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1984 in 1985. The James Brown song "Living in America", which Hartman co-wrote and produced, reached No. 4 on March 1, 1986.
Paul Richard Furay is an American musician and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame member. He is best known for forming the bands Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills, Neil Young, Bruce Palmer, and Dewey Martin, and Poco with Jim Messina, Timothy B. Schmit, Rusty Young, George Grantham and Randy Meisner. His best known song was "Kind Woman," which he wrote for his wife, Nancy.
Rufus is an American funk band from Chicago best known for launching the career of lead singer Chaka Khan. They had several hits during their career, including "Tell Me Something Good", "Sweet Thing", "Do You Love What You Feel", and "Ain't Nobody". Rufus and Chaka Khan were one of the most popular and influential funk bands of the 1970s; they had four consecutive number-one R&B albums, ten top 40 pop hits, and five number-one R&B singles among other accolades.
A Single Man is the twelfth studio album by English musician Elton John. Released in 1978, it is the first album for which Gary Osborne replaced Bernie Taupin as lyricist. It is also the first of two John albums that, on the original cut, have no tracks co-written by Taupin.
Crazy Eyes is the fifth studio album released by the American country rock band Poco. Released in 1973, Crazy Eyes was the band's final album with founding member Richie Furay during his original tenure in Poco.
Head Over Heels is the eighth studio album by the American country rock band Poco, and their first on ABC Records. Timothy Schmit's "Keep On Tryin'" shows off the band's skills in harmonizing and eventually became a favorite that the band played in concert for many years. It also contains Rusty Young performing his first lead vocal on a Poco album on the track "Us", and a recording of the rare Steely Dan song "Dallas".
Rose of Cimarron is the ninth studio album by the American country rock band Poco, released in 1976.
Under the Gun is the twelfth studio album by the American country rock band Poco. Released in July 1980, Under the Gun was the follow-up to Poco's breakout album Legend.
Cowboys & Englishmen is the fourteenth studio album by the American country rock band Poco. The Young-penned "Feudin'" was nominated for a Grammy in 1982 for Best Country Instrumental Performance. Largely made up of cover songs the album was Poco's last for MCA and reflected the fact that it was a contractual obligation album. When ABC Records was sold to MCA the new label A&R department showed little effort in promoting the band and, as a result, the band fielded offers from other labels once their contract was up and signed with Atlantic Records for their next two albums Ghost Town and Inamorata.
Ghost Town is the fifteenth studio album by the country rock band Poco, released September 20, 1982. The Atlantic Records label debut of Poco, Ghost Town was the final album by Poco to feature the group lineup who had played on Poco's 1978 breakout album Legend, as the 1984 Poco album release Inamorata would not feature Charlie Harrison.
Inamorata is the sixteenth studio album by the country rock band Poco, released in 1984. Featuring guest spots by former members Timothy B. Schmit, Richie Furay and George Grantham, this would be the last album that the band would record for Atlantic Records. After this the original line up would reform for the 1989 release Legacy.
Keeping the Legend Alive is the 22nd album and 4th live album by the country rock band Poco. It was re-released in 2006 under the title "Alive In The Heart Of The Night." It includes original members Richie Furay, *George Grantham and Rusty Young, Paul Cotton who replaced Jim Messina in 1970 and Jack Sundrud a member since the 1990s.
Backtracks is a compilation album by the American country rock band Poco, released in 1982. The nine tracks are taken from the first six studio albums the band recorded for MCA after having left their original label Epic.
The Essential Collection (1975–1982) is a compilation album by the American band Poco, released in 1997.
"Never My Love" is a pop standard written by American siblings Don and Dick Addrisi, and best known from a hit 1967 recording by the Association. The Addrisi Brothers had two Top 40 hits as recording artists, but their biggest success as songwriters was "Never My Love". Recorded by dozens of notable artists in the decades since, in 1999 the music publishing rights organization Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) announced it was the second most-played song on radio and television of the 20th century in the U.S.
"Crazy Love" is a 1979 hit single for the country rock group Poco introduced on the 1978 album Legend. Written by founding group member Rusty Young, "Crazy Love" was the first single by Poco to reach the Top 40 and remained the group's biggest hit, with a special impact as an Adult Contemporary hit, being ranked by Billboard as the #1 AC song for the year 1979.
"Heart of the Night" is a song on the 1978 album release by the country-rock group Poco entitled Legend; the 1979 hit single is also featured on the group retrospective 20th Century Masters, as well as The Essential Poco.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
