Jim Messina was a secondary character in a troubled band and then a majordomo in an also-ran band and Kenny Loggins was a complete unknown but when they were put together, it was magic.
Yes, Messina was in Buffalo Springfield. A classic band whose frontmen, Stephen Stills, Neil Young and Richie Furay, got all the attention.
And then he was in Poco, whose first album was a classic without a hit single, a cult favorite that could not break through to mainstream status. The follow-ups weren't as good, the Eagles came along and usurped the fans of that band and then Messina quit to become a producer. And working with Kenny Loggins...they decided to work together. Kenny added pop to Jim's sound and Jim prevented Kenny from becoming too saccharine and...
NOBODY BUT YOU
You have to know, these songs were not on the radio. Adoption was driven by the press. Messina was a known quantity and reviews were good and then you bought the album and dropped the needle on this initial cut and...WOW!
And singles could not mean less in '71, when this LP came out, but a catchy song always helps ignite a career.
You could spin this and everybody would instantly fall into the groove, back when we all sat around the dorm room and grooved with music in the background.
DANNY'S SONG
This wasn't a hit either, even though it feels like one. But you're conflating the original with the Anne Murray cover.
Now this was back before we had any idea who Kenny Loggins was, we thought he was just another singer/songwriter in a long tradition which now owned the airwaves, James Taylor and Carole King were...kings.
This is so intimate, the same personalization we got with "Tea For The Tillerman" the spring before. Maybe even Elton's "Sixty Years On" the year before. Imagine getting someone's attention by being quiet! So different from today's in your face paradigm. You leaned in to listen. But one should not underestimate the power of Al Garth's violin in the break.
"Pisces, Virgo rising is a very good sign"
I think astrology is b.s., but I know this line and sing along because...IT JUST FEELS RIGHT!
"Danny's Song" is just as powerful today as it was upon release, if you've never heard it before it's a REVELATION!
VAHEVALA
This was before reggae had broken through, before "Yeah mon" was an expression in the mainstream.
"Catch A Fire" didn't come out until '73, the Wailers didn't mean much in the U.S. until the end of the seventies, "I Can See Clearly Now" was still half a year away.
So...don't see "Vahevala" as ersatz, rather it was TRAILBLAZING!
Jimmy Buffett's island-flavored hits were years away.
And although purists can claim that "Vahevala" doesn't sound like Jamaica, merely references it, this was nearly cutting edge back in '71...AND IT SOUNDED SO GOOD!
And at the four minute mark, when you hit the instrumental, you're taken on a satisfying aural journey that enraptures you and when the track ends...you're left high and dry, you want nothing so much as to play it again!
TRILOGY: LOVIN' ME/TO MAKE A WOMAN FEEL WANTED/PEACE OF MIND
Eleven plus minutes and no wasted notes, it satisfies for its entire length.
This is the kind of music that cemented the reputation of album rock. I've heard this on Sirius XM's Deep Tracks, but never on the FM of yore. It was too long, it wasn't a hit, stations were tightening up their playlists, but..."Trilogy" is now my second favorite song the album. It too is a revelation.
BACK TO GEORGIA
The best part is the piano intro and the guitar pickin'.
This is a bit lightweight, foreshadowing where Kenny Loggins ultimately went, but there's a great pre-chorus and if today's albums had any tracks as good as this one...music would be in a different place.
HOUSE AT POOH CORNER
This was not a hit. It only made it to number 53.
So, don't see it as an overplayed lullaby... Rather it hearkened back to our youth and we dug that. Hard to blame a track for your perception of it as a result of its winnowing its way into the culture through no fault of its own. The truth is listeners loved it so much that they employed it as a baby song when they started having those, in the eighties, millennials all heard this, on record or sung to them, they probably still remember it.
Now I must note there was a previous iteration by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band on their 1970 album "Uncle Charlie & His Dog Teddy," proving that people don't really go from obscurity to fame instantly... Kenny Loggins had been working it.
LISTEN TO A COUNTRY SONG
Written by Al Garth and Jim Messina and sung by Jim this was close to Poco and it ultimately went to number four on the country chart when country was a different animal. I like it, but I don't love it.
SAME OLD WINE
Eight plus minutes long, it's my favorite number on the LP.
Written and sung by Messina, it's subtle. But it gets under your skin.
Isn't that the power of music?
You can get your lips inflated, pump up your boobs and ass and you'll get a lot of looky-loos, but we're enthralled most by those who subtly lead with their personality and identity. Like "Same Old Wine."
And the lyrics reference disillusionment with the political regime and religion, and the words give the song power, but not as much as the playing. Intertwine the two and you've got a magic elixir.
I don't know if you can slow down enough to pay attention to this, but back in '71 we had a lot of time on our hands. There was no internet, no mobile phones, only three network television stations, we spent a lot of time sitting in front of the stereo, digesting the tunes. Stuff like this.
ROCK 'N' ROLL MOOD
The final track, and it sounds like it.
It's more about feel than hooks. It's like they're closing the door on the LP, having said all they have to.
It's about mood, the song is reflective. Remember when we looked back, with more questions than answers? Back before everybody was a winner?
"Sittin' In" was the soundtrack to that.
Spotify link: http://spoti.fi/1GiPW88
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