Chapter 8 – Cantamos Oh my…

Label- Epic

Recorded- August/September 1974

Released- November 1, 1974

Length- 36:39

Personnel-

Paul Cotton- Guitar, vocals

Rusty Young- Steel guitar, banjo, dobro, vocals

Timothy B. Schmit- Bass guitar. Vocals

George Grantham- Drums, vocals

Producer- Poco

Recording Engineer- Mark Henry Harman assisted by Michael Verdick

Finally convinced that no one heard their music as they did, Poco took the reins of their runaway team and decided to produce their seventh studio album on their own. No strings, no overdubs of cellos, just their music and their voice. The band had decided (as Waylon Jennings put it later in a song) “isn’t it time we got back to the basics in life?”

Building on the foundation laid in Seven, Rusty Young takes flight on this album. Paul adds four solid contributions and Timothy waits until the sixth track to let loose with an amazing song “Bitter Blue”. Minus all the fancy doodads, the band gets down to making good sounds. The only hiccup is letting “Another Time Around” break that mythical five minute mark.

Track 1- “Sagebrush Serenade” (Young) (4:58) What the heck? A Rusty Young song to open the recording? You bet… and Rusty has matured from the backing vocal guy to full-fledged songwriter. Here come the vocals and that sweet, sweet pedal steel guitar… no tricks on this song. Just straight up vocals and a pleasant melody until… DOUBLE TRACKED BANJOS! Oh good grief! This is so awesome! Enter Paul flatpicking the dickens out of that guitar, Tim smoking that bass with George adding fills in his solid drumming. This band has never sounded better. And there are only four of them!

Track 2- “Susannah” (Cotton) (4:13) As I said in the intro, the band gets back to basics on this record and on this track but surprise! Someone decided that the harmonica had a place on this track (the harp player is uncredited). Stepping over to the dobro and adding the perfect counterpoint to the easy banjo and guitar licks in the first verses, Rusty provides so much to this track. Let’s see… dobro, banjo, pedal steel, and vocals! He does it all! This track is so easy on the ears and if you choose to listen on good headphones or earbuds, you will truly get a sense that the band doesn’t need a “big name” producer to give their music flight. The overdubs and layering give the song depth. This is so impressive!

Track 3- “High and Dry” (Young) (4:49) So, you liked that “nice and easy” stuff? To steal (and change) a line from Ike and Tina Turner “we don’t do everything nice and easy.” The opening chords tell the listener that Paul is going to rock this Young composed tune ane the rest of the band comes along on a sizzling tune . Included is a better drum solo for George than the one previously released on Seven. The separation of the two guitars in the instrumental section is worth isolating to your left and right ears with drums, bass, and pedal steel center stage.

Track 4- “Western Waterloo” (Cotton) (4:00) Is it just me or is this the very same opening chord progression used in the beginning of Furay’s “And Settlin’ Down”? I know that there are only so many chords in the universe but it almost matches the exact time signature as well as the chords. Listen at 1:51 in the song and see if it doesn’t sound like Paul is going to break into the Furay tune. Aside from that, Cotton really nails it with a great tune and lyrics.

Track 5- “One Horse Blue” (Cotton) (3:34) The right length, the right sound (I hear so much more out of Paul Cotton’s lead work than I have heard up to this point), and a hook! What more could radio want? Oh yeah, it wasn’t that other band. I cannot even believe this song wasn’t a single and commercial success.

Track 6- “Bitter Blue” (Schmit) (3:20) After the previous three rockers, Timothy slides that acoustic sound and his beautiful voice right into place and lets the listener take a breather, relax, and enjoy solid music. Timothy gets all the elements together in this great number.

Track 7- “Another Time Around” (Cotton) (5:01) Yet again, Paul Cotton lays out a lead line unlike anyone else in music. But if only the song had ended at 3:41 and not gone for that last verse that tips it over the five minute mark. This song should have pushed any Don Felder/Eagles song right off the chart.

Track 8- “Whatever Happened to Your Smile” (Schmit) (3:14) I read somewhere else the perfect description of this song… “it just lopes along at an easy pace” and I would add, like a good horse that you know will give you a smooth ride with no bucking or surprises.

Track 9- “All the Ways” (Young) (3:28) Oh my gosh, Rusty Young beats Eagles to the punch once again. This song has all the same elements of hurt, heartache, and insecurity expressed in “Lyin’ Eyes” but is sooooo much more than the Glenn Frey offering. Even the Eagles background vocals from “Lyin’ Eyes” sound like they were lifted from the last verse of this song. I really, really, really like how far Rusty has come by this point as a songwriter.

Okay, okay… I admit I make a lot of comparisons to Eagles in these reviews. And I HATE THAT COMPARISON. Poco is Poco and Eagles are Eagles. However, at the time, Eagles were garnering all the notice and Poco was just “some band” that happened to be making albums that were at least equal to the Eagles output if not more… and with just as good a combination of music and vocals! This is Poco’s EIGHTH recording (seven studio and one live). Eagles, in their entire history, only recorded 7 studio and 2 live albums.

Epic Records didn’t stick with Poco and by this time, didn’t seem to be in the slightest bit interested. And Poco was stuck with Epic Records for one more recording. The original 9 record deal was close to being fulfilled. Eight down, one to go. With a little luck, the next label would try to do more to get Poco the kind of notice they deserved!

I know my last review said it would take Poco a few more recordings to recover from the loss of Richie Furay’s songwriting and vocals. I WAS WRONG!

This is a great album… right in there with “AGFTK” and “Rose of Cimarron”. I am not sure what the title “Cantamos” means but it should be translated as “We’re Poco and we kick butt”.