''Pickin' Up the Pieces'' is the debut

album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

country rock Country rock is a music genre that fuses rock and country. It was developed by rock musicians who began to record country-flavored records in the late 1960s and early 1970s. These musicians recorded rock records using country themes, vocal sty ...

band

Poco In software engineering, a plain old CLR object, or plain old class object (POCO) is a simple object created in the .NET Common Language Runtime (CLR) that is unencumbered by inheritance or attributes. This is often used in opposition to the comp ...

, released in 1969. It was one of the earliest examples of the emerging genre of

. Several of the songs date back to Richie Furay's days in

Buffalo Springfield Buffalo Springfield was a Canadian-American Rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1966 by Canadians Neil Young, Bruce Palmer and Dewey Martin (musician), Dewey Martin and Americans Stephen Stills and Richie Furay. The group, widely know ...

. An early version of "What a Day" was included on the ''

'' box set in 2001. Bassist

Randy Meisner Randall Herman Meisner (March 8, 1946 – July 26, 2023) was an American musician, singer, songwriter, and founding member of both Eagles and Poco. Throughout his professional musical career, both as group member and session musician, his main r ...

appears on the album but quit the band shortly before the record was released. Meisner's exit was the result of his anger from being excluded (at Furay's insistence) from participation in the final mix playback sessions for the album, as only Messina and Furay were to complete production. His image was removed from the painting on the cover and replaced with the dog seen at the far left. His bass parts and backing vocals were left in the mix, but his lead vocals were removed, and new versions were sung by George Grantham. He is not credited as a group member on the completed album, but is listed in the credits as providing "supporting vocals and bass".

Reception

In his

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

review, music critic Bruce Eder called the album a "startlingly great record, as accomplished as any of Buffalo Springfield's releases, and also reminiscent of the Beatles and the Byrds... The mix of good-time songs, fast-paced instrumentals, and overall rosy feelings makes this a great introduction to the band, as well as a landmark in country-rock only slightly less important (but arguably more enjoyable than) Sweetheart of the Rodeo."

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and later became a ...

wrote; "Nice and happy, but considering the personnel a disappointment."

Track listing

Side 1 #a. "Foreword" (Richie Furay, Kathy Johnson) – 0:48 / b."What a Day" (Furay) – 2:28 #"Nobody's Fool" (Furay) – 3:26 #"Calico Lady" (Furay, Jim Messina, Skip Goodwin) – 3:03 #"First Love" (Furay) – 3:08 #a."Make Me a Smile (Furay, Messina) – 3:18 / b."Short Changed" (Furay) – 3:17 Side 2 #" Pickin' Up the Pieces" (Furay) – 3:20 #"Grand Junction" (Rusty Young) – 2:58 #"Oh Yeah" (Furay, Messina) – 4:06 #"Just in Case It Happens, Yes Indeed" (Furay) – 2:45 #"Tomorrow (Furay, Goodwin) – 3:11 #"Consequently, So Long" (Furay, Goodwin) – 3:50 Bonus Track: #"Do You Feel It Too" (Furay) – 3:05 (not on the original LP, but a previously unissued alternate take, added to the album's first release on CD)

Personnel

;Poco *

Richie Furay Paul Richard Furay (born May 9, 1944) is an American musician and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame member (with Buffalo Springfield). He is best known for forming the bands Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills, Neil Young, Bruce Palmer, and Dewey ...

– 12-string guitar, lead vocals (1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11), and backing vocals * Jim Messina – acoustic and electric 6-string guitars, lead vocals (8), and backing vocals * Rusty Young – steel guitar, banjo, dobro, guitar, piano * George Grantham – drums, lead vocals (3, 6), and backing vocals with: *

– bass guitar, backing vocals * Bobby Doyle – piano *

Milt Holland Milton Holland (born Milton Olshansky; February 7, 1917 – November 4, 2005) was an American drummer, percussionist, ethnomusicologist and writer in the Los Angeles music scene. He pioneered the use of African, South American, and Indian perc ...

– percussion

Production

*Jim Messina – producer *Terry Dunavan – recording engineer *Nick DeCaro – horn arrangement on "Nobody's Fool"; string arrangement on "Tomorrow" *Frank Bez – photography *

Drew Struzan Drew Struzan (; born March 18, 1947) is an American retired artist, illustrator and cover designer. He is known for his more than 150 movie posters, which include ''The Shawshank Redemption'', ''Blade Runner'', ''E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'', as ...

– cover illustration

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pickin' Up The Pieces Poco albums 1969 debut albums Albums produced by Jim Messina (musician) Epic Records albums Albums with cover art by Drew Struzan