Poco
The Sony/BMG A’s and B’s 
(BGO Records)
★★★

THIS criminally underrated country-rock outfit were formed by guitarists Richie Furay and Jim Messina in 1968 after the sad demise of the great Buffalo Springfield, and shows their creative collaboration with future rock luminaries Stephen Stills and Neil Young. 

Poco’s own recorded output has rarely achieved the same level of mass popularity but the band’s genre-defining brand of music making always repays closer investigation despite the seemingly endless string of line-up changes which have dogged them over the years. 

This excellent new anthology from BGO Records focuses attention on the contents of the various singles that the many incarnations of Poco have recorded for Sony and BMG over the years, including digitally remastered versions of bona fide Richie Furay classics such as  A Good Feelin’ To Know, And Settlin’ Down and Just For Me And You.

Ward Knutur Townes
Unanswered
(Betty Beetroot Records)
★★★★

THIS fascinating multinational collaboration brings together gifted singer-songwriters from Britain, Canada and Iceland in a glorious celebration of the delights of this perennially popular genre. 

Lucy Ward, Adyn Townes and Svavar Knutur first joined forces during the Covid-inspired Global Music Match, which found musicians from around the world making music together virtually when the pandemic made face to face performances impossible. The natural rapport which existed between them made the subsequent recording of an album almost inevitable, and the beguiling and eclectic “Unanswered” is the result. 

Selecting highlights is an invidious task because every track really is a subtly memorable gem, and if you can find the time to explore this excellent collection in its entirety I’m sure that your musical curiosity will be more than amply rewarded.

Shake That Thing!
The Blues in Britain 1963-1973
(Strawberry / Cherry Red)
★★★

CHERRY RED’s vibrant new 3-CD set explores the work of many of the fine bands and solo performers whose musical output was influenced by the authentic spirit of the blues during the 1960s and early 1970s. 

The list of participants reads almost like a who’s who of British rock during this creatively fruitful era, with telling contributions emerging from  the likes of Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac, John Mayall, Rory Gallagher and Savoy Brown to name just a few. 

The strength of these archive anthologies always lies in the array of fascinating obscurities that are on offer, and this admirable category is well represented here by tracks such as acoustic guitar ace Wizz Jones’s Spoonful and Alexis Korner’s Steal Away, the latter featuring future Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant on vocals.