''Ghost Town'' is the fifteenth studio album by the

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 September 20, 1982. The

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...

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 A legend is a genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions, believed or perceived to have taken place in human history. Narratives in this genre may demonstrate human values, and possess certain qualities that give the ...

'', as the 1984 Poco album release '' Inamorata'' would not feature Charlie Harrison. After the gold certified success of the 1978

ABC Records ABC Records was an American record label founded in New York City in 1955. It originated as the main popular music label operated by the Am-Par Record Corporation. Am-Par also created the Impulse! jazz label in 1960. It acquired many labels bef ...

album release ''Legend'', Poco's three subsequent album releases on

MCA Records MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc. established in 1972, though MCA had released recordings under that name in the UK from the 1960s. The label achieved success in the 1970s through the 1980s, often by acquiring other ...

- who had absorbed ABC - failed to reach that level of success. ''Ghost Town'' marked Poco's move to

with no resultant comeback peaking at #195 on the album chart in ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' magazine, well below the peak of the group's final MCA album '' Cowboys & Englishmen'' which had been released in February 1982 to reach a chart peak of #131. The first single from ''Ghost Town'' was the title cut which failed to reach the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100, "bubbling under" with a peak of #108. The second single " Shoot for the Moon," while more successful fell short of the

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is a list of the 40 currently most popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "To ...

with a Hot 100 peak of #50 in March 1983. On the ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', is an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' chart, the song reached #44. It breached the Top 10 on the U.S. Adult Contemporary chart, peaking at #10. A third single release: "Break of Hearts" - cited as one of his favorite overlooked compositions by Paul Cotton who's described the song as a follow-up to Poco's 1979 Top 20 hit "

Heart of the Night ''Heart of the Night'' is the nineteenth album by the American jazz group Spyro Gyra, released in 1996 by GRP Records. Track listing # "Heart of the Night" (Jay Beckenstein) – 4:34 # "De La Luz" (Julio Fernandez) – 5:14 # "Westwood Moon" ...

" - failed to chart. Cotton has stated that Poco had problems with Atlantic Records: Poco would record one more album for Atlantic: '' Inamorata'' released in April 1984, then take a hiatus from recording until 1989 when the

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic R ...

release ''

Legacy Legacy or Legacies may refer to: Arts and entertainment Comics * " Batman: Legacy", a 1996 Batman storyline * '' DC Universe: Legacies'', a comic book series from DC Comics * ''Legacy'', a 1999 quarterly series from Antarctic Press * ''Legacy ...

'' became Poco's second gold certified album.

Track listing

#"Ghost Town" (Rusty Young) – 5:42 #"How Will You Feel Tonight" (Paul Cotton) – 3:38 #"Shoot For The Moon" (Rusty Young) – 2:48 #"The Midnight Rodeo (In The Lead Tonight)" (Paul Cotton) – 2:39 #"Cry No More" (Rusty Young) – 3:33 #"Break Of Hearts" (Paul Cotton) – 4:28 #"Love's So Cruel" (Rusty Young) – 3:02 #"Special Care" (Paul Cotton) – 2:42 #"When Hearts Collide" (Rusty Young) – 3:33 #"High Sierra" (Paul Cotton) – 3:40

Personnel

Poco *

Kim Bullard Kim Bullard (born May 6, 1955) is an American keyboardist, songwriter, record producer, and film composer. He has been making music since the 1970s and has performed extensively as a keyboard player with musical acts such as Elton John and Crosb ...

– keyboards,

Prophet-5 The Prophet-5 is an analog synthesizer manufactured by the American company Sequential (company), Sequential. It was designed by Dave Smith (engineer), Dave Smith and John S. Bowen (sound designer), John Bowen in 1977. It was the first Polyphony ...

, backing vocals *

Paul Cotton Norman Paul Cotton (February 26, 1943 – July 31, 2021) was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter. He was a member of the band Poco and the writer of their international hit song " Heart of the Night". Before that, he was co-guitarist f ...

– guitars, lead vocals, backing vocals * Rusty Young –

pedal steel guitar The pedal steel guitar is a console steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings, enabling more varied and complex music to be played than with other steel guitar designs. Like all steel guitars, it can play ...

, guitars, lead vocals, backing vocals * Charlie Harrison – bass, backing vocals * Steve Chapman – drums Additional musicians * Steve Forman – percussion *

Phil Kenzie Phil Kenzie is an English multi-saxophone player and rock and roll musician. He has been voted by fans as "one of the greatest rock 'n' roll sax players of all time." Born in Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdo ...

– saxophone (6) *

Buell Neidlinger Buell Neidlinger (March 2, 1936 – March 16, 2018) was an American cellist and double bassist. He has worked with a variety of pop and jazz performers, prominently with iconoclastic pianist Cecil Taylor in the 1950s and '60s. Biography Neidling ...

– bass * Armand Karpoff – cello * Denise Subotnile – guitar, viola, backing vocals * Nick DeCaro – string arrangements * Eddie Karam – conductor * Frank DeCaro – contractor *

Harry Bluestone Harry Bluestone (30 September 1907 – 22 December 1992) was an English-American composer and violinist who composed music for TV and film. He was prolific and worked mainly on composing with Emil Cadkin. Earlier on, he was a violinist and ...

– concertmaster

Production

* Poco – producers * John Mills – producer, engineer, mixing * David Marquette – engineer * Don Henderson – assistant engineer * Karen Siegel – assistant engineer * Mike Reese – mastering at The Mastering Lab (Hollywood, California). *

Phil Hartman Philip Edward Hartman (; September 24, 1948 – May 28, 1998) was a Canadian-American comedian, actor, screenwriter and graphic designer. Hartman was born in Brantford, Ontario, and his family moved to the United States when he w ...

– cover design * Jim Shea – photography

References

{{Authority control Poco albums 1982 albums Atlantic Records albums