Although
Indian Summer wasn't the commercial breakthrough
Poco had hoped for (it would come a year later with
Legend), there's nothing inherently bad here. The band was more compact than ever, evenly sharing songwriting duties, and
Rusty Young's confident pedal steel seemed to distinguish
Poco from most other country-rock bands. However, this record is also a few notches down from their best, early material. The strongest song is the title track, which has some nice steel guitar and harmony vocals, but this high point is balanced by the closing number, "The Dance," a clumsy suite that's burdened by an over-the-top string and horn arrangement. The only other item of note is a courtesy appearance by
Steely Dan's
Donald Fagen, who plays Arp synthesizer on a couple songs. File this under the "treading water" category. ~ Peter Kurtz