Lynyrd Skynyrd: Classic or Dud?

Pronounced Leh'-nerd Skin'-nerd [Sounds of the South/MCA, 1973]
Lacking both hippie roots and virtuosos, post-Allmanites like ZZ Top, Marshall Tucker, and Wet Willie become transcendently boring except when they get off a good song. But in this staunchly untranscendent band, lack of virtuosos is a virtue, because it inspires good songs, songs that often debunk good-old-boy shibboleths. Examples: "Poison Whiskey," "Mississippi Kid," and "Gimme Three Steps," whee Ronnie Van Zant, instead of outwitting the dumb redneck the way onetime Dylan sideman Charlie Daniels does in "Uneasy Rider," just hightails it out of there. Savvy production from onetime Dylan sideman Al Kooper. A
Second Helping [Sounds of the South/MCA, 1974]
Great formula here. When it rocks, three guitarists and a keyboard player pile elementary riffs and feedback noises into dense combinations broken by preplanned solos, while at quieter moments the spare vocabulary of the best Southern folk music is evoked or just plain duplicated. And any suspicions that this substantial, tasteful band blew their best stuff on the first platter should fall in the wake of the first state song ever to make top ten, which will expose you to their infectious putdowns of rock businessmen, rock journalists, and heroin. A-

Nuthin' Fancy [MCA, 1975]
On the one hand, two or three cuts here sound like heavy-metal-under-funk--check out "Saturday Night Special," a real killer. But on the other, Ronnie Van Zant has never deployed his limited, husky baritone with such subtlety. Where Gregg Allman (to choose a purely random example) is always straight, shuttling his voice between languor and high emotion, Van Zant feints and dodges, sly one moment and sleepy the next, turning boastful or indignant or admonitory with the barest shifts in timbre. I mean, dumb he ain't. A-

Gimme Back My Bullets [MCA, 1976]
Ronnie Van Zant may intend those bullets for "pencil pushers" (which means not only me but you, I'll bet) but that's no reason to shoot him down. In fact, it's just the opposite--his attraction has always been the way he gets his unreconstructed say. Unfortunately, the music could use some Yankee calculation--from Al Kooper of Forest Hills, who I figure was good for two hooks per album, and Ed King of New Jersey, the guitarist turned born-againer whose guitar fills carried a lot more zing than three doodooing Honnicutts. B+

One More From the Road [MCA, 1976]
Like I always say, live doubles function mostly as aural souvenirs for benighted concertgoers, and here's a band I never miss. Their hits rock, their covers sidle, and yahoo. A-

Street Survivors [MCA, 1977]
Some rock deaths are irrelevant, while others make a kind of sense because the artists involved so obviously long to transcend (or escape) their own mortality. But for Ronnie Van Zant, life and mortality were the same thing--there was no way to embrace one without at least keeping company with the other. So it makes sense that "That Smell" is the smell of death, or that in "You Got That Right" Van Zant boasts that he'll never be found in an old folks' home. As with too many LPs by good road bands, each side here begins with two strong cuts and then winds down. The difference is that the two strong cuts are very strong and the weak ones gain presence with each listen. I'm not just being sentimental. I know road bands never make their best album the sixth time out, and I know Van Zant had his limits. But I mourn him not least because I suspect that he had more good music left in him than Bing and Elvis put together. A

The late, great Steve Gaines.

― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, January 12, 2012 10:58 AM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Damn, I would have loved to have had more songs like that. Terrible that he was with the band so shortly.

Don't see this mentioned yet--my favourite:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwQgHxbjibo

GAH why is Free Bird's extended version the only grayed-out track on Skynyrd's Innards on Spotify! Jerx.

I love the alternate version of "You Got That Right", on the Street Survivors re-release. It just has a more "rough & tumble" feel.

"Extended version"? Yikes...longer than Berlin Alexanderplatz, I bet. (Not a knock on the song, which I love.)

Here's that Pitchfork hackjob: http://web.archive.org/web/20040723103918/http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/top/solos/

who the eff is Michael Sandlin? (apparently it's originally from 1998, and then re-run in 2004 just to be cheeky.)

hey there fella with the hair colored yella

God that Pitchfork list is just...ngggahhhhh

yeah man that made me real angry

what kind of monster doesn't like "mandecello" by cheap trick????

Michael Sandlin seems like a miserable provocateur who probably lives under an overpass in Indianapolis now and sucks dick for cigarettes.

ACE OF SPADES FFS.

The fact the guy runs down Rory Gallagher as "soulless" makes me think this list is some kind of joke.

Oh god I didn't get that far

I pretty much stopped caring at "Ace of Spades." I mean, where can you go after deriding that? And it's the first entry.

^^^

Magic Man. COME THE FUCK ON.

This is the same guy who put "Supernaut" on his list of Worst Riffs of the Millenium. He has good taste.

The fact the guy runs down Rory Gallagher as "soulless" makes me think this list is some kind of joke.

Seriously, that's some hipster contrarian bullshit.

i'm kind of annoyed w/myself for letting such transparent trolling get to me

Speaking of Skynyrd haters, this profoundly misses the point, and embarrasses itself in the process.

lol I appear to have started a thread about it in 2004: Pitchfork resurrects old feature: 50 Worst Guitar Solos of the Millenium

i'm kind of annoyed w/myself for letting such transparent trolling get to me

― the 500 gats of bartholomew thuggins (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, January 12, 2012 4:45 PM (29 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Good point!

Speaking of Skynyrd haters, this profoundly misses the point, and embarrasses itself in the process.

― Let A Man Come In And Do The Cop Porn (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Thursday, January 12, 2012 4:54 PM (21 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

jesus, i think i just turned to stone reading that.

Dear Ronnie, wherever you are, please avert your eyes.

What. The. Fuck.

What them say. Made it about 2/3 of the way through, and I deserve a fucking medal.

"DON'T YOU TALK ABOUT RONNIE LIKE THAT" *cries*

WTF, is she suggesting she is more southern than Skynyrd?

I mean, damn, that excerpt is stupid on so many different levels.

play it pretty for atlanta

<3

Man, that boy is funky

it's hotter'n a fox in a forest fire

New album now available for pre-order, comes with best T-shirt of 2012.

Yeah, I would wear that with no shame.

wow

but that's the Yankee flag!

branchin' out:

1. Last of a Dyin' Breed
2. One Day at a Time
3. Homegrown
4. Ready to Fly
5. Mississippi Blood
6. Good Teacher
7. Something to Live For
8. Life's Twisted
9. Nothing Comes Easy
10. Honey Hole
11. Start Livin' Life Again

It's actually a pretty good record - I bet xhuxk will love it. Blurs the line between Southern rock and modern hard country, in a non-suck way. My favorite song is "Homegrown."

I can't handle anything after 77...

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100908173410AAulTB3

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The Liberals and Radical Extreme Leftists would wet their pants if they ever heard Lynyrd Skynyrd

Lynyrd Skynyrd is definitely not friendly to Liberals or Radical Extreme Leftists.

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Asker's Rating:
5 out of 5
Asker's Comment:
HEEEEEEEEEEEE HAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWW

y'all heard saturday night special

what do y'all think about curtis loew

currrrtissss loew was the fiiiinest pickah to evaaaahhh play the blueeeeess

otm

Did you ever see a she-gator protect her young
Or a fish in a river swimming free
Did you ever see the beauty of the hills of Carolina
Or the sweetness of the grass in Tennessee
And Lord I can't make any changes
All I can do is write 'em in a song
I can see the concrete slowly creepin'
Lord take me and mine before that comes

These idiots would probably be shocked to know how much money Skynryd and the Allmans raised to help Jimmy Carter get elected president. Carter was essentially unknown and they helped a ton.

Plus Saturday Night Special advocates tossing all guns into the sea. Not exactly NRA-friendly. Workin for MCA denigrates the "pencil pushers", which Mitt Romney seems to epitomize.

One could go on and on....

These idiots would probably be shocked to know how much money Skynryd and the Allmans raised to help Jimmy Carter get elected president. Carter was essentially unknown and they helped a ton.

I agree with you completely, but as a footnote, the same could be said for Rick Perry.