![]() ![]() Strangely this hasn’t yet gone Platinum or higher in the US which is a travesty considering many feel it to be a definitive moment in Southern blues. The bonus CD with extras is a wonderful thing too since it includes all the tracks they played for the BBC 2 Old Grey Whistle Test broadcast from November 1975 – a mind-blowing event if you happened to be in the audience for that one. Cale cover, “I Got the Same Old Blues”, fingers them as men of consummate taste. “All I Can Do Is Write About It” and “Cry For The Bad Man” are amongst the more sophisticated songs in the Van Zant and Allen Collins trove and their second J.J. On a suitable roll, they released Gimme Back My Bullets in 1976 with producer Tom Dowd, an icon to the band, and effectively created a quasi-conceptual suite of Southern songs that hit home hard and still sound magic. ![]() Kooper again bosses the board and the band blow a storm on “Saturday Night Special” and “Made in the Shade”, Van Zant gems both that are improved by the addition of funky percussion and a side order of Barry Harwood’s Dobro and mandolin. The modestly titled Nuthin’ Fancy (1975) maintains a hard-working lifestyle and by now the Lyn Skyn gang are a major live attraction with new drummer Artimus Pyle becoming a star in his own right. Again the CD with bonus tracks cuts the mustard and even a famously exacting critic like Robert Christgau gave this Second Helping a five-star mark. In many ways an unreconstructed product of their environment they still don’t lack for subtlety on tracks like “Don’t Ask Me No Questions” and turn in a terrific version of J.J. This is a landmark outing, again produced by Kooper but with a bigger budget that took the LS crew to The Record Plant in Los Angeles where their wild partying antics didn’t go unnoticed. Consider the classic “Sweet Home Alabama” which they wrote in answer to Neil Young’s “Southern Man” and “Alabama” – wherein he implies that rednecks are racists – and marvel at the three-pronged guitar attack. Second Helping (1974) is miraculously every bit as emphatic. The expanded CD with bonus material is particularly commended since the demos are pretty much as good as the finished artefact. Van Zant’s passionate lyrics and equally adroit vocals became a marker on a recording that has since sold well over two million copies and consequently gone double Platinum. ![]() Quite a beginning! Kooper’s immaculate production and the boys’ innate abilities make this disc shine but there is more to them than simply Southern rock boogie. A new bassist Al King, formerly in Strawberry Alarm Clock added necessary gravitas but they’d learned on the job and their debut, known as Lynyrd Skynyrd – Pronounced ‘leh-nerd ‘skin-nerd’ (1973) includes the excellent “Gimme Three Steps”, “Simple Man’, the epic “Tuesday’s Gone” and the ever wonderful “Free Bird”. Suitably impressed Kooper signed them to his Sounds of the South label and won distribution via MCA Records. Their big break came when the producer and musician Al Kooper saw them in his guise as a member of Blood, Sweat & Tears. The distinctive Lynyrd Skynyrd spelling came into use in early 1970 by which time roadie Billy Powell was hired on keyboards. The legendary name sprang from a disciplinarian teacher called Leonard Skinnerd who gave the boys hell in PE and forbade fashionable Beatle length hair. The origins of the band go back to teenage school years when singer Ronnie Van Zant and guitarists Allen Collins and Gary Rossington formed garage acts like My Backyard and The Noble Five in their native Jacksonville. Their fans love them warts and all, and so do we. Let’s face it their triple-guitar attack and evocative Southern rock vocals are a part of the history of their locale. Their hard rocking and hard living escapades have made this group what they are – no point glossing the truth – but midst the excesses lies a body of classic work that keeps Lyn Skyn vital and vibrant and we are proud to feature their thrilling music and urge you to discover it again. Members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame they are one of the greatest rock acts of all time and thanks to legendary tracks like “Free Bird” and “Sweet Home Alabama” they continue to enthral each passing generation while maintaining a fanatical following in the US, Europe and Asia. Skynyrd have endured until the present day and survived awful tragedies and terrible bad luck on the way but the Van Zant dynasty and their comrades Rossington and Collins remain an American institution. Their first five classic albums are all available here, as are some stonking live sets and a generous number of anthologies, hits and compilations. World-renowned for their hard-driven Southern rock attack and their magnificent melodies Lynyrd Skynyrd have sold millions of albums and sent audiences into raptures ever since they emerged from Jacksonville, Florida in 1966. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |