Lynyrd Skynyrd

[chalkpie]

I can't believe there isn't a thread on their albums here. Well anyway, I've been "spinning" their 70s albums this week and really enjoying them! The first album ("Pronounced") is really, really good, especially for a debut. Sounds great too - excellent engineering.

I think my favs up to this point are Pronounced, Second Helping, and Street Survivors. My biggest gripe about Street Survivors is the amount of reverb used, but that's just my opinion. Great album. I need to spend more time with Bullets and Nuthin' Fancy.

"Free Bird" jokes aside, its an awesome tune AND it has mellotron on it too! So does "Tuesday's Gone". I guess the biggest surprise for me was noticing the amount of diversity in these albums, coming from only knowing the big radio hits. Count me in as a Skynyrd fan - I didn't see this coming. Ronnie had a unique vision and that cannot be argued.

[Vic2012]

Not a huge fan but I like ' em. Don't have any CDs by them but have heard the 70s, pre-plan crash albums. Love this particular track from Nuthin' Fancy.....

[arturs]

Yeah, the band that produced those 70s albums was truly and uniquely gifted. Visionary even, as you say. They had soaked up all the country, blues, folk, soul, even some gospel, influences from their native south and injected them all into a compelling hard rock stew. Onstage they were telepathic, everyone was truly listening to everyone else. Rarely was there a bum note. BTW I only know this from the live shows on youtube and DVD; I am a few years too young to ever have seen the 70s band!

But the reunion band never even came close. I don't know what happened. The drugs and booze? Pandering to audience expectations? dunno. Not important I guess. It doesn't erase the greatness of those few years in the 70s.

[Vic2012]

Well, why not? Thanks to this thread I'm on a mini binge. Listening to all of Nuthin' Fancy. Saturday Night Special playing right this second... Yowza!

[spellbound]

I can't believe there isn't a thread on their albums here. Well anyway, I've been "spinning" their 70s albums this week and really enjoying them! The first album ("Pronounced") is really, really good, especially for a debut. Sounds great too - excellent engineering.

I think my favs up to this point are Pronounced, Second Helping, and Street Survivors. My biggest gripe about Street Survivors is the amount of reverb used, but that's just my opinion. Great album. I need to spend more time with Bullets and Nuthin' Fancy.

"Free Bird" jokes aside, its an awesome tune AND it has mellotron on it too! So does "Tuesday's Gone". I guess the biggest surprise for me was noticing the amount of diversity in these albums, coming from only knowing the big radio hits. Count me in as a Skynyrd fan - I didn't see this coming. Ronnie had a unique vision and that cannot be argued.

I also think Pronounced, Second Helping, and Street Survivors were their best albums. But Bullets and Nuthin' Fancy will grow on you. I noticed the 180-degree turnaround from the early band's stance on guns ("Saturday Night Special") and the modern day (post-crash) band's.

I was lucky enough to see the pre-crash band twice. Their first major tour in 1973, they opened for The Who on the Quadrophenia tour. No one in the audience really knew Lynyrd Skynyrd, but like the Who, they were "Working For MCA" at the time. A big auditorium full of rabid Who fans called Skynyrd back out for an encore. After a blistering Free Bird, who could blame them? Pronounced was the only available Lynyrd Skynyrd album then.

I saw them again in 1975 at an outdoor venue. They were the middle band in a lineup with Black Sabbath and Peter Frampton. Again, they kicked ass.

Never saw the post-crash band. Ronnie Van Zant was among the best front men in any band, and his band was incredible.

[chalkpie]

Well, why not? Thanks to this thread I'm on a mini binge. Listening to all of Nuthin' Fancy. Saturday Night Special playing right this second... Yowza!

Having only been into Skynyrd for about a week and a half , Nuthin' Fancy and Gimme/Bullets are outstanding records but I need more time with them. The problem is that I love the first two so much that I can't get past them. I'm a huge bluegrass fan, so I dig the southern/country/old timey/etc sound on occasion when I'm in the mood. I think Skynyrd, Allmans, and 70's ZZ Top fits right in there too, there's that southern thread running through all of this music.

Ed King, Allen Collins, Gary Rossington, and Steve Gaines are/were all amazing players too. Man these guys had gorgeous guitar sounds and each cat had their own style and vibe, but when all three were playin' together....on fire! Killer vibe. Come to think about it, I think Ed King's absence on Bullets was felt a bit, at least from the few spins I've given it.

Glad you're digging Vic - please go back and dig those first two again...they may sound different with our ever-evolving ears.

[chalkpie]

Yeah, the band that produced those 70s albums was truly and uniquely gifted. Visionary even, as you say. They had soaked up all the country, blues, folk, soul, even some gospel, influences from their native south and injected them all into a compelling hard rock stew. Onstage they were telepathic, everyone was truly listening to everyone else. Rarely was there a bum note. BTW I only know this from the live shows on youtube and DVD; I am a few years too young to ever have seen the 70s band!

Spot on Arturs....totally agreed.

[chalkpie]

I also think Pronounced, Second Helping, and Street Survivors were their best albums. But Bullets and Nuthin' Fancy will grow on you. I noticed the 180-degree turnaround from the early band's stance on guns ("Saturday Night Special") and the modern day (post-crash) band's.

I was lucky enough to see the pre-crash band twice. Their first major tour in 1973, they opened for The Who on the Quadrophenia tour. No one in the audience really knew Lynyrd Skynyrd, but like the Who, they were "Working For MCA" at the time. A big auditorium full of rabid Who fans called Skynyrd back out for an encore. After a blistering Free Bird, who could blame them? Pronounced was the only available Lynyrd Skynyrd album then.

I saw them again in 1975 at an outdoor venue. They were the middle band in a lineup with Black Sabbath and Peter Frampton. Again, they kicked ass.

Never saw the post-crash band. Ronnie Van Zant was among the best front men in any band, and his band was incredible.

Wow, that's amazing! I need to hunt down some full vintage shows on YT.

[Vic2012]

Having only been into Skynyrd for about a week and a half , Nuthin' Fancy and Gimme/Bullets are outstanding records but I need more time with them. The problem is that I love the first two so much that I can't get past them. I'm a huge bluegrass fan, so I dig the southern/country/old timey/etc sound on occasion when I'm in the mood. I think Skynyrd, Allmans, and 70's ZZ Top fits right in there too, there's that southern thread running through all of this music.

Ed King, Allen Collins, Gary Rossington, and Steve Gaines are/were all amazing players too. Man these guys had gorgeous guitar sounds and each cat had their own style and vibe, but when all three were playin' together....on fire! Killer vibe. Come to think about it, I think Ed King's absence on Bullets was felt a bit, at least from the few spins I've given it.

Glad you're digging Vic - please go back and dig those first two again...they may sound different with our ever-evolving ears.

Yeah I noticed a few acoustic, country blues tracks on Nuthin.' This band was phenomenal. Much better than their redneck reputation.

[Digital_Man]

Unfortunately, they are one of those bands where I only know the radio hits (and maybe a few others thanks to deep tracks etc). Up until maybe ten years ago I never had any albums by AC/DC (with one exception being flick as a switch on cassette as a kid), Tom Petty, ELO, John C. Mellencamp, Alice Cooper, The Eagles, Iron Maiden and Metallica so who knows maybe I'll get around to Lynyrd Skynyrd too at some point (I do plan on getting at least the first two at some point anyway). Good thread. I do like a good amount of classic rock and I do like some of their songs.

[progmatist]

I remember back in the Disco era, we rockers who yelled "disco sucks" thought Skynyrd was cool. In the late 80s after Disco was dead and gone, Skynyrd, yelling "Freebird," and southern rock in general became a meme.

[Piskie]

Great band. Freebird is just one of those songs! Got the old box set here and a few of the more recent things.

[Sputnik]

I own their first five albums on CD. Other than Freebird, What's Your Name, and Sweet Home Alabama (the only song of theirs that I actively dislike, both musically and lyrically), I've never actually tired of their numerous radio hits, and there's some really great deeper cuts on these five albums. Great bluesy rock with a little spice of country vibe, but not the cliched kind.

Bill

[SteveSly]

I love a lot of Southern Rock and Skynyrd was the foundation for most of it. To be honest I liked bands like Molly Hatchet and The Outlaws better, but Skynyrd were masters at what they did. “Street Survivors” is my favorite from the pre-crash band, but they are all good to great. I like some of the post-crash albums too. “Twenty” was excellent, and although I found it hard to related to the title track, the album “God And Guns” had a bunch of great stuff on it. “Edge Of Forever”, “The Last Rebel” are both decent albums too.

Since you are reviewing the studio albums you must hit “One More From The Road”. One of the great live albums of the 70’s and shows the power of this band in concert.

[SteveSly]

Yeah, the band that produced those 70s albums was truly and uniquely gifted. Visionary even, as you say. They had soaked up all the country, blues, folk, soul, even some gospel, influences from their native south and injected them all into a compelling hard rock stew. Onstage they were telepathic, everyone was truly listening to everyone else. Rarely was there a bum note. BTW I only know this from the live shows on youtube and DVD; I am a few years too young to ever have seen the 70s band!

But the reunion band never even came close. I don't know what happened. The drugs and booze? Pandering to audience expectations? dunno. Not important I guess. It doesn't erase the greatness of those few years in the 70s.

I think some of the reunion albums are really good. Not all of them hit the mark, but they did put out some decent stuff. I only saw them once, but they were a lot of fun.

[GuitarGeek]

Great band in the 70's. Decent band on the original Tribute tour in 1987 and the consequent live album, not bad in the early 90's, and more and more of a joke from the mid 90's, with them effectively being an overpriced tribute band after Leon Wilkinson and Billy Powell went home.

[SteveSly]

Great band in the 70's. Decent band on the original Tribute tour in 1987 and the consequent live album, not bad in the early 90's, and more and more of a joke from the mid 90's, with them effectively being an overpriced tribute band after Leon Wilkinson and Billy Powell went home.

I saw them in 2010 which I think is still their current lineup and thought it was great. I was always a fan of Blackfoot so having Ricky Medlocke in the band was very cool for me. Not everyone knows this, but Medlocke was a member of Skynyrd before they recorded their first album.

[StarThrower]

Once in a great while I get the urge to listen to some southern rock. I have the Skynyrd Gold 2CD set which is a great compilation but I'm probably missing some good stuff. Another old favorite is the first Outlaws album.

[3LockBox]

Free Bird - live or studio, which is your "go to"

Growing up in the south it was usually the live version that got the lion's share of airplay.

[SteveSly]

Free Bird - live or studio, which is your "go to"

Growing up in the south it was usually the live version that got the lion's share of airplay.

Live version all the way up north too.

[chalkpie]

This is amazing and makes the accident 3+ months later even more tragic knowing how great they were. Steve Gaines was an absolute masterful player, and Rossington didn't suck either. They sound so wonderful here.

[GuitarGeek]

I saw them in 2010 which I think is still their current lineup and thought it was great. .

But it was still mostly a tribute band. And I'm still bugged about Johnny Van Zandt going back on his comment, back in 87 that "I've never sung Free Bird, and I never will".

[SunRunner2]

I own their first five albums on CD. Other than Freebird, What's Your Name, and Sweet Home Alabama (the only song of theirs that I actively dislike, both musically and lyrically), I've never actually tired of their numerous radio hits, and there's some really great deeper cuts on these five albums. Great bluesy rock with a little spice of country vibe, but not the cliched kind.

Bill

"In Birmingham they love the governor
Boo-boo-boo
Now we all did what we could do
Now watergate does not bother me
Does your conscience bother you?
Tell the truth..."

[rapidfirerob]

Love the band! Listened to the first album on my dorm floor many times in 73. Ed King was missed when he departed the band. Street Survivors was fantastic and so sad when the plane went down and Ronnie, Steve and Cassie Gaines were killed. I only saw them once, the first tour after the crash. Excellent but sad I missed the pre crash band. Same for missing Duane by a month at Carnegie Hall. Fly on Free Birds!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[GuitarGeek]

. I only saw them once, the first tour after the crash.=

I assume you mean the Tribute tour in 1987?