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COMMENTS
if u dont like skynyrd fuck you
(reviewed by Casey Brennan)
Lynyrd Skynyrd came out of the south as a seven-piece outfit, that picked up where the Allman Brothers left off. This Southern Rock band's first album is notably successful in the way that it combines various styles of American-influenced Rock; country, blues, hard rock, and a touch of gospel are mixed together freely to make a distinctive, yet also commercial-like sound. The thing that really makes the band though is the three-guitar attack, foot-stompin' sound, and Ronnie Van Zant's vocals, which go perfectly with their hard rockin' swamp Rock style. All of the band's best qualities are already apparent on this album, which contains a couple of classic tunes, along with some lesser but still good tunes.
The album gets a kickstart with the hard rock swagger of "I Ain't The One", which has an excellent boogie-type melody, with a driving bluesy guitar solo in the middle, and homely keyboards in the background. This strong opener is followed by the lengthy and emotional "Tuesday's Gone", which is a main highlight on here, as it is a great ballad with a soothing melody that is backed up by a moving mellotron in the background, all coming to a fade-out with some effective guitar soloing. Next is the swampy straightforward boogie-blues of "Gimmie Three Steps"(I can imagine how fun it would be for people in their bell-bottomed pants to get down and dance to this tune in a southern bar circa 1973), which is a simple, hook-filled rockin' classic with a highly memorable chorus.
The album slows down a bit with a string of good, but mainly just competent tunes, starting off with the overlong "Simple Man". Even though the chorus is definitely hard-hitting and the soloing is fairly good, there are no real hooks or melody in the tune, so overall the song leaves you a feeling of emptiness and boredom. "Things Goin' On" is better, with a down-to-earth production and great honky-tonk piano (which highlights the tune), which gives this tasteful little rocker an old-fashioned feel. "Mississippi Kid" is a nice mandolin-played countryish tune with effective vocals, but nothing more than that, and "Poison Whisky" is a bluesy hard-rocker with a heavy backbeat, and some fairly great guitar soloing and fills (along with a short n' sweet piano solo bursting in at one point).
The best is saved for last, though. The great southern rock classic "Free Bird" has a beautiful melody with a trebly guitar line going along with it, before the song turns into a ferocious jam of guitar-soloing halfway thru (the tight rhythm section and three guitars jamming at once attribute some incredible moments). This nine minute feast ends the album on a high note, and makes it a solid first release from this gang of southerners. Pronounced.. is a good album, which along with a handful of decent laidback rockers, has several strong and well-written tunes (all of which are given the right production), the ballads being the ones with the most gut-wrenching emotion pouring through them.
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COMMENTS
Hey, I give Casey props for just getting through typing this title in! Lord knows I couldn't do it in Hotmail...
Anyways, I hate Skynyrd. Why? Well, "Gimme Three Steps" is a prime definition. Some of the most laughable and crappy lyrics ever penned by any band in history coupled with a bunch of generic southern guitar licks, and you have a recipe for grade A crap.
Also, I have never understood why "Freebird" is worshipped so. A very boring melody and more crappy, pointless lyrics. And one of the most overrated guitar solos ever. I like to call Freebird's guitar interplay the "three note solo to end all three note solos". Geez, even Kirk Hammett has penned more creative solos than that monotonous use of basic scales and hammer-ons. If you want great three guitar interplay, buy the latest Iron Maiden album.
BTW, before you ask, i do like some southern rock. In my humble opinion, the Allmans were light years ahead of this sorry band in overall musicianship (even Skynyrd fans cannot disagree here) and songwriting. And ESPECIALLY lyrics.
I would like to start out by saying that the above comment must be made by a person who doesn't understand southern rock, and doesn't understand that "Free Bird" is one of rock's best. I will excuse their stupidity. This stands as Skynyrd's best, flawless, with the classics "Free Bird", "Gimme Three Steps", "Poison Whiskey", and "I Ain't The One" as highlights.
[email protected] (John Schlegel)
This is a great album. "Free Bird," "Tuesday's Gone" and "Simple Man" are all classic Southern rockers that stand the test of time. The long guitar-solo outro of the former song is a bit tedious and grating, but the rest of the hit single is actually a stellar, emotional ballad. At this time, I am not sure whether I find "Gimmie' Three Steps" hokey and annoying or a guilty pleasure of good, dumb fun. The song is unredeemably idiotic if I think about it too much, but if I just drift off and listen to it in the background, then it makes for a catchy, foot-tapping redneck rocker. Pronounced . . . delivers an overall pleasant, easy-going classic/Southern rock vibe with songs that are either good or outstanding; no real bad stuff here. An agreeable listen even if you are like me and you find country-fried rock a little irritating.
(Casey Brennan's review)
This second set from Lynyrd Skynyrd shows the band as the leaders of the Southern rock genre. While their first release was a solid set of songs that ranged from emotional ballads to hard rock boogie, Second Helping is an album full of rocking tunes which contain plenty of tasty guitar licks and fills, along with plenty of hooks in each riff. The lead guitar playing of Gary Rossington and Allen Collins on Gibson's, and Ed King on Stratocaster, make each song exciting and pretty much keep the record a consistent listen. The big hit "Sweet Home Alabama" gives you a clear indication of what makes this album great, with an excellent guitar riff and lick opening up the the tune, and great high electric guitar solo to boot.
Among the strong tunes on here, is the engaging performance of "Don't Ask Me No Questions", which has a nice horn arrangement and solid hook-filled playing, the heartfelt "The Ballad of Curtis Loew"(a nice melody on this one and a wonderful slide guitar solo), and especially the heavy riff-infested "Workin' For MCA", a tune that is arguably the top highlight on here. The awesome riff and spine-tingling guitar solos (which are double-lead ones played by Gary and Allen) are amazing, and an organ solo is added for good rockin' measure. The top-notch playing is in abundance throughout the rest of Second Helping too, with the classic bluesy rocker "Call Me The Breeze" containing plenty of those great guitar solos, fills, and licks, along with a wonderful horn section pumping the tune along in the middle of the tune. The straightforward "Swamp Music"(with some sleek guitar fills that really make the song) and the familiar riff of "The Needle And The Spoon" are minor pleasures on this album. The only slightly weak tune is the overlong blues of "I Need You" which actually does sink in a little after a few listens. Otherwise, Second Helping is an album full of exciting, solid-rock tunes, that any fan of 70's rock should own.
HIGH POINTS: Call Me The Breeze. LOW POINTS: I Need You, Sweet Home Alabama.
Sometimes I wonder why I have to do these things. Let me start out this review (which will probably end up being quite short since I can't think of that many things to say about this here album) by simply stating that I'm not the biggest fan of Lynyrd Skynyrd. I thought that maybe Second Helping would prove my original opinion (which I'd gained from the horridly boring “Free Bird” and “Sweet Home Alabama,” which I'll get to in a moment) of them wrong, but, sadly, this is not the case. This pleases me no more than anything else I'd heard before. Now whether or not this is just a little problem with my taste or not I can't really say. I'm not about to write a big long essay about the mediocrity of this album. That’s what George Starostin's website is for.
But just to avoid being too negative about this album, I could go on for a while about how damn catchy and interesting “Call Me The Breeze” is. It seems like everything the band has ever tried to do actually working for once. Ain't that a fun tune there? But that’s the only song I can really praise here. The rest of the songs (except the two I singled out as low points above) kind of float on by in that pool of mediocrity which I despise probably more than anything more in music. I'd rather listen to a painfully atrocious album than a boring and mediocre one, because at the very least the awful album could give me something interesting to review. Perhaps I'm just screwed up, but trying to survive something like Free At Last was a much more exciting task than staring at my watch, waiting for the end of Second Helping.
But I'm sure no one wants to hear about my twisted reviewing habits so I'll stop putting off talking about “Sweet Hone Alabama” and mention the oh-so popular tune. Let’s see, it’s played almost constantly on some radio stations, a local classic rock poll a couple years back listed it as something like number seven song, and it pretty much sums up Skynyrd. Unfortunately I don't share this opinion. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what it is about the song that I can't stand, maybe it’s the stupid attempt at some real Southern rock. Maybe it’s one of those cases of a riff being beaten to death over the length of the song. I'm not exactly sure. If I can ever force myself to sit through it a few more times maybe I'll figure it out.
But this is Lynyrd Skynyrd for you. This is their highest acclaimed and probably defining release. And just because I can't force my biased opinions to match up with those of the general public, don't hesitate to get this if you want to start out with them. Just because I think you should hate them doesn't mean that you have to. Hey, that review actually turned out longer than I thought is would.
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COMMENTS
Heh, I know your gonna be annoyed at me Casey---but I fail to see anything creative or remotely interesting about the lead playing of any of these three guitarists. Sure they play their limited range of notes fairly quickly, but even Nigel Pulseford can play 3 notes at speed; it really does not require much talent. Still, I will admit that "Sweet Home Alabama" is charming, in a hillbilly redneck sort of way, and its easily the best song they ever penned.
(reviewed by Casey Brennan)
HIGH POINTS: Saturday Night Special. LOW POINTS: On The Hunt, Am I Losin', Made In the Shade, Whiskey Rock-A-Roller.
Yes indeed, this is nothing fancy. The title of Lynyrd Skynyrd's third album couldn't be more appropriate, in fact. The band seems to hit a mid-period slump here (when talking about the Ronnie Van Zant era that is) and make an album that in terms of imagination, creativity, drive, and overall spark, is miles away from the deliciousness of Pronounced and Second Helping. In a way this is the Skynyrds' version of Deep Purple's Who Do We Think We Are!, an album that doesn't even have half the energy or creativity of a stale cookie. Where are the good riffs, tasty double-lead guitar solos, and great guitar hooks and fills at? Definitely not on here. The few guitar solos that actually do pop up on some of the songs are usually no more than a dozen seconds or so at best. Luckily, they at least give some songs like "I'm A Country Boy" and "Railroad Song" a bit of drive, a drive that is lost on most of the record. Instead, this record is made up of a set of mid-tempo bluesy and boogie shuffles, some of which are a bit slower or faster than others, but most of which are pretty unmemorable.
The only song that makes a real true distinctive mark on here is "Saturday Night Special", an interesting and strong rocker that opens up the album.The drum-work definitely stands out on here, but it's the fact that the song has an instantly memorable chorus that secures its' place as best song. Most of the other songs, meanwhile, are just built on similar repetitive grooves that aren't solid or enjoyable enough to bring the house down, let alone be remembered. While hardly bad, the grooves start to sound indistinguishable from one another after awhile, resulting in a pretty tiring and monotonous tone by album's end.
I'll admit that "Cheatin' Women" is built on a fairly solid bluesy organ groove, and is a pretty enjoyable song, and that even "Railroad Song" and "I'm A country Boy" have some merit (though probably cause they are placed early on in the album and I'm not tired yet.... and oh yeah, good guitar solos too), but as I said, by the second half you may be pulling out your hairs hoping that something, just something, will jump out at ya or want to make you groove along readily. These songs, which include "On The Hunt", the acoustic-based "Am I Losin' ", "Made In The Shade", and "Whiskey Rock-A-Roller" (a rocker that sounds like the hooks were pulled out on purpose - c'mon guys you could have tried a bit better on this one!), are built on such by-the-number grooves/melodies that I can't remember them for the life of god no matter how many times I listen to them. I still can't say that, individually, the songs are bad, but they are mediocre (extremely un-original tunes that could have been made by any other 70's boogie blues band), and as a whole make for a monotonous and dull set.
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