Lynyrd Skynyrd - The Last Rebel

1.
Good Lovin's Hard to Find
2.
One Thing
3.
Can't Take That Away
4.
Best Things in Life
5.
The The Last Rebel
6.
Outta Hell in My Dodge
7.
Kiss Your Freedom Goodbye
8.
South of Heaven
9.
Love Don't Always Come Easy
10.
Born to Run

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Lynyrd Skynyrd - One More from the Road

Double live albums were commonplace during the '70s, even for bands that weren't particularly good in concert. As a travelin' band, Lynyrd Skynyrd made their fame and fortune by being good in concert, so it made sense that they released a double-live, entitled One More from the Road, in 1976, months after the release of their fourth album, Gimme Back My Bullets. That might have been rather quick for a live album -- only three years separated this record from the group's debut -- but it was enthusiastically embraced, entering the Top Ten (it would become one of their best-selling albums, as well). It's easy to see why it was welcomed, since this album demonstrates what a phenomenal catalog of songs Skynyrd accumulated. Street Survivors, which appeared the following year, added "That Smell" and "You Got That Right" to the canon, but this pretty much has everything else, sometimes extended into jams as long as those of the Allmans, but always much rawer, nearly dangerous. That catalog, as much as the strong performances, makes One More from the Road worth hearing. Heard here, on one record, the consistency of Skynyrd's work falls into relief, and they not only clearly tower above their peers based on what's here; the cover of "T for Texas" illustrates that they're carrying on the Southern tradition, not starting a new one. Like most live albums, this is not necessarily essential, but if you're a fan, it's damn hard to take this album off after it starts. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide

1.
Workin' for MCA
2.
I Ain't the One
3.
Saturday Night Special
4.
Searching
5.
Travelin' Man
6.
Simple Man
7.
Whiskey Rock-A-Roller
8.
The The Needle and the Spoon
9.
Gimme Back My Bullets
10.
Tuesday's Gone
1.
Gimme Three Steps
2.
Call Me the Breeze
3.
T for Texas (Blue Yodel No. 1)
5.
Crossroads
6.
Free Bird
11.
Sweet Home Alabama

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Part 2

Lynyrd Skynyrd - Nuthin' Fancy

Second Helping brought Lynyrd Skynyrd mass success and for the follow-up they offered Nuthin' Fancy. It was a self-deprecating title for a record that may have offered more of the same, at least on the surface, but was still nearly peerless as a Southern rock record. The biggest difference with this record is that the band, through touring, has become heavier and harder, fitting right in with the heavy album rock bands of the mid-'70s. The second notable difference is that Ronnie Van Zant may have been pressed for material, since there are several songs here that are just good generic rockers. But he and Skynyrd prove that what makes a great band great is how they treat generic material, and Skynyrd makes the whole of Nuthin' Fancy feel every bit as convincing as their first two records. For one, the record has a rawer edge than Second Helping, which helps make the slight preponderance of predictable (but not bad) material easy to accept, since it all sounds so good. Then there's the fact that many of these eight songs still showcase Van Zant at the top of his game, whether it's the storming opener "Saturday Night Special," "Railroad Song," "On the Hunt," or the rollicking "Whiskey Rock-a-Roller." Yes, this does pale in comparison with its predecessors, but most hard rock bands would give their left arm for a record that swaggers and hits as hard as Nuthin' Fancy. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide

1.
Saturday Night Special
2.
Cheatin' Woman
3.
Railroad Song
4.
I'm a Country Boy
5.
On the Hunt
6.
Am I Losin'
7.
Made in the Shade
8.
Whiskey Rock-A-Roller

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Lynyrd Skynyrd - Second Helping

Lynyrd Skynyrd wrote the book on Southern rock with their first album, so it only made sense that they followed it for their second album, aptly titled Second Helping. Sticking with producer Al Kooper (who, after all, discovered them), the group turned out a record that replicated all the strengths of the original, but was a little tighter and a little more professional. It also revealed that the band, under the direction of songwriter Ronnie Van Zant, was developing a truly original voice. Of course, the band had already developed their own musical voice, but it was enhanced considerably by Van Zant's writing, which was at turns plainly poetic, surprisingly clever, and always revealing. Though Second Helping isn't as hard a rock record as Pronounced, it's the songs that make the record. "Sweet Home Alabama" became ubiquitous, yet it's rivaled by such terrific songs as the snide, punkish "Workin' for MCA," the Southern groove of "Don't Ask Me No Questions," the affecting "The Ballad of Curtis Loew," and "The Needle and the Spoon," a drug tale as affecting as their rival Neil Young's "Needle and the Damage Done," but much harder rocking. This is the part of Skynyrd that most people forget -- they were a great band, but they were indelible because that was married to great writing. And nowhere was that more evident than on Second Helping. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide

1.
Sweet Home Alabama
2.
I Need You
3.
Don't Ask Me No Questions
4.
Workin' for MCA
5.
The The Ballad of Curtis Loew
6.
Swamp Music
7.
The The Needle and the Spoon
8.
Call Me the Breeze

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