Lynyrd Skynyrd - Street Survivors
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Free Music Notes for Street Survivors
Free Music Review: Better Than Hotel California
Hit: 5 Stars
These guys were so good that you can bet your a*$#@ that they have real estate on one of those stars on the American flag by now. When I listen to this album (CD), probably once or twice a year, it only gets richer- and if I lived forever I'd miss them more and more each day. One of the finest albums to come out of the mid 70's- and that era produced it ALL, maybe the last great era. And it's a pure rock record with some country motifs. Forget the stupid Southern tag. I'm a Yankee and where I come from, we all loved this band, this album/some of Skynyrd's best fans hark from the Northeast according to Gene Odem. But also, I think that one hundred years from now, Van Zant will be a real Southern myth, spectral, living side-by-side with characters out of some of Old Dixie's finest Civil War ballads. And I love the reissued cover, with the angelic light over the singer's head.
Street Survivors has even kept a cynical New York rock critic alive in my book, Robert Christgau, who loved the original band. We all know the songs, the metaphors are visceral and sneaky, but the band is always playing on the edge here. I read that Tom Dowd basically rewrote the horn chart for "What's Your Name," advised on a few other things, leaving Rodney Mills in control. The ambiguity of "That Smell," which was retooled by ZZ Top for "Gimme All Your Lovin'"; the virtuosity of Gaines, co-writer of my favorite song: "I Got To Go But I Can't Stay Long (ha); but as Christgau hinted, with Gaines, the rest of the players really started to show their hand. And Ronnie: Fat Ed King was right about him all along- a genius, no doubt!
Free Music Review: My favorite Lynyrd Skynyrd CD
Hit: 5 Stars
This is my favorite Lynyrd Skynyrd CD. What's Your Name, I Know a Little, You Got That Right, Honky Tonk Night Time Man and Ain't No Good Life are classic LS pearls.
The boys actually cut an album sober and the guitar work has never been better. Adding Steve Gaine's quitar was a huge positive and in my opinion this was a big reason that the sound on this CD was their best. Ronnie Van Zant apparently got more serious with his career due to the birth of his daughter. Though the drunken escapades made great lyrical fodder the band was having serious problems. This CD was to be the start of the new attitude and improved sound of the band. Tragically Ronnie and Steve died in an airplane crash shortly after the release of this southern rock masterpiece.
The awful irony is that this musical jewel was their best work. The band was already being compared to The Rolling Stones as the best rock band of their time and that was before Street Survivors came out.
I love Free Bird, Sweet Home Alabama and Gimme Three Steps. These songs will always remain favorites of mine. However, Street Survivors is the one that I've been playing regularly for over 25 years.
The songs on this CD aren't "raw". They're southern rock musical sculptures that have withstood the test of time. I never tire of hearing the music on this CD.
Free Music Review: Lynyrd Skynyrd - Enter Steve Gaines
Hit: 5 Stars
When "Street Survivors" first came out in 1977 the cover depicted the band standing in a street filled with flames. 3 days after the album was release the band was involved in a horrific plane crash that took the lives of lead vocalist Ronnie Van Zant, new guitarist Steve Gaines, and seriously injured the rest of the members of the band. The album cover (which in particular showed Steve Gains engulfed in flames) was pulled immediately and replaced with a cover without the flames. The original vinyl album became quite the collector's item and is to this day. The album itself was a new beginning for Skynyrd. Stalwart guitarists Allen Collins and Gary Rossington were augmented by the new kid Steve Gaines to bring the band back to it's patented three guitar lineup. Gaines brought a fresh vitality to the band and he either writes or co-writes some of the best material to be found here. The album had 3 big hits "What's Your Name", "That Smell" and "You Got That Right" all great songs. The rest of the album is solid southern rock as well, with the highlight being Gaines bluesy closer "Ain't No Good Life". "Street Survivors" ranks up with the band's first two albums as the best they had produced. It would certainly have been interesting to see how far this version of the band could have gone had tragedy not struck in a Mississippi swamp.Free Music Review: A First And Last
Hit: 5 Stars
Shortly before that day that's all too horrible to contemplate, Ronnie Van Zandt remarked "this is the best f*!#in' album we've ever made". It's difficult to quarrel with that description. Certainly, cut-for-cut it was their most powerful studio effort since their debut but with just a hint of polish. The band was reinvigorated with recently-hired guitarist Steve Gaines whose presence brought out the best in sturdy guitarists Gary Rossington and Allen Collins. It kicked off with "What's Your Name", a great ode-to-the-road with a punchy horn arrangement. They did an especially inspired Merle Haggard cover. I've always liked a bit of country. But the album's zenith was reached with its two most ironic pieces. "You Got That Right" had incredible acuity with Van Zandt's assurance of not being "found in an old folks' home". Then there was the hard-biting "That Smell", their anthem of marked determination for renewal from the substance abuse that had hounded them. Who knows if they would have continued creating vital music. But what this line-up of the band left behind was a grand farewell.Free Music Review: Guitarist Steve Gaines & What Could Have Been....
Hit: 5 Stars
Sure there are a few commercial hits here....so what? Does that mean The Allman Brothers, Molly Hatchet & The Eagles suck too? (Well two out of three ain't bad....I'll let you guess the weak t$t of the three). Anyway, back to Skynyrd...after being toned down into oblivion on "One More From The Road", the Skynyrd fan finally gets to hear Steve Gaines's brilliant guitar playing. He is arguably the most talented of the three. His "country rock" style adds a whole different color to the band. One can only wonder what this band would have achieved if the well know tragedies had never struck the band. Anyway, my advice is to buy this album and every official release prior all the way back to "Pronounced..". That's only six albums total with the great Ronnie Van Zandt (there must be three times as many greatest, ultimate, best of albums). Get 'em all at once and enjoy Amercian Rock 'N' Roll the way it was meant to be played and heard..."Turn it up!"