Label: Universal 2015
Review by: Urban "Wally" Wallstrom
It's a rather morbid concept when you really start to think about it. Universal are putting together a great box set of music that basically had an abrupt end to the band's most popular incarnation when it claimed the lives of singer Ronnie Van Zandt, guitarist Steve Gaines, his sister Cassie (backup singer on tour) and their personal manager, Dean Kirkpatrick. What? That's insane. You surely can't blame the music as the rented plane crashed into a swamp in Gillsburg, Mississippi on October 20, 1977. No. Of course not. It's not some kind of curse of the music. But let's be frank. We're fascinated with these sort of stories and love to discuss the whole 'what if' factor if not for the tragedy.
The Florida band, at the very peak of their success as they had just released their fifth studio album, Street Survivor, a follow-up to the epochal double live album, One More For The Road. Both included of course as so are the first four albums, Lynyrd Skynyrd (1973), Second Helping (1974), Nuthin' Fancy (1975) and Gimme Back My Bullets (1976).
Known for popularizing the southern hard-rock genre, the band was originally formed in high school as My Backyard and would later corrupt their sports teachers name Leonard Skinner to Lynyrd Skynyrd as he always complained about the length of their hair. It turned out to be a great moniker and it's synonymous with Dixie/Boogie rock as it best and worst for that matter. The latter due to LS being the number one household name and Gods to all of the deranged rednecks which proclaim that 'The South will rise again' and we all know what they mean with that (racist bastards).
It's not just about 'Free Bird' and 'Sweet Home Alabama' and thank God for that. Let's face it, those songs has been played to death and we're all sick of them anyhow. You can really dive in and swim through a bunch of songs that you never really payed attention to in the past. Far from everything has stood the test of time though and you'll have to take the good with the bad. Swamp Music? Don't Ask me No Questions. Gimmie Back My Bullets. I'm a Country Boy. Vinyl will rise again.
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