Artist of the week 12/13/10 Lynyrd Skynyrd

[dime in the gutter]

[Smitty]

you returned this thread to where it should be. Bravo

[Kudzu Guillotine]

I still haven't purchased the remastered version of Nuthin' Fancy but one day I was grabbing some grub at one of the local eateries when I heard a live version of "Railroad Song" come over the in-house sound system. Little did I know it had even been released, much less played live.

[suntzu]

Funny you say that Kudzu, I never heard of them doing it live, but I saw Hank Jr. doing it in Jacksonville back in the 80's. Gotta love that song, very typical of Ronnie to pull off the blues when needed! The words are beautiful the leads are ringing.

[dime in the gutter]

winterland

rvz was a force of nature as a front man....and very gracious, i might add.

[Swamp]

[dime in the gutter]

very cool, swamp. damn, they look young.

[Kudzu Guillotine]

Anyone know who all is in that live clip? I believe I first saw it on the Tribute Tour movie.

[Swamp]

Ronnie, Gary, Allen, Bob Burns and Larry Junstrum (bassist for 38 special)
The park they're playing in is on our (unofficial) tour

[Kudzu Guillotine]

Ronnie, Gary, Allen, Bob Burns and Larry Junstrum (bassist for 38 special)
The park they're playing in is on our (unofficial) tour

Who's the second drummer?

[Swamp]

For a very short time around 70 or 71 they had 2 drummers.
Bob Burns and Rickey Medlocke. (But that doesn't look like Rickey...to me anyways)
Also around 71, Greg T Walker replaced Larry on bass for a short time.
Larry and Ronnie had been roommates for a while but after
Larry's cat pissed on something of Ronnie's, Ronnie beat the
crap outta him. (straight from the horse's mouth) Larry who's
almost a foot taller than Ronnie left the band but later joined
38 Special lead buy Ronnie's brother Donnie, who once shot
Ronnie with a 22. These were tough boys!

[Kudzu Guillotine]

For a very short time around 70 or 71 they had 2 drummers.
Bob Burns and Rickey Medlocke. (But that doesn't look like Rickey...to me anyways)
Also around 71, Greg T Walker replaced Larry on bass for a short time.
Larry and Ronnie had been roommates for a while but after
Larry's cat pissed on something of Ronnie's, Ronnie beat the
crap outta him. (straight from the horse's mouth) Larry who's
almost a foot taller than Ronnie left the band but later joined
38 Special lead buy Ronnie's brother Donnie, who once shot
Ronnie with a 22. These were tough boys!

Just curious. Ever since seeing that bit of old B & W tape on the Tribute Tour movie I've always wondered who all was in the line up then. I definitely recognize Allen, Gary, Ronnie & Bob, it's the other two I've always wondered about. I could very well be wrong (and most likely am) but I'm guessing that's Greg T. Walker on bass in the clip as it certainly doesn't seem to resemble Junstrom. If memory serves, it's silent footage from an Earth Day concert in Jacksonville circa 1970 or so. If you're ever able to find out for sure, please let me know.

I haven't searched for it in forever but one bit of treasured Skynyrd footage was the short tribute film to the them that was shown prior to Grease, Quadrophenia, The Song Remains the Same, etc. at late night weekend showings across the U.S. shortly after the plane crash.

[Swamp]

I haven't searched for it in forever but one bit of treasured Skynyrd footage was the short tribute film to the them that was shown prior to Grease, Quadrophenia, The Song Remains the Same, etc. at late night weekend showings across the U.S. shortly after the plane crash.

I remember that film and have wondered what ever happened to it. I saw it prior to "Rust Never Sleeps" in the
same theater that Allen Collins wife later bled to death in. That was his down fall. The theater is no longer there.
A couple years later Marina suffered the same symptoms. When I took her to the emergency room, I went beserk
and they took her straight back and then into surgery. I'm not sorry I went beserk!

[Kudzu Guillotine]

I found it but wish they would release it in some sort of official capacity on DVD. The night I saw it in the theatre, it was like going to an actual concert. As soon as the Skynyrd short was over the guy in front of us lit a match and held it up high (guess he didn't have a lighter). The volume was cranked to 11, people were smoking (weed and tobacco), some drunk chick was spilling pony-sized Millers out of her purse all over the place... Those were the days.

When watching this footage I still get chills up and down my spine watching Allen Collins stomping the stage during the climax to "Freebird". There really wasn't anyone else quite like him or them.





Spliced version (I believe the guy that put this together is the same one that sent me a very fuzzy copy on VHS years ago):

[Swamp]

Thanks KG! I haven't seen that in over 30 years

[Kudzu Guillotine]

Thanks KG! I haven't seen that in over 30 years

Neither have I. It's out there on the YouTubes in bits n' pieces but was reassembled by Tony Beazley. He has several other clips up including interviews with Jimmy Johnson, David Hood, Tom Dowd and others that are well worth watching. Evidently he's trying to get some sort of Skynyrd documentary off the ground.

[Smitty]

It's been since taken down, but here's Patterson's commentary on Skynyrd's induction to the RnR HoF that was on msn.com a few years ago

The Drive-By Truckers' Patterson Hood On Lynyrd Skynyrd's Induction into the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame

By Patterson Hood, Special to MSN Music

The danger of becoming a mythological musical artist is that people spend more time talking about the mythology than listening to the music. Truly, few bands have ever been as beloved and successful -- and mythological -- as Lynyrd Skynyrd, yet here it is, 2006, and they're only now being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame -- nearly a decade after their eligibility.

Before they were martyred by plane crashes and car crashes and heart attacks and more tragedy than a Tennessee Williams play, Lynyrd Skynyrd were a bunch of poor Florida boys who grew up in a tough part of town, practiced their music relentlessly and hit the road with the kind of vengeance reserved for those who felt the desperation of poverty bearing down upon them. These were boys whose best-case scenarios tended to be getting a job at the Ford plant. They played 300 nights a year. They were street kids who beat the s*** out of each other, with the last one standing getting his way. Ronnie Van Zant was not a big man, but he was a force to be reckoned with. He drove his band hard and took them to unbelievable heights.

Of course, it took me a long time to notice or care.

Lynyrd Skynyrd's plane crashed into a southern Mississippi swamp in October 1977, about a month before the American release of the Sex Pistols' first album, Never Mind the Bollocks. By the time I entered high school the following year, my taste was running more toward the Clash and Elvis Costello than anything remotely "Southern rock," and so it was for the next couple of decades or so. I rediscovered Lynyrd Skynyrd in my mid-30s, a time when all I listened to was old country and soul records. Hearing Skynyrd in the context of Merle Haggard, Hank Williams and Loretta Lynn, I was awestruck by how well they compared, especially the songwriting.

My rediscovery of this music followed an 18-year period of trying to avoid it. I grew up in a town where no one was being ironic when they yelled for your band to play "Free Bird" -- and they often beat the s*** out of you if you didn't. I was fired once for refusing to play "Sweet Home Alabama," a song that mentions my dad in its fourth verse. "In Muscle Shoals they've got the Swampers" refers to my father's years in the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section playing on R&B records in the '60s. Lynyrd Skynyrd did their very first recording sessions in the same studio as my father. I grew up hearing their music and hearing stories about them -- tall tales of wild men who drank hard and fought harder, a band of mythological dimensions, except they were "from around here." They returned to my dad's studio, shortly before the plane crash that ended their incredible run, to prepare those old demos for what was to be their next release. The album in question, finally released after the accident, was called Skynyrd's First and Last.

Jimmy Johnson, who'd recorded Wilson Pickett and the Rolling Stones among others before co-producing Skynyrd's First and Last, said that he never saw a band come as prepared and rehearsed as Lynyrd Skynyrd. Though their parts were meticulously planned, they were played with fierce abandon. Ronnie's wasn't a blessed voice, but he worked it until he became quite a forceful, soulful singer. Best of all, the songs were beautifully simple in structure and wording, yet solid as a rock in their construction and effect.

1977 found the band moving forward and getting stronger than ever before. The Southern-rock movement was waning, and Ronnie seemed to be positioning the band to be viewed more as an American rock and roll band to distinguish Skynyrd from the explosion of punk ignited by the U.K.'s Sex Pistols. Their live 1976 album, One More from the Road, had been a multiplatinum seller, and the new one, Street Survivors, was their strongest yet. On the personal front, with a new daughter to think about, Ronnie seemed to be cleaning up his act from the drinking, drugging and fighting that had been his legend. The plane crashed less than a week into the new tour, killing Van Zant, new guitarist Steve Gaines, his sister (and back-up singer) Cassie and their long-time road manager. The surviving members were torn apart by critical injuries as well as the loss of their driving force.

The story after that is something time and good manners will keep me from addressing here. The world has changed from those Jimmy Carter days, and Skynyrd's legacy has become clouded by death, tragedy and folklore. The mythology has at times threatened to overshadow the band's music, which is a real shame.

I began writing Southern Rock Opera nearly 11 years ago, shortly after rediscovering Lynyrd Skynyrd. In doing so, I'm afraid I helped highlight their mythology. As a writer, you can't ask for better story elements than Skynyrd's brilliant rise and tragic fall. My original idea was to write Southern Rock Opera as a screenplay, but alas, the thought of a Hollywood version of this story seemed worse than a nightmare (Leonardo DiCaprio as Ronnie? AGGGGH!). In approaching the story in song, I hoped to at least give equal time to the music and its many political implications. By addressing the contradictions that exist in their music and the phenomenon it spawned, I hoped that perhaps people like me would be able to better appreciate the vast differences between what the songs say and how they've been interpreted through the years by both their fans and detractors.

I applaud the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for finally doing the right thing and inducting Lynyrd Skynyrd into its ranks. Better late than never, I guess.

Patterson Hood is a songwriter and musician. His band, the Drive-By Truckers, have released six albums of acclaimed rock and roll, including Southern Rock Opera, Decoration Day and The Dirty South. Their seventh LP, A Blessing and a Curse, comes out April 18. Hood also has a fine solo record, Killers and Stars

original link http://music.msn.com/music/rrhf/skynyrd/

[Kudzu Guillotine]

I would have much rather seen Patterson inducting them into the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame than Kid Rock but I'm sure that goes without saying around these parts.

[Smitty]

proof RVZ wasn't some gun control nut

[Swamp]

^^^^^^^^^^
even after Donnie shot him.

[Swamp]

Our neighbor, a famous author and Dr has declared war on our turkeys. He doesn't actually live next door
but he has the blueberry farm and a 3 story house that he claims is where he and his wife write. I don't think they've ever spent the night there. I used to hunt, "but now I've lost my taste for killing anymore" I do love however sitting on the front pouch watching the turkeys as they amble through the properties. Sometimes
I'll sit there with the turkey call and talk to them. Some times they will talk back. I've even followed them
with a camera, hiding behind trees and such to get that perfect shot. My neighbor is not a hunter so he has
hired guns. So you're probably wondering what this has to do with Skynyrd
Every time these hired guns show up, even if they park way up on the hard road where we can't see them,
the dogs let us know. First I grab my turkey call and scratch out SOS then I crank up the outside speakers
as loud as they will go. We have a 200 and 300 disc cd players hooked together. Usually it's on random/shuffle.
Most of the cd's are in alphabetical order and divided into studio, live and best of's. But the very first section
is devoted to anything Neil Young, Skynyrd and DBT related in chronological order (studio only. all the live stuff
is with the rest of my live stuff) For some reason lately I've been letting it play straight through. When I cranked
it up yesterday afternoon Murdering Oscar was just ending and God and Guns came on. I have to admit I didn't
like it when I first got it but after listening to it cranked up yesterday, I really liked it. Maybe it was the way
the sound drifted though the woods as I walked along the edge of the swamp with my turkey call, or when I
kicked Patterson's soccer ball against the chain link fence as hard as I could. I think it's the most solid album
they've made since regrouping and almost sounds like an answer to Neil Young's Living With War.
Still Unbroken
Simple Life
Little Thing Called You
Southern Ways
Skynyrd Nation
Unwrite That Song
Floyd (with Rob Zombie)
That Ain't My America
Coming Back for More
God and Guns
Storm
Gifted Hands

[Swamp]

Rather than go on that other thread and blast the shit outta someone.
This is all I got to say about that

as far as techno goes, i do like me some Lords of Acid

[Kudzu Guillotine]

Rather than go on that other thread and blast the shit outta someone.

Can't say I understand the reasoning (or lack thereof) of moving a DBTs-related thread to the "Everything Else" section, nor moving this one from the DBTs section to here just because it led to a discussion of Lynyrd Skynyrd (which someone obviously doesn't know how to spell).

[John A Arkansawyer]

Rather than go on that other thread and blast the shit outta someone.

Can't say I understand the reasoning (or lack thereof) of moving a DBTs-related thread to the "Everything Else" section, nor moving this one from the DBTs section to here just because it led to a discussion of Lynyrd Skynyrd (which someone obviously doesn't know how to spell).

Especially when moving the thread came along with a provocative title change not written by the original poster.

[mwh]

Rather than go on that other thread and blast the shit outta someone.

Can't say I understand the reasoning (or lack thereof) of moving a DBTs-related thread to the "Everything Else" section, nor moving this one from the DBTs section to here just because it led to a discussion of Lynyrd Skynyrd (which someone obviously doesn't know how to spell).

The ironic thing about this statement is that Skynyrd isn't spelled right on this thread title either. Not that it matters of course. However you spell it, Skynyrd is the iconic classic rock band when you live in the south. I'd always been a fan of their superhits, but I'd like to thank Happy Gilmore for introducing me to Tuesday's Gone back in the day and inspiring me to dig deeper into their catalog.

[Swamp]

I can be a little dyslexic sometimes.
What's surprising is it took 4 months for anybody to notice.
Fixed

[Swamp]

Duane Allman really did not get the accalades that he should have for years after he passed on. Does anybody remember when even after the Anthology albums were compiled and after the remaining brothers broke up (Late 70's, later on 80's) that everybody was still talking Clapton, Hendrix etc. Then Rolling Stone ranks him the 2nd best guitarist of all time right behind Hendrix and boom, he is a star again! Maybe one day the same will happen to Allen Collins and people will wake up and realize that he was a classic rock God that could have out jammed probably anyone except Duane!!! But he was kept in a box by Ronnie, then later by Gary Rossington. Allen Collins gets my number 2 spot behind Duane, damnit!

I've got Allen back at #3.

[Kudzu Guillotine]

Lots of previously unseen (at least by me) performances from Skynyrd at Wolfgang's Vault.

[undone]

As far as the Allman Brothers Band versus Lynyrd Skynyrd debate goes? Come on, guys. It isn't like we have to choose one over the other. This isn't communism! We can have both!

I agree %100 percent.How could we do without either?

[Kudzu Guillotine]

From the All Things Music Plus page on Facebook:



ON THIS DATE (35 YEARS AGO)
September 13, 1976 – Lynyrd Skynyrd One More from the Road is released.
# All Things Music Plus+ 4.5/5
# Allmusic 3/5
# Robert Christgau (A-)
# Rolling Stone (see below)

One More From the Road is a live album by Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd. It marked the band's first live album, and the only live album from the so-called "classic" era of the band (1970-1977) prior to the plane crash that killed lead singer/songwriter Ronnie Van Zant, as well as band members Steve Gaines and Cassie Gaines. The album was released in September 1976, just after the release of their fourth album, Gimme Back My Bullets.

The original 12 tracks include a cover of Jimmie Rodgers' "T for Texas" and a 14:10 version of "Free Bird".

The Deluxe Edition, released in 2001, is thoroughly remastered and contains additional performances from the Fabulous Fox Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia.

ORIGINAL ROLLING STONE REVIEW
"Crossroads," the Robert Johnson-cum-Cream metallic raver included on this live album, deftly encapsulates Lynyrd Skynyrd's influences: Southern blues-rock diced with the sharp blade of British hard rock. Cream was based conceptually upon the guitar as the primary rock manipulator; Skynyrd has secured its large audience by maintaining that notion.

But Skynyrd has always relied more on a solid repertoire of rock material than on instrumental expertise. Their three guitarists -- Steve Gaines has joined to fill Ed King's old slot -- have a solid arsenal of fills and solo ideas, but none of them has ever created a readily identifiable style. Appropriately, the solos in "Crossroads" never stray too far from Clapton's on Wheels of Fire. And ironically, the album's inevitable finale, "Free Bird" -- the jam that make Skynyrd instant FM favorites -- fails to maintain its heavyweight status, because it sounds, after four sides of the same, like just one final exertion of heavy-metal power.

While pianist Billy Powell remains in a largely supportive role, Ronnie Van Zant's singing is always solid -- barroom-tough on rockers, properly vulnerable on two of the set's highlights, "Searching" and "The Needle and the Spoon." The only new song, "Travellin' Man," which is sung with effective and unobtrusive background singers, receives a similarly world-weary interpretation. The album's real surprise though is a rock-out version of "T for Texas."

Skynyrd has never aspired to be more than a tough rock & roll band, and their live set -- which draws more than half its material from their first two albums -- lives up to that. Penny for penny, One More from the Road offers a prime cut of guitar rock.
- John Milward, Rolling Stone, 11-4-76.

TRACKS:
Original Double LP

Side One
"Workin' for MCA" (Ed King, Ronnie Van Zant) – 4:38
"I Ain't the One" (Gary Rossington, Van Zant) – 3:37
"Searching" (Allen Collins, Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller, Van Zant) – 3:51
"Tuesday's Gone" (Collins, Rossington, Van Zant) – 7:39

Side Two
"Saturday Night Special" (King, Van Zant) – 5:30
"Travelin' Man" (Leon Wilkeson, Van Zant)– 4:08
"Whiskey Rock-a-Roller" (King, Billy Powell, Zan Zant) – 4:14
"Sweet Home Alabama" (King, Rossington, Van Zant) – 6:49

Side Three
"Gimme Three Steps" (Collins, Van Zant) – 5:00
"Call Me the Breeze" (J.J. Cale) – 5:27
"T for Texas" (Jimmie Rodgers) – 8:26

Side Four
"The Needle and the Spoon" (Collins, Van Zant) – 4:17
"Crossroads" (Robert Johnson) – 3:44
"Free Bird" (Collins, Van Zant) – 14:10

Remaster differences
The 2001 remaster of this album, produced by Ron O'Brien, slightly changed some of the original recordings. In addition to the album being completely re-EQ-ed, adding deleted tracks back into the set, the audience tracks being "beefed up" and a new mix being done to every track, many of the obvious overdubs were corrected and removed from the tracks, along with the album being resequenced into the correct set list order.

Changes include:

- Workin' for MCA
The opening to Workin' for MCA on the original cut featured just Rossington's guitar performing the solo somewhat off-beat while Allen Collins played the main riff with Steve Gaines. The remaster has removed the overdubbed guitar from Collin's part to reveal the dual lead at the beginning (which was how the song was always played live). Also removed is the slight delay put behind Gaines' solo mid-way through the song. The EQ on the solo has been changed somewhat to make the solo blend more with the rest of the band. It is likely that Gaines redubbed this solo using his Fender Twin amp rather than his Peavey Mace.

-I Ain't the One
There seems to be some additional dubbing to cover up Rossington's beginning mistake on the main riff just as Van Zant ad-libs "Let's pick it up!"

-Saturday Night Special
Various overdubs on Rossington's solos were removed.

-The Needle and the Spoon
Some slight re-arranging of instruments. Gaines' guitar is now in between right and center while Rossington is panned dead right, whereas before it was the opposite.

-Gimme Three Steps
The audio of Gaines tuning his guitar in between songs was removed.

-T for Texas
A slightly evident overdub on Collins' guitar is still present

-Sweet Home Alabama
The delay present behind Gaines' final solo on the song has been dramatically reduced, most likely by increasing the crowd noise.

-Crossroads
The overdubs on Collins' solos are still present.

-Free Bird
The master reel containing Collins' original (to the album) overdubbed solo was missing at the time of the remaster process. As a result, the track was remastered "as recorded" - the original live take is heard.