Lynyrd Skynyrd – (Pronounced 'Leh-'Nerd 'Skin-'Nerd) [180g Vinyl LP]

Lynyrd Skynyrd – (Pronounced 'Leh-'Nerd 'Skin-'Nerd) [180g Vinyl LP]

Details

• Format: LP, Album, Reissue, Gatefold Sleeve, 180 Gram Vinyl
• Catalogue Number: MOVLP387
• Barcode: 0600753356685
• Genre: Southern Rock, Hard Rock, Blues Rock
• Label: Music On Vinyl / MCA Records
• Originally Released: 13 August 1973
• Reissue Released: 22 September 2011
• Pressing: 180 Gram Audiophile Vinyl
• Condition: New & Sealed

Description

Lynyrd Skynyrd spent the best part of a decade playing dive bars and roadhouses across Florida and Georgia before producer Al Kooper caught them at a club in Atlanta in 1972 and signed them to his newly formed Sounds of the South label, backed by MCA. The band had been honing their material obsessively, rehearsing in a sweltering rural space outside Jacksonville they called Hell House, and when they finally entered Studio One in Doraville, Georgia in March 1973, every arrangement was locked — Kooper later marvelled at how completely prepared they were, and how absolutely no improvisation was permitted. The result was one of the most self-assured debuts in rock history, released on 13 August 1973 and driven by a creative partnership between vocalist Ronnie Van Zant, guitarists Gary Rossington and Allen Collins, and the newly recruited Ed King, who stepped in on bass after Leon Wilkeson temporarily left the band ahead of the sessions.

(Pronounced 'Lĕh-'nérd 'Skin-'nérd) synthesised the blues, country, and hard rock that had been circulating through the American South for two decades and forged something distinctly its own — rawer and more confrontational than the Allman Brothers Band, leaner than most of what MCA was releasing at the time, and saturated with the specific textures of Van Zant's Jacksonville upbringing. Kooper, a Blood, Sweat & Tears founder and longtime Bob Dylan collaborator, brought orchestral sensibility to the record without diluting its edge; his periodic use of Mellotron and organ sits naturally against the three-guitar interplay without ever overwhelming it. The album peaked at number 27 on the Billboard 200 and charted for 79 weeks, achieving gold certification almost immediately and eventually reaching double platinum in the United States. Rolling Stone magazine placed it at number 381 on their 2020 list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

The album contains several of the band's most enduring songs. 'Free Bird' — a Collins and Van Zant co-write that closes Side B — builds from a quiet ballad into a nine-minute guitar extravaganza that became arguably the most requested song in the history of rock radio. 'Simple Man', 'Tuesday's Gone', and 'Gimme Three Steps' round out a debut tracklist of extraordinary consistency, each song demonstrating a different dimension of the band: reflective balladry, loose road-weary swing, and Van Zant's gift for first-person narrative grounded in specific, unglamourised Southern experience. Kooper secured the band a prestigious support slot on the Who's 1973 American Quadrophenia tour on the strength of the album alone, exposing Lynyrd Skynyrd to audiences across the country and cementing their national reputation within months of the record's release.

This Music On Vinyl reissue presents the album on 180 gram audiophile vinyl and is housed in a gatefold sleeve with lyrics printed across the inner spread — a faithful reproduction of the original artwork, including the cover photograph taken on Main Street in Jonesboro, Georgia, showing the classic lineup from left to right: Leon Wilkeson, Billy Powell, Ronnie Van Zant, Gary Rossington, Bob Burns, Allen Collins, and Ed King.

Tracklist

Side A

1. I Ain't the One
2. Tuesday's Gone
3. Gimme Three Steps
4. Simple Man

Side B

1. Things Goin' On
2. Mississippi Kid
3. Poison Whiskey
4. Free Bird

Credits

• Ronnie Van Zant – vocals
• Gary Rossington – guitar
• Allen Collins – guitar
• Ed King – guitar, bass
• Billy Powell – keyboards
• Bob Burns – drums
• Leon Wilkeson – bass (tracks 1, 6)
• Steve Katz – harmonica
• Roosevelt Gook (Al Kooper) – Mellotron, organ, mandolin, bass, background vocals
• Robert Nix – drums (additional)
• Bobbye Hall – percussion
• Produced by – Al Kooper for SOS Productions
• Engineered by – Bob "Tub" Langford, Rodney Mills, Danny Turbeville
• Recorded at – Studio One, Doraville, Georgia, March–April 1973
• Label – Music On Vinyl / MCA Records