second helping

Lynyrd Skynyrd took their triple guitar onslaught and conquered the radio with this satisfying sophomore serving of songs about the south land.  The success of their debut '(Pronounced 'Lĕh-'nérd 'Skin-'nérd)' had led to an opening slot touring with The Who.  Billy Powell says:   “We just went out with guns ablaze.  We wanted to blow the doors off. In some places, Skynyrd went down better than the Who.” 

Gary Rossington looked back:  “We were just a band that played clubs, teen dens and pubs. Then, all of a sudden, we were playing in stadiums for 30,000 people…We’d have shots of whiskey every night ’cause we were so scared.”

The band returned to the studio with producer Al Kooper to record 'Second Helping' at Record Plant Studios in Los Angeles, California and Studio One in Doraville, Georgia.  The sessions featured Ronnie Van Zant on lead vocals;   Gary Rossington on Gibson Les Paul guitar, rhythm and acoustic guitar on "Sweet Home Alabama";   Allen Collins on Gibson Firebird guitar;   Ed King on Fender Stratocaster guitar, slide guitar, rhythm guitar and bass on "I Need You" and "Don't Ask Me No Questions";  Billy Powell on keyboards, piano on "Sweet Home Alabama";   Leon Wilkeson on Gibson Thunderbird bass;   and Bob Burns on drums except for on "I Need You"; with Mike Porter taking drums on "I Need You";   Clydie King, Sherlie Matthews, and Merry Clayton & friends on background vocals on "Sweet Home Alabama";   Bobby Keys, Trewor Lawrence, and Steve Madiao on horns on "Don't Ask Me No Questions" and "Call Me the Breeze";  and Al Kooper on backing vocals, piano on "Don't Ask Me No Questions" and "The Ballad of Curtis Loew".   

'Second Helping' went to number twelve in the US and nine in Canada.  Johnny Van Zant looks back:   “‘Sweet Home Alabama’ came out and all of a sudden people went, ‘Oh, there’s a song called ‘Freebird’ on ‘Pronounced’.  You know, back then rock radio played albums, so all of a sudden, boom, ‘Second Helping,’ the whole album was being played on FM radio and then boom, they went back to ‘Pronounced’ and it was being played on the radio.”

Ed King considers:  “Ronnie Van Zant was an out-and-out genius.  Ronnie could be very profound. He was all about the working-class man. He had a great way with a simple story.”











http://www.lynyrdskynyrd.com/








'Sweet Home Alabama' became a breakthrough hit for the band, going to number eight on the US pop chart.  It was conceived as a tongue-in-cheek response to Neil Young's 'Southern Man'.   Ronnie Van Zant would reveal:   "We thought Neil was shooting all the ducks to kill one or two ... [It was] more of a joke than anything else.  Hey, I love Neil Young. My wife plays his records around the house all the time. He even dug the song himself. He understood that we weren’t serious. You gotta write about something. It’s tough.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwWUOmk7wO0&feature=kp



Big wheels keep on turning
Carry me home to see my kin
Singing songs about the Southland
I miss Alabamy once again
And I think it's a sin, yes

Well I heard mister Young sing about her
Well, I heard ole Neil put her down
Well, I hope Neil Young will remember
A Southern man don't need him around anyhow

Sweet home Alabama
Where the skies are so blue
Sweet Home Alabama
Lord, I'm coming home to you

In Birmingham they love the governor
Now we all did what we could do
Now Watergate does not bother me
Does your conscience bother you?
Tell the truth

Sweet home Alabama
Where the skies are so blue
Sweet Home Alabama
Lord, I'm coming home to you
Here I come Alabama

Now Muscle Shoals has got the Swampers
And they've been known to pick a song or two
Lord they get me off so much
They pick me up when I'm feeling blue
Now how about you?

Sweet home Alabama
Where the skies are so blue
Sweet Home Alabama
Lord, I'm coming home to you

Sweet home Alabama
Oh sweet home baby
Where the skies are so blue
And the governor's true
Sweet Home Alabama
Lordy
Lord, I'm coming home to you
Yea, yea






'Second Helping'
full album:



Side one
1. "Sweet Home Alabama" Ed King, Gary Rossington, Ronnie Van Zant  4:43
2. "I Need You"  Rossington Van Zant  6:55
3. "Don't Ask Me No Questions"  King Rossington, Van Zant  3:29
4. "Workin' for MCA"  King, Van Zant 4:49
Side two
5. "The Ballad of Curtis Loew"  Allen Collins, Van Zant  4:51
6. "Swamp Music"  King, Van Zant  3:31
7. "The Needle and the Spoon"  Collins, Van Zant  3:53
8. "Call Me the Breeze" J. J. Cale 5:09

(pronounced 'lĕh-'nérd 'skin-'nérd)

Lynyrd Skynyrd evolved from a high school band to a Southern rock powerhouse for their diverse and dynamic debut.  The group had formed as the Nobel Five while Ronnie Van Zant and guitarists Gary Rossington and Allen Collins were students at Robert E. Lee High School in Jacksonville, Florida.  They changed the name numerous times.   Rossington recalls:    "It was always the same band - we just kept changing the name...We used to play teen dens, church socials and stuff so the band's name didn't matter. We used to change our name every day, just for the heck of it, because we weren't known at all."

They were the One Percent for a year before they decided to name themselves after high school gym teacher Leonard Skinner who had sent members of the band to the office for violating the school's policy about long hair.  The name stuck; but the spelling was changed.  Lynyrd Skynyrd cut their teeth playing lots of gigs wherever they could until they were discovered by Al Kooper at a bar in Atlanta while looking for talent for his Sounds of the South label, an MCA subsidiary.

Van Zant would consider:    “The whole idea of the group was decided in the very beginning. We’ve stuck with it ever since...To have fun, what else?...Talk about dues, we paid a damn ton of ‘em. So many that if things ever went too smoothly, it would ruin the group...If you ask me, we’re closer to the classic British rock groups like Free then anything else.”

'(Pronounced 'Lĕh-'nérd 'Skin-'nérd)' was produced and engineered by Kooper.  The recording featured a lot of switching around with Leon Wilkeson leaving early on after playing on only two tracks.   He would return to the group when the album was completed.  The sessions at  Studio One, Doraville, Georgia  included Ronnie Van Zant on lead vocals and lyrics; Gary Rossington on lead guitar on "Tuesday's Gone", "Gimme Three Steps", "Things Goin' On", "Poison Whiskey", "Simple Man", rhythm guitar on the others, slide guitar on "Free Bird"; Allen Collins on lead guitar on "I Ain't The One" & "Free Bird", rhythm guitar on the others; Ed King on lead guitar on "Mississippi Kid", bass on all tracks except "Mississippi Kid" and "Tuesday's Gone"; Billy Powell on keyboards; Bob Burns on drums except on "Tuesday's Gone"; and Leon Wilkeson on bass for  "Mississippi Kid" and "Tuesday's Gone"; with Al Kooper (Roosevelt Gook) on bass, Mellotron & back-up harmony on "Tuesday's Gone", mandolin & bass drum on "Mississippi Kid", organ on "Simple Man", "Poison Whiskey" & "Free Bird", Mellotron on "Free Bird"; Robert Nix on drums on "Tuesday's Gone"; Bobbye Hall on percussion on "Gimme Three Steps" & "Things Goin' On"; and Steve Katz on harmonica on "Mississippi Kid".  

'(Pronounced 'Lĕh-'nérd 'Skin-'nérd)' established their triple guitar onslaught as the group moves easily from boogie to country to blues to progressive rock.  The album peaked at number twenty-seven on the US album chart and eventually sold more than two million copies.  







http://www.lynyrdskynyrd.com/






'(Pronounced 'Lĕh-'nérd 'Skin-'nérd)'
full album:  




Side One
"I Ain't the One" (Gary Rossington, Ronnie Van Zant) - 3:53
"Tuesday's Gone" (Allen Collins, Van Zant) - 7:32
"Gimme Three Steps" (Collins, Van Zant) - 4:30
"Simple Man" (Rossington, Van Zant) - 5:57
Side Two
"Things Goin' On" (Rossington, Van Zant) - 5:00
"Mississippi Kid" (Bob Burns, Al Kooper, Van Zant) - 3:56
"Poison Whiskey" (Ed King, Van Zant) - 3:13
"Free Bird" (Collins, Van Zant) - 9:09