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ALBUM REVIEW

LYNYRD SKYNYRD

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Second Helping

Released - April, 1974, MCA Records. Produced by Al Kooper

Ronnie Van Zant - Lead & Backing Vocals
Gary Rossington - Lead Guitar, Guitar Weaving & Solos
Allen Collins - Rhythm Guitar, Guitar Weaving, Guitar Solo on 'Needle And The Spoon'
Ed King - Rhythm, Slide & Bass Guitars, Guitar Solos & Weaving, Lead Guitar on 'Sweet Home Alabama' 
Billy Powell - Keyboards
Leon Wilkeson - Bass Guitar and Backing Vocals
Bob Burns - Drums
Plus:
Al Kooper - Piano on tracks two and five, Acoustic Guitar & Backing Vocal on track five

Additional Personnel -  Bobby Keys, Tevor Lawrence & Steve Madiao play the horns on tracks three & eight. Backing Vocals on track one: Merry Clayton & Clydie King

All songs written by members of Lynyrd Skynyrd (see below) except Call Me the Breeze written by J.J. Cale.

SONG (written by) RATING
Sweet Home Alabama (King/Rossington/VanZant)   10.0
I Need You (King/Rossington/VanZant)     6.3
Don't Ask Me No Questions (Rossington/VanZant)     6.3
Workin' For MCA (King/VanZant)     7.0
Ballad of Curtis Loew (Collins/VanZant)   10.0
Swamp Music (King/VanZant)     6.7
The Needle and the Spoon (Collins/VanZant)     6.8
Call Me the Breeze (J.J. Cale)   10.0
Ave.   7.86

MINI REVIEW

Lynyrd Skynyrd's second album is another fine piece of work. If you love guitar solos and weaving guitars, you will find that all over this album. The classic, tongue-in cheek "Sweet Home Alabama" would turn out to be their top charting single ever. Ed King's slide guitar on "Ballad of Curtis Loew", an excellent song about a fictitious old blues man, helps make the song a classic, along with a great vocal sung by Ronnie VanZant. Then there's the great cover of "Call Me the Breeze", they play this song like it was written for them.

The new reissued CD adds three bonus tracks, not listed or rated above. They are: The single version of  "Don't Ask Me No Questions" and its B-side "Take Your Time", plus the previously unreleased demo "Was I Right or Wrong."

- Keno 2001

To listen to some soundclips from Second Helping or to purchase it click on: Second Helping

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