Rating:
Genre:
Rock
Release Date: 09/29/2009
Run Time: 78:20
With their classic early lineup, anchored by the swagger, grit, and heart of lead singer
Ronnie Van Zant,
Lynyrd Skynyrd merged
Allman Brothers guitars with barrelhouse piano (courtesy of keyboardist
Billy Powell, a bigger part of
Skynyrd's classic sound than most people realize), then tossed in a big dose of
hard rock attitude and gave it all credence with a kind of blustering and cocky
honky tonk sensibility. The original band just sounded so, well, right, and if its legacy in most casual listeners' minds is just
"Sweet Home Alabama" and the ubiquitous
"Free Bird," that's not a bad legacy to have, really.
Skynyrd's story is also a gothic Southern tragedy, haunted by fatal plane crashes and death, and if the 21st century version of the band (current membership includes ex-
Blackfoot guitarist
Rickey Medlocke, drummer
Michael Cartellone, vocalist
Johnny Van Zant, and guitarist
Gary Rossington, who is the only member left from the original version of
Skynyrd) seems more like a facsimile than a continuation, one could chalk it up to pure attrition. So what to make of
God & Guns, the group's new album from
Roadrunner Records? It certainly sounds like
Lynyrd Skynyrd, maybe with a little more contemporary Nashville on board, and there's plenty of that Southern redneck rocker attitude on display. The lead single,
"Still Unbroken," is a fine song,
"Southern Ways" has a certain charm (maybe because it's essentially a slowed-down rewrite of
"Sweet Home Alabama" using the same riff as an anchor), and
"Floyd" has some ragged atmosphere going for it, but there's nothing as memorable as
"Free Bird" here, but it's probably not fair to ask this version of the band to compete with its own past. This is
Skynyrd in the 21st century, nothing more, nothing less, and they still rock hard. That part of the legacy is still intact. [This limited Special Edition adds a second disc of bonus tracks, including live versions of
J.J. Cale's
"They Call Me the Breeze" and
"Sweet Home Alabama."]
~Steve Leggett, All Music Guide
;)
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