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Lynyrd Skynyrd pose for a photo shoot during the production of their first album Pronounced 1973
Rolling Stone magazine November 8, 1973
By Jim Miller
(Review of both band’s debut albums as released by Al Kooper’s SOUNDS OF THE
SOUTH Record label)
Skynyrd broadly fit into hard-driving improvisational blues format
pioneered by the Allman Brothers, although the band’s welcome bent for
brevity keeps most of the tracks tight and to the point. On the other hand,
their nine-minute “Freebird” jumps out of the group’s debut LP. It offers a
tour of blues guitar expertise conducted by Allen Collins and to a riveting
effect. In fact, Skynyrd work with three lead guitarists, a density of
stringy instrumentation at times recalling Byrds as much as Allmans.
Eclectic (a shared predeliction for much Southern rock), Skynyrd leans on
everyone from Rolling Stones (“Tuesday’s Gone”) and Ry Cooder (“Things Goin’
On”) to Lovin’ Spoonful (“Gimme’ Three Steps”). Lead singer Ronnie Van Zant
mostly sounds like Keith Relf imitating Mick Jagger. Al Kooper’s
unobtrusively dapper production emphasizes the English connection with ever
an eye to poppy parts, a mellotron here, electric 12-string there. But the
blunter blues tracks form the album’s meat with cuts like “Simple Man”
revealing a no-nonsense powerhouse rock unit of modest proportions but
considerable promise.
When Lynyrd Skynyrd barks back to Allmans and Wet Willie, Mose Jones
suggest John Fred or the Box Tops, appealing to the top 40 heritage of White
Southern rock Jones (previously called Stonehenge) forfeit Skynyrd’s energy,
relying instead on Uncle Al’s dandy studio sweetenings – if one can ignore
for the moment an atrocious Kooper gospel goof, “Get Right (With God),”
which unfortunately opens, closes and gives Jones’ album a title.
The band’s style ranges between spruced-up acid rock (“Here We Go Again” -
a Moody Blues rerun), copying New York Rascal’s soul (“Kiwi Stumble Boogie”)
and Mowtown – modified Allmans (“What Kind Of Woman Would Do That” – one of
the album’s better cuts, conceptually and musically), While vocalist Randy
Lewis strongly recalls the Guess Who’s Burton Cummings, the band with Kooper
at the controls, proves adroit in all fashion of disguises.
Kooper handles Jones as well as Skynyrd, but ultimately it is the latter’s
intensity that impresses most. Both bands could profit from a more
concentrated and single-minded approach, even where proficiency partially
forgives virtual parody. But for Skynyrd at least, magnolia muscle carries
the day. A significant victory for Kooper’s Southern Strategy.
