Look no further than Second Helping to experience vintage Lynyrd Skynrd. The current version of the band is a weak facsimile that probably has Ronnie Van Zant rolling in his grave.
There were eight cuts on the southern rockers second effort, each one a standalone classic. Clearly this recording is the definitive southern rock album from the progenitors of the genre. It was this Second Helping from the boys that put them over the top and gave life to so many other bands like Molly Hatchet and 38 Special a few years later.
Audio Fidelity sure knows how to pick em’! This version of Second Helping does the legendary southern rockers justice with a crisp and driving version of the recording. The power and rhythm of the band along with Van Zant’s distinctive vocals all comes through nicely on this CD. The master tape transfer must have been handled with kid gloves because this music sounds reborn just as if the band released the album this year. That is the entire idea when the label takes these classic recordings through their meticulous process of remastering. It never seems to fail.
“Sweet Home Alabama” is an eternal rock classic and one of those songs like “Stairway to Heaven” you are likely to hear at any given time up and down the radio dial or on any internet rock radio station. “Don’t Ask Me No Questions” , “Needle and the Spoon” and “Call Me The Breeze” were not given as much attention as the aforementioned southern rock anthem however they were just as strong, making this recording a rock solid foundation for a soon to be mushrooming genre.
You gotta have this one if you love Lynyrd Skynyrd or southern rock, any which way you look at it brother, Alabama never sounded so sweet.
Keith “MuzikMan” Hannaleck
October 16, 2009
