Lynyrd Skynyrd – Skynyrd’s First: The Complete Muscle Shoals Sessions

January 1971. The scenario is bleak. Our subjects are a bunch of greasy longhairs from Jacksonville, Florida, who live in tents and catch their own fish for dinner. After slumming it on the Florida club circuit for a couple years, they finally secure some studio time, only to see their drummer leave the band two weeks before the sessions. They press on, though, finding a new skinsman, readying themselves for their “big break.”

They’re in for another surprise when they discover that elements such as tempo and tuning — things your average half-sauced nightclub patron could care less about — aren’t so easily overlooked in the studio. By the way, the studio in question here is Muscle Shoals, arguably the hottest recording spot in the country at the time. What the hell was Lynyrd Skynyrd doing there?

The details of their first encounter are fuzzy, but the fact remains, Muscle Shoals co-founder Jimmy Johnson loved this band. It was his initial guidance and production work, documented here, that set Lynyrd Skynyrd on the road to becoming one of the most popular rock bands of the ’70s. And that’s where this collection succeeds — as a historical reference to a young, vibrant Skynyrd, untainted by success, excess or tragedy, concerned with little more than rocking out and getting a good buzz on.

Nine of the seventeen tracks on this collection were previously released — mere months after the infamous October 1977 plane crash that killed singer Ronnie Van Zant and two other band members — as Skynyrd’s First…And Last. Among the eight “new” songs here, the most revealing is, uh, “Free Bird”. Though you could rightly argue that the greater good doesn’t need to hear another version of this song under any circumstances, “Free Bird” circa ’71 presents Skynyrd’s formidable talents and callow weaknesses in full regalia.

As with all the songs from these sessions, Van Zant’s vocals sound hesitant (if earnest), and the neophyte Skynyrd rhythm section simply can’t keep up. But when Allen Collins and Gary Rossington’s now-infamous dual guitar solo is unleashed for the first time, historic sparks let fly.

How a couple of green-to-the-core young guitarists could pull off an instrumental exchange this inspired, this rock-solid, is a joyous mystery. It’s not definitive, but “Free Bird” ’71 is probably the most charming thing Skynyrd ever recorded. Seems Jimmy Johnson knew what he was doing after all.