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Released: August 1973


Rating: 4.477 (average of 9 ratings)


Genre: Southern rock


Quotable: “the birth of a great band that birthed an entire genre with this album” – Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide


Album Tracks:

  1. I Ain’t the One
  2. Tuesday’s Gone
  3. Gimme Three Steps
  4. Simple Man
  5. Things Goin’ On
  6. Mississippi Kid
  7. Poison Whiskey
  8. Free Bird


Total Running Time: 43:03


Sales:

sales in U.S. only 2 million
sales in U.K. only - estimated --
sales in all of Europe as determined by IFPI – click here to go to their site. --
sales worldwide - estimated 2 million


Peak:

peak on U.S. Billboard album chart 27
peak on U.K. album chart --


Singles/Hit Songs:

  • Gimme Three Steps (11/73) --
  • Free Bird (11/23/74) #19 US


Awards:

Rated one of the top 1000 albums of all time by Dave’s Music Database. Click to learn more. One of my personal top 100 albums of all time. Click to learn more. One of Blender’s 100 Greatest American Albums


Pronounced Leh-Nerd Skin-Nerd
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Review:
“The Allman Brothers came first, but Lynyrd Skynyrd epitomized Southern rock. The Allmans were exceptionally gifted musicians, as much bluesmen as rockers. Skynyrd was nothing but rockers, and they were Southern rockers to the bone. This didn't just mean that they were rednecks, but that they brought it all together – the blues, country, garage rock, Southern poetry – in a way that sounded more like the South than even the Allmans” (Erlewine).

“A large portion of that derives from their hard, lean edge, which was nowhere more apparent than on their debut album, Pronounced Leh-Nerd Skin-Nerd” (Erlewine), a “fiery finger-lickin’ boogie” (Blender). “Produced by Al Kooper, there are few records that sound this raw and uncompromising, especially records by debut bands. Then again, few bands sound this confident and fully formed with their first record. Perhaps the record is stronger because it's only eight songs, so there isn’t a wasted moment, but that doesn't discount the sheer strength of each song” (Erlewine).

“Consider the opening juxtaposition of the rollicking I Ain’t the One with the heartbreaking Tuesday’s Gone. Two songs couldn't be more opposed, yet Skynyrd sounds equally convincing on both” (Erlewine).

“If that’s all the record did, it would still be fondly regarded, but it wouldn’t have been influential. The genius of Skynyrd is that they un-self-consciously blended album-oriented hard rock, blues, country, and garage rock, turning it all into a distinctive sound that sounds familiar but thoroughly unique” (Erlewine). “Though known for their three guitar attack, Skynyrd’s gut-busting ballads wrenched the soul particularly Free Bird, the greatest lighter-waving anthem of all time” (Blender).

“On top of that, there’s the highly individual voice of Ronnie Van Zant” (Erlewine) with a “workingman’s growl” (Blender). He is “a songwriter who isn’t afraid to be nakedly sentimental, spin tales of the South, or to twist macho conventions with humor. And, lest we forget, while he does this, the band rocks like a motherfucker. It’s the birth of a great band that birthed an entire genre with this album” (Erlewine).


Review Source(s):


Last updated October 27, 2008.