Quotable:
“a record that firmly re-established Skynyrd’s status as the great Southern rock band” – Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
Album Tracks:
What’s Your Name
That Smell
One More Time
I Know a Little
You Got That Right
I Never Dreamed
Honky Tonk Night Time Man
Ain’t No Good Life
Sales:
2 million
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2 million
Peak:
5
13
Singles/Hit Songs:
What’s Your Name (12/3/77) #13 US, air: 1 m
You Got That Right (4/15/78) #69 US
Notes: The album was reissued with alternates of “You Got That Right” and “I Never Dreamed” alongside three additional cuts – “Georgia Peaches,” “Sweet Little Missy,” and “Jacksonville Kid.” Also of note – the original album cover (pictured atop this page) was re-edited after the band’s plane crash to eliminate the flames surrounding them.
Review:
“Lynyrd Skynyrd had already fulfilled a good deal of its promise on definitive Southern-rock albums such as Pronounced Leh-nerd Skin-nerd and the live One More From the Road when they stepped up their ambition a few more notches for this…release. Fueled by new member Steve Gaines, the Florida band produced its best album. Gaines, Gary Rossington, and Allen Collins interlocked on guitars as if they’d learned it all in the womb together, while singer Ronnie Van Zant came up with his most evocative lyrics yet” (Wright).
Under normal circumstances, “Street Survivors would have been seen as an unqualified triumph, a record that firmly re-established Skynyrd’s status as the great Southern rock band. As it stands, it’s a triumph tinged with a hint of sadness, sadness that’s projected onto it from listeners aware of what happened to the band after recording” (Erlewine).
“Street Survivors appeared in stores just days before Lynyrd Skynyrd’s touring plane crashed” (Erlewine), killing Van Zant and “five others in a Mississippi crash of the group’s tour plane” (Wright). “Consequently, it’s hard to see Street Survivors outside of the tragedy” (Erlewine), especially when a song like “That Smell reeks of death and foreboding” (Erlewine).
“Viewed as merely a record, it’s a hell of an album…Van Zant used the time off the road to write a strong set of songs, highlighted by ‘That Smell,’ You Got That Right, and the relentless boogie I Know a Little. It's tighter than any record since Second Helping and as raw as Nuthin’ Fancy. If the original band was fated to leave after this record, at least they left with a record that serves as a testament to Skynyrd’s unique greatness” (Erlewine); “Street Survivors remains as a classic of American guitar rock” (Wright).
2 million
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2 million
