Published on Aug 11, 2001
The recent passing of Lynyrd Skynyrd bassist Leon Wilkeson got
me to thinking about the classic Southern rock group and their
impact on music for nearly three decades. It also caused me to
think that it’s been a long time since I dusted off any of the
band’s earlier works – namely, those recorded before the tragic
plane crash in 1977.
Into the Pierce Memorial Archives I went – and out I came,
retrieving
Pronounced Leh-Nerd Skin-Nerd, the group’s 1973 debut
release. Ironically, this album is one which
doesn’t feature Wilkeson; he had left the band prior to
their entering the studio to record this with Al Kooper. Guitarist
Ed King handles the bass chores – and despite the stories of lead
vocalist Ronnie Van Zant telling King he was the worst bass player
he had ever heard, I tend to think that King does a pretty good job
here. (In all fairness, Wilkeson composed most of the bass
parts.)
This particular album features Lynyrd Skynyrd in the growing
pains that almost every single band goes through… namely, they
don’t quite know which direction they want to take their music.
There’s the Delta-like blues that harkens back to the Allman
Brothers, there’s the all-out rock, and there’s the overplayed but
still enjoyable classics. We’ll talk about them first.
If you’re my age or older, you have to have been living under a
rock most of your life to not know “Free Bird,” quite possibly the
biggest concert stereotype any band faces. (I admit to having
shouted “Free Bird!” a couple of times during lulls in shows… and
I’m surprised I still have all my teeth as a result.) The song that
defined Lynyrd Skynyrd, this still has a lot of magic left in it,
despite being played to death by almost every classic rock station
around the world. Going from gentle melodies to all-out rock at the
midway point, “Free Bird” showed that Skynyrd was truly the master
of its own domain.
That being said, they tend to rely a little too much on their
blues traditions on
Pronounced Leh-Nerd Skin-Nerd, featuring two meandering
blues tracks that just don’t seem to go anywhere. Of the two,
“Things Goin’ On” is the better one, yet even this song lacks a lot
of the punch that it could have had. There’s even a slight hint of
funk in this one – and it might have been interesting to have heard
how Lynyrd Skynyrd would have handled that genre, even if for just
one song. “Mississippi Kid” might be hampered by the hand of
producer Kooper, who’s given a songwriting credit (along with
drummer Bob Burns). This particular song just tries too hard to
capture the Delta blues roots of the band, and sounds out of
place.
Okay, so I’ve deviated from talking about the overplayed
classics. “Tuesday’s Gone” might have been brought back to
prominence thanks to its use in
Happy Gilmore, but it actually is a pretty song that gives
each member of the band room to express themselves musically.
“Gimme Three Steps” – I’m sorry, but this one is so overplayed in
the Chicagoland area that I’m absolutely sick of hearing it.
(Besides, the live version on
One More From The Road, which gives the band room to stretch
this one out a bit, is superior.) And if there is one track from
this particular era which has been overlooked for far too long,
“Simple Man” could well be the one.
Of the remaining tracks, “I Ain’t The One” and “Poison Whiskey”
both have the hearts of rockers, something which Lynyrd Skynyrd
would explore more deeply as they grew musically – namely, in songs
like “Saturday Night Special,” “Gimme Back My Bullets” and even
“What’s Your Name”. They’re not the greatest selections in the
Skynyrd backcatalog, but they’re hardly failures. (If there’s one
complaint, it’s how “Poison Whiskey” comes to an abrupt end, almost
like the band was out of things to say about the demon
alcohol.)
Pronounced Leh-Nerd Skin-Nerd is an album to explore when
you want to try and get past the overplayed pabulum on classic rock
radio and discover the beginnings of the group. While this disc
suggested great things for Lynyrd Skynyrd, it’s not necessarily the
best release in their catalog.