The phrase “sophomore slump” is tossed around here at “The Daily
\nVault” more often than a football at training camp. Usually,
\nwhenever an artist or band experiences any kind of success with
\ntheir debut album, they always feel some kind of pressure to outdo
\nthat success – and in turn, release an album that disappoints
\ncritically and\/or commercially.<\/p>\n
In the case of Lynyrd Skynyrd, their dictionary must have left
\nthat phrase out, because
\nSecond Helping<\/i>, their 1974 release, could well be one of
\ntheir best albums, sitting on the shelf next to
\nStreet Survivors<\/i> for that honor. Bringing back bassist Leon
\nWilkeson into the fold after
\nPronounced Leh-Nerd Skin-Nerd<\/i> was recorded, the group was
\nfiring on all cylinders and had learned many lessons, both from
\nthat first album and the accalim that followed. (Note: I’m
\nreviewing my ancient vinyl copy; the album has since been re-issued
\non CD with three bonus tracks.)<\/p>\n
You can sum up
\nSecond Helping<\/i> in three words: “Sweet Home Alabama”. Quite
\npossibly the most recognized song in Skynyrd’s catalog (next to
\n“Free Bird”), this song captures the band’s Southern roots while
\nholding onto their rock sensibility the best. It’s been 27 years
\nsince this song was recorded, and with the exception of the
\nWatergate references, this track doesn’t seem to have aged at all.
\nIt still crackles with energy, and the wrong-key solo from
\nguitarist Ed King (he admitted later down the road he played it in
\n“G”, when the song was in the key of “D”) is still an amazing slice
\nof six-string work.<\/p>\n
But
\nSecond Helping<\/i> is so much more. Continuing on the “mind
\naltering substances are bad” theme started by “Poison Whiskey,”
\n“The Needle And The Spoon” delivers a powerful anti-drug message
\nthat is still meaningful today. “Workin’ For MCA” could be seen as
\na bitch-slap against their label at the time or as a partial praise
\nfor someone taking a chance on them; either way, it’s a fun song to
\nlisten to, even today when the band is long removed from those
\ndays.<\/p>\n
Lynyrd Skynyrd even dares to use a song written outside of the
\nband – thus giving J.J. Cale’s “Call Me The Breeze” new life, and
\ncalling attention to a songwriter you might not have otherwise
\nheard about, Eric Clapton’s covers notwithstanding. Billy Powell’s
\npiano work helps to seal the deal, both on this song and “Sweet
\nHome Alabama”‘s outro.<\/p>\n
The lessons concerning the blues from
\nPronounced Leh-Nerd Skin-Nerd<\/i> are well learned on
\nSecond Helping<\/i>, from their cover of “Call Me The Breeze” to
\nthe funky down-home style of “Swamp Music”. Two words: well done!
\n“I Need You” isn’t strictly a blues song, but it definitely has
\nsoulful moments which suck the listener in. It might not be the
\nband’s best-known song, but it’s still a powerful piece of
\nwork.<\/p>\n
Yes, I could still talk about the two songs we haven’t
\nmentioned, “Don’t Ask Me No Questions” (dealing with fame when the
\nboys came home) and “The Ballad Of Curtis Loew” (detailing how the
\nlove of music was instilled in our heroes), but I think you get the
\npoint.
\nSecond Helping<\/i> is a solid album from note one to the last
\ndrum fill that closes the disc.<\/p>\n
If I could only have one Lynyrd Skynyrd album in my collection,
\nI’d have a very hard time choosing between
\nStreet Survivors<\/i> and
\nSecond Helping<\/i>. In fact, I don’t want to choose. I want them
\nboth. Bury me with them. Is this album
\nthat<\/i> good? Oh, yeah.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25943,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5709],"rating":[5646],"class_list":["post-37149","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-lynyrd-skynyrd","rating-rating-a"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37149"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37149\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37149"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=37149"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=37149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}