Second
Helping review
Lynyrd
Skynyrd's debut album was a success. Their follow-up, Second
Helping, is slightly better as their songwriting improved, and
they added a quality third guitarist/composer, Ed King. He played
bass on various studio tracks for them in the past. His addition to
the band as a guitarist added a nice tone to their sound, as his
Fender Stratocaster, complements Allen Collins Gibson Firebird, and
Gary Rossington's Gibson Les Paul, giving great balance to their
sound.
Nowhere can Ed King's
addition to the band show their improvement to the line up more than
in their classic "Sweet Home Alabama," a song primarily
composed by him. It became an immediate radio hit for the
band. Second Helping is not an album with one hit and a bunch
of throwaways, but is strong throughout. They incorporated horns
fairly successfully on "Don't Ask Me No Questions." The
song "The Ballad of Cutis Loew" is a nice slide driven
ballad that has a nice tone and melodic nature to it. Their anti
drug song, "The Needle and the Spoon," is a classic from
the opening harmonics, to the crunchy riffs, and Clapton influenced
guitar solo, all contributing to this songs success. A careful
listen to their song "Working for MCA's" ending solo, and
you'll notice inferences to "Free Bird."
Second Helping is a
great album, one of Lynyrd Skynyrd's best. The remastered version
includes three additional tracks. by Barry Small ©
Grade A -
