Customer Reviews

The Best of Lynyrd Skynyrd - 20th Century Masters: Millennium Collection (Eco-Friendly Packaging)

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a good album to buy for a very casual Lynyrd Skynyrd fan. All of the southern rock band's most popular hits are here (Free Bird, Sweet Home Alabama, ect.), but I'm sure that the record company could have squeezed a least a few more tracks on this album. The album itself is of great remastered sound quality, and is a great listen all of the way through. Buy this album if you just know that you like Free Bird, Sweet Home Alabama, or any of the other really popular songs on this album.

While "Gold and Platinum" has more tracks, for a budget collection, this one is first-rate with smart song selection and no dross to speak of. For Skynyrd neophytes, I cannot think of a better place to start.

Lynyrd Skynyrd is one of the greatest rock bands of all-time, and this album reflects it. Lacking only the epic Tuesday's Gone, this collection has some of the greatest rock songs created. Sweet Home Alabama is the quintessential southern rock song, surpassing even the Allman Brothers Band, with its quick bluesy guitar riffs and southern pride lyrics. And of course, there's Free Bird. Perhaps the greatest guitar piece of all time with only a handful of competitors, the 3-guitar attack of Free Bird will draw you in better than almost anything else. Free Bird is unmatched by nearly everything out there, and you can never go wrong with it. Of course, the ever-popular Whats Your Name? is present, as is Gimme Three Steps and all your other favorites of course. But nothing can compete with Free Bird. Even if you buy this album just for that one track, you will get your money's worth and much more. Don't hesistate to pick this one up at all, its very inexpensive and a hell of a buy.

Though this is a very good disc, it leaves out too much to be considered the "Best of Lynyrd Skynyrd". Tracks missing include: Tuesday's Gone, Give Me Back My Bullet, The Ballad of Curtis Lowe, Call Me the Breeze, and Simple Man. If you want a true greatest hits go with another album.

This is one of the few 20th Century Masters sets that works--at least for the casual fan. Lynyrd Skynyrd's triple-guitar threat and songwriter Ronnie Van Zant's powerful singing on their first five albums was responsible for some of the most amazing rock music of the Seventies. On one reasonably-priced disc you get nearly all of Skynyrd's FM radio staples. There are the hits: "Sweet Home Alabama," "Free Bird," "Saturday Night Special" and "What's Your Name," plus a sampling of other Skynyrd classics like "Gimme Three Steps", "You Got That Right" and "That Smell." However, like all the other releases in this series, it suffers from having too few tracks. Even most casual fans will be left wanting more, which is what makes the two-disc Essential Lynyrd Skynyrd the more logical purchase. At 25 tracks it includes everything on 20th Century Masters and provides a much more complete picture of one of the two best progenitors of Southern rock (the other being the Allman Brothers). RECOMMENDED

First of all I give them a 5 because any true Skynyrd fan would, but also there are better greatest hits albums by Skynyrd if you are just now getting into them or if you just want some of their best songs. Some of those albums are Skynyrd's Innyrds's-14 songs; Gold and Plaitnum- Probably your best bet! has Simple Man on it. Best of the Rest- Good part 2 of their greatest hits, if you want to go that far in their music. Also which isn't a bad idea is getting One More from the Road- It's live but it sounds great, and it has just about all of their best songs! also more guitar solos on it too, and it also has the best verison of FREEBIRD! So these are some good choices to chose from, and Skynyrd's Innyrd's is about the same price as the Greatest Hits of the Mill. with only 10 songs. So... CHOOSE WISELY!

Lynyrd Skynyrd burst onto the rock scene in the early 1970s. With incredible early hits like "Free Bird" and "Sweet Home Alabama," the band seemed destined for incredibly lofty heights. With the sudden and tragic death of some band members just a few years later the group was crushed; but their music lives on and countless people enjoy Lynyrd Skynyrd to this day.

The CD starts with "Sweet Home Alabama." This number has an infectiously catchy melody and the guitars rock furiously on this number. "Sweet Home Alabama" was also the group's answer to Neil Young's song entitled "Southern Man." "Sweet Home Alabama" remains a fine piece of music and it starts this CD off strong.

"What's Your Name" follows as the second track on this CD; again the melody draws you in as they play and sing about meeting pretty women with whom they can spend intimate time together. Excellent!

"Gimme Three Steps" tells the classic tale of a man caught flirting with another man's woman; this doesn't exactly sit well with the woman's boyfriend. The intro rocks hard and awesome with the intense three guitar jam; and in fact all through "Gimme Three Steps" the guitars are excellent. One thing about Lynyrd Skynyrd: their guitars always carried the arrangement perfectly. Not a bad trademark for a rock band, eh?

"Double Trouble" features a chorus as backup for the group; and "You Got That Right" rocks hard! "You Got That Right" lets Lynyrd Skynyrd play their music and sing of guys who just want to have fun. "You Got That Right" has a great beat to it, too.

Obviously, the crowning jewel on this all too brief album is "Free Bird." The intro hinges on the guitars as always and serves as an immense announcement that a great song is about to begin. Somewhat philosophical about relationships and the desire to not be tied down to any one woman are highlighted in "Free Bird;" but the real treasure is the unparalleled guitar jamming that dominates most of this nine minute number after the lyrics end. This number may last nine minutes; but it's so darn good you'll feel like it was only nine seconds! GRIN "Free Bird" is an incredibly strong ending for this CD.

The liner notes give you a good essay about the history of the band written by Joseph F. Laredo. You get the song credits and a list of other Lynyrd Skynyrd albums out on CD.

Other reviewers write that this CD is not thorough enough and that it is too short. They are right. You may want to think of this as a budget CD for people who want to find out if they like Lynyrd Skynyrd music. This CD may also suffice for casual fans. True Lynyrd Skynyrd fans could never be satisfied without songs like Tuesday's Gone and Simple Man being included in the track set.

Therefore I recommend this for casual fans; and people who are brand new to Lynyrd Skynyrd and who want to see if they'll like their music will profit from this CD. True blue fans, however, should opt for more extensive compilations including the two CD set entitled The Essential Lynyrd Skynyrd and another two CD set entitled Thyrty: The 30th Anniversary Collection.

I just want to buy this CD because this one has all the hits from
Lynyrd Skynyrd like Sweet Home Alabama, and That Smell, the two
I earliest started with before What's Your Name, and Free Bird
became mine too. It's got all mine that I reccomend from other
Lynyrd Skynyrd albums.

This cd is good is you haven't listened to Skynyrd before. It has Free Bird (the best guitar anthem ever in my opinion) Sweet Home Alabama, That Smell, etc. But it doesn't have good songs like Tuesday's Gone or The Ballad of Curtis Lowe. So if you wanna get the best Skynyrd get The Essential Lynyrd Skynyrd which is a double disc. It has everything that is on this cd plus 17 others such as Tuesday's Gone, The Ballad of Curtis Lowe, and Free Bird Live which is pretty cool if you haven't see them in concert and it's still good even if you have (I have). So that's a better buy than this. This is still a good cd if you're just getting into Lynyrd Skynyrd though. If all you want are Sweet Home Alabama and Free Bird, then get this cd but it's missing some good songs.

Hum, another Skynyrd compilation. I swear there am more Skynyrd "greatest", "best of", "essential", "ultimate" etc, etc... albums available than original albums with Ronnie Van Zant! Having gotten that of my chest, this is not a bad place to start if you only want one Lynyrd Skynyrd album. All the songs are great and sound super. Only four stars however, for only giving us 10 tracks. MCA could have squeezed a few more in. Praise the lord there are no "post tragedy" band tracks here.
My advice would be to save your money on this one and go forthe 2 cd set "Essential Lynyrd Skynyrd". Even better just buy the first 6 Lynyrd Skynyrd albums, starting with "Pronounced..." and ending with "Street Survivors". It'll be all the Skynyrd you'll ever need.