Nuthin' Fancy [EXTRA TRACKS] [ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED]

Lynyrd Skynyrd

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 3, 1999)
• Original Release Date: August 3, 1999
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Extra tracks, Original recording remastered
• Label: Mca
• ASIN: B00000JNO1
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #3,796 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #55 in

  Music > Classic Rock > Southern Rock

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Welfare Music, November 2, 2002

By	James F. Colobus (Pittsburgh, PA United States) - See all my reviews

When I first started purchasing music back in the mid to late 80s, I bought my share of what Brian Henneman of The Bottle Rockets calls "welfare music". I never had much spending money as a teenager so to get as much music at a time as possible, I'd go to the K-Mart across town and root through the bargain cassette bin. The bin was a large metal basket filled with tapes piled several feet high, consisting mostly of country, southern rock, and oldies if I recall correctly. My southern rock collection benefited greatly from these trips to the bargain bin and I soon had my share of 4-dollar cassettes by the likes of Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Marshall Tucker Band.

One of the tapes I rescued from that bargain bin at K-Mart was Lynyrd Skynyrd's often overlooked classic, Nuthin' Fancy. With the exception of the opening cut, "Saturday Night Special", which made a bold stance against handguns and still gets played on classic rock radio today, Nuthin' Fancy is devoid of the hits that made Skynyrd popular outside the South. Instead, what you get is great music that refreshingly doesn't sound like it was created just to get played on the radio like the songs on many other 70s rock albums.

Stylistically, Nuthin' Fancy is all over the place. After the hard southern rock crunch of "Saturday Night Special", Ronnie gives one of his blues-iest vocal performances on "Cheatin' Woman". "Railroad Song" and "Made in the Shade" are fine slices of traditional American music, though they are probably my least favorite tunes on the album. "I'm a Country Boy" is a southern rock kiss-off to big city life, a common theme in Ronnie's lyrics over the years. "Am I Losin'" is a catchy mid-tempo song chronicling how Ronnie's relationships with some of his friends became strained once he started making lots of money. "Whiskey Rock-A-Roller" is a barroom classic in which Ronnie boasts like a rapper about the female company awaiting him in every town including one special Memphis "queenie with long brown curly hair". Yes, lyrically it might put off some listeners, but "Whiskey Rock-A-Roller" is still a damn catchy song. Probably my favorite song on "Nuthin Fancy", though, is "On the Hunt", the hardest song Skynyrd ever recorded. This song, which describes Ronnie's empathy for a groupie who regularly hangs out near his hotel, sounds metal enough that it wouldn't feel that out of place on Corrosion of Confomity's Deliverance album.

If Nuthin' Fancy was Skynyrd's only album, I'd give it 5 stars and move on, but since they set the standard so high with their previous albums, Nuthin Fancy rates `only' a very strong 4 stars. Still, if you enjoy their classic earlier albums, Pronounced Leh-Nerd Skin-Nerd and Second Helping, you're almost surely going to like Nuthin Fancy too. It is damn sure impressive for an album that K-Mart considers 'welfare music'.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Somethin' Wicked, April 11, 2002

By	Novalis (US) - See all my reviews

In a way this album is more a measure of Lynyrd Skynyrd than the previous 2 albums. It is my understanding that the songs on this record were not part of the initial catalogue the band developed (most of which can been heard on "Skynyrd's First"-good album). For this reason the album feels more like a blues album rather than a rock record. "Cheatin Woman" is a low-down blues song, complete with all the heart Ronnie Zan Vant could supply. "I'm a Country Boy" and "On the Hunt" are both strongly guitar-driven songs. "Am I Losin" may be the best song on the album which includes an excellent finish- features some nice acoustic guitar. "Made in the Shade" is a bluegrass number...you will find yourself singing it. If you liked "Mississippi Kid" off of PRONOUNCED you will like this song. "Whiskey Rock-A-Roller" is a hell of a song and a top notch education in how to be a southern rambler (if you're interested). Basically don't underestimate the B-side, Skynyrd could write songs...even in a pinch. This album is no follow-up disappointment...give Skynyrd some credit.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Seriously Under Rated, June 2, 2005

By	Mat Priester, Fan of a lotta different music (Beaufort, South Carolina) - See all my reviews

This may not be the best Skynyrd album, but the songs never get boring, it's almost a side of the band you dont really see. The band took a bold stand against handguns in "Saturday Night Special", something that is definatley respectable considering the conservative position of most southernors on fire arms. Great albums go ahead, buy it or you'll be missing out.