Skynyrd's First: The Complete Muscle Shoals Album [ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED]

Lynyrd Skynyrd

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 17, 1998)
• Original Release Date: November 17, 1998
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Mca
• ASIN: B00000DI0H
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #23,488 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Nine of the 17 tracks on this historical curio surfaced on the 1978 LP Skynyrd's First and... Last, but more than a quarter of a century passed between the 1971/'72 sessions that produced these germinating tracks and their full appearance. Skynyrd's First: The Muscle Shoals Album documents a group of young musicians finding their footing, but by no means is it an amateurish affair. While ongoing personnel shifts are in evidence (only Ronnie Van Zant, Albert Collins, and Gary Rossington from the classic lineup appear throughout), the playing and writing is surprisingly tight. It's easy to see why veteran session man Jimmy Johnson, the producer of the sessions, insisted: "I had never heard a band that were that well rehearsed and had their songs together." The excellent liner notes make this package all the more appealing to Lynyrd loyalists. --Steven Stolder

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars COMPLETE? NOT REALLY., September 16, 2001

By	cd-heaven (ROCK CITY) - See all my reviews

Now before I get the awkward eye from alot of viewers, this isn't Lynyrd Skynyrd's entire Muscle Shoals recordings. To get that you must also get The Best of The Rest, which has 2 more MS recordings not released anywhere else. Those songs are Gotta Go and I've Been Your Fool. That then is complete. As for what's on here, this is the motherlode of Skynyrd pre-Pronounced days. Awesome renditions of Simple Man, Thing's Goin' On, One More Time, and Gimme Three Steps. All better and superior versions than what would later end up on offical Skynyrd releases. Was I Right or Wrong, Wino, Comin' Home, and The Seasons are also excellent displays of Skynyrd's fine songwriting. But the truly amazing recording is without a doubt, Free Bird. Much different than the one recorded later on Pronounced, it is truly awesome and powerful. Any fan of Skynyrd, who has not gotten this, must buy it now as it is like getting a new studio album from the Ronnie Van Zant era 22 years later. Fly on...

35 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Be Careful!, October 19, 2001

By	Aaron Cumberledge "therealunno" (DeBary, FL USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

It doesn't matter what you think you know about Lynyrd Skynyrd.
It doesn't matter what you think you know about Southern Rock.
It doesn't matter what you think you know about music at all.
You have NEVER heard anything this amazing!

Sure, the sound quality is a little lacking, and the instrumentals aren't quite as perfect as they became later, but this album is still quite possibly the greatest album ever made. If possible, I'd give it 10 stars. It deserves it. When I heard this CD for the first time, it was on my car CD player. Free Bird started and I thought that it sounded pretty good. Then Ronnie started singing. I literally had to pull my car over to the side of the road to keep from losing control and wrecking. I was so stunned by the beauty of his voice. I opened my mouth to speak, but words wouldn't come out. I gasped out loud. Then, a few seconds later, I gasped again. It actually brought tears to my eyes. I'm not embellishing. This is Ronnie before all the late nights and the drinking and the drugs. Pure, unspoiled Ronnie Van Zant. Absolutely amazing.

The rest of the band is great too. It's a raw sort of sound that really reveals a lot of Skynyrd's character. The grittiness that they made famous is expanded here and it's incredible. But I must digress, Ronnie steals the show. He was always great, but here he's really great. Imagine the most beautiful star in the night sky. Now imagine that for one brief moment, all the clouds are lifted and it shines ten times as bright. You can't take your eyes off it. That star is Ronnie and the cloudless night is this album.

And so, I ask that everyone listening to this CD to be careful. If you're going to listen to this album, make sure there's nothing around they may require your attention for awhile. You won't be able to focus on anything but the music. Your house could catch on fire, and you wouldn't even realize it. This album cannot be summarized in words. You've just got to hear it.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Possibly the best CD's I've heard, July 17, 2000

By	Brian (Washinton, DC) - See all my reviews

If you don't have this buy this.This is Skynyrd's first album, and it sounds so cocky as if they knew what they were going to be. This is the album the last verse of "Sweet Home Alabama" was about.