LYNYRD SKYNYRD – FYFTY (4CD Super Deluxe) (2023)
The career-spanning 50 tracks featured on ”FYFTY” represent the best music LYNYRD SKYNYRD has offered up to its fanbase from the very beginning. Within this 4-disc box set, the band traces its roots by way of their early Muscle Shoals recordings through a number of iconic songs that helped shape the sound of the 70s.
Also included are live cuts from the historic 1987 tribute show that ignited the band’s ensuing reunion, then continue with the last-band standing defiance of latter-era tracks like “Last Of A Dyin’ Breed” and “Last Of The Street Survivors,” and eventually touch back down on earth with a special live performance of “Gimme Three Steps” that was culled from the band’s final show with co-founding guitarist Gary Rossington in November 2022, a previously unreleased live track.
If you looked up “southern rock” in the music dictionary, there’s a good chance you might find a photo of Lynyrd Skynyrd next to the definition. The Jacksonville, Florida band first came together as My Backyard in 1964; five years later, lead singer Ronnie Van Zant, guitarists Gary Rossington and Allen Collins, bassist Larry Junstrom, and drummer Bob Burns took on the unusual, now-familiar moniker.
Skynyrd didn’t release their first album until 1973 by which time bassist Leon Wilkeson had come and gone (only to rejoin again) and Ed King and keyboardist Billy Powell had joined. King, originally brought in to play bass, would take a guitar spot after Wilkeson’s return, forming one-third of the “three-guitar army” with Rossington and Collins. The rest is history…or something like that.
Having endured tragedy and triumph, Lynyrd Skynyrd has kept on going ever since. With the death earlier this year of Gary Rossington, every original member of the band has passed away, but Skynyrd will still hit the road this summer for a tour. The band is now looking back with the October 13 release from UMe of FYFTY, a new 4-CD box set celebrating 50 years with 50 songs.
The most comprehensive Skynyrd overview since 1991’s 3-CD The Definitive Lynyrd Skynyrd Collection, ”FYFTY” track listing draws on 14 studio albums plus rarities and live recordings, as well as two previously unreleased tracks: a July 7, 1976 performance of “Free Bird” at Atlanta’s Fabulous Fox Theatre – in place of the studio original – and a November 13, 2022 live take of “Gimme Three Steps” from Nashville’s storied Ryman Auditorium from what proved to be Gary Rossington’s final performance with the band.
The box covers both the scorching original lifespan of the band and its Phoenix-like rebirth. The band’s forward momentum, including powerful lives shows and timeless studio albums shaped by producers including Al Kooper and Tom Dowd, originally came to a tragic halt on October 20, 1977 when their airplane crashed in a Mississippi forest, claiming the lives of Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines, and background singer Cassie Gaines.
Guitarists Rossington and Collins, bassist Wilkeson, keyboardist Powell, drummer Artimus Pyle, and backing vocalist Leslie Hawkins all suffered serious injuries but survived the crash.
Lynyrd Skynyrd disappeared for a decade.
A 1987 tribute tour to their fallen bandmates, featuring Ronnie’s younger brother Johnny Van Zant as lead singer, led to a full-blown reformation.
Nine more studio albums to date have followed as new band members have come and gone. Despite the passings of Collins in 1990, Wilkeson in 2001, Powell in 2009, Ed King in 2018, and Gary Rossington in 2023, the likes of “Free Bird,” “Sweet Home Alabama,” “Simple Man,” and more live on.
Johnny Van Zant still leads the band today, with supporting musicians including guitarist Rickey Medlocke who briefly played drums with the original unit in 1971-1972.
FYFTY is due from MCA successor Geffen Records and UMe on October 13. A special edition with signed lithograph is also available.
Highly Recommended
CD1
1. Comin’ Home (5:32)
2. I Ain’t The One (3:55)
3. Gimme Three Steps (4:29)
4. Tuesday’s Gone (7:33)
5. Simple Man (5:58)
6. Sweet Home Alabama (4:45)
7. The Ballad Of Curtis Loew (4:53)
8. Workin’ For MCA (4:49)
9. On The Hunt (5:28)
10. Made In The Shade (4:42)
11. Whiskey Rock-A-Roller (Live At Capitol Theatre, Wales/1975) (4:11)
12. All I Can Do Is Write About It (Acoustic) (4:24)
13. Gimme Back My Bullets (3:31)
14. Double Trouble (2:52)
CD2
1. Saturday Night Special (Live At Fox Theatre, Atlanta, GA – July 7, 1976) (5:30)
2. T For Texas (Blue Yodel No. 1) (Live At Fox Theatre, Atlanta, GA – July 8, 1976) (9:09)
3. Travellin’ Man (Live At Fox Theatre, Atlanta, GA – July 8, 1976) (4:30)
4. Free Bird (Live At Fox Theatre, Atlanta, GA – July 7, 1976) (13:44)
5. What’s Your Name (3:33)
6. You Got That Right (3:49)
7. I Know A Little (3:29)
8. Down South Jukin’ (2:14)
9. White Dove (2:58)
10. Was I Right Or Wrong (5:25)
11. Georgia Peaches (3:14)
12. Mr. Banker (5:23)
CD3
1. Call Me The Breeze (Live At The Omni, Atlanta, GA – October 15, 1987) (7:32)
2. That Smell (Live At Reunion Arena, Dallas, TX – November 1, 1987) (6:03)
3. Smokestack Lightning (4:29)
4. Southern Women (4:17)
5. The Last Rebel (6:46)
6. Born To Run (7:27)
7. Devil In The Bottle (3:35)
8. Talked Myself Right Into It (3:26)
9. Berneice (4:02)
10. Voodoo Lake (4:37)
11. Tomorrow’s Goodbye (5:10)
CD4
1. Mad Hatter (5:40)
2. Pick Em’ Up (4:22)
3. Red White & Blue (5:33)
4. Skynyrd Nation (3:53)
5. Simple Life (3:17)
6. Still Unbroken (5:08)
7. God & Guns (5:46)
8. Gifted Hands (5:24)
9. Start Livin Life Again (4:24)
10. Mississippi Blood (2:58)
11. Last Of A Dyin’ Breed (3:52)
12. Last Of The Street Survivors (4:16)
13. Gimme Three Steps (Live At The Ryman Theatre, Nashville, TN – November 13, 2022) (5:29)
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