Lynyrd Skynyrd Street Survivors CD

Additional Tracks

Lynyrd Skynyrd: Ronnie Van Zant (vocals); Steve Gaines (guitar, background vocals); Allen Collins, Gary Rossington (guitar); Billy Powell (keyboards); Leon Wilkeson (bass); Artimus Pyle (drums).
Producers: Tom Dowd, Jimmy Johnson, Tim Smith.
Reissue producer: Ron O'Brien.
Recorded at Criteria Studios, Miami, Florida and Studio One, Doraville, Georgia. Includes liner notes by Ron O'Brien.
Digitally remastered by Doug Schwartz (Mulholland Music, Hollywood, California).
Producers: Tom Dowd, Jimmy Johnson, Tim Smith.
Personnel: Steve Gaines (vocals, guitar); Ronnie Van Zant (vocals); Gary Rossington, Allen Collins, Ed King (guitar); Barry Lee Harwood (dobro); Billy Powell (keyboards); Rick Medlocke (drums, background vocals); Artimus Pyle (drums); Cassie Gaines, Leslie Hawkins, Jo Jo Billingsley, Tim Smith (background vocals).
Audio Mixers: Kevin Elson; Rodney Mills.
Liner Note Author: Ron O'Brien.
Recording information: Criteria Studios, Miami, FL (??/1971-08/1977); Muscle Shoals Sound, Muscle Shoals, AL (??/1971-08/1977); Riverside Studios (??/1971-08/1977); Studio One, Doraville, GA (??/1971-08/1977).
Author: Ronnie Van Zant.
Photographer: David Alexander .
Street Survivors appeared in stores just days before Lynyrd Skynyrd's touring plane crashed, tragically killing many members of the band, including lead singer and songwriter Ronnie Van Zant. Consequently, it's hard to see Street Survivors outside of the tragedy, especially since the best-known song here, "That Smell," reeks of death and foreboding. If the band had lived, however, Street Survivors would have been seen as an unqualified triumph, a record that firmly re-established Skynyrd's status as the great Southern rock band. As it stands, it's a triumph tinged with a hint of sadness, sadness that's projected onto it from listeners aware of what happened to the band after recording. Viewed as merely a record, it's a hell of an album. The band springs back to life with the addition of guitarist Steve Gaines, and Van Zant used the time off the road to write a strong set of songs, highlighted by "That Smell," "You Got That Right," and the relentless boogie "I Know a Little." It's tighter than any record since Second Helping and as raw as Nuthin' Fancy. If the original band was fated to leave after this record, at least they left with a record that serves as a testament to Skynyrd's unique greatness. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Sadly, STREET SURVIVORS would prove to be the final Lynryd Skynyrd album of the Ronnie Van Zant-era. Only three days after this, the band's fifth studio album (sixth overall) was released in 1977, the band boarded the tragic plane flight that killed singer Ronnie Van Zant and new members guitarist Steve Gaines and background vocalist Cassie Gaines.
The fact that STREET SURVIVORS was one of Skynyrd's best albums only intensified the tragedy--it appeared as though the band was peaking artistically. "What's Your Name" caught the band at its most fun and playful, the grim "That Smell" warned against the dangers of drug and alcohol addiction, and "I Know A Little" showed off its country roots.
Lynyrd Skynyrd's fifth studio release should have been the band's well-deserved entrée into the upper echelons of international rock & roll stardom. Fate would intervene and for some very non-musical reasons, Lynyrd Skynyrd's best-selling release also became the band's final studio recording. In addition to the thoroughly remastered album, this expanded edition adds several alternate versions of tracks from the disc, as well as a few songs left over from the Street Survivors sessions. The success of "What's Your Name" as well as "That Smell" and "You Got That Right" was practically guaranteed by the incessant support of FM rock radio. A closer examination reveals that Street Survivors actually bears very little in the way of filler material, considering the cut-and-paste methodology used to complete the disRolling Stone (p.60) - 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "[B]est of all is the group's raucously virtuosic take on Merle Haggard's 'Honky Tonk Night Time Man,' which overflows with gorgeous country riffs that sound like pure chicken-fried joy."
Q (May 2002, p.132) - 4 out of 5 stars - "...[Skynyrd at] their stadium-filling peak....STREET SURVIVOR suggested something of a renaissance....it wasn't to last..."
Mojo (Publisher) (p.121) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[T]he music here -- quintessentially Southern rock'n'roll -- carries a life-affirming spirit, typified by the honky-tonk groupie anthem 'What's Your Name' and the sweetly soulful 'I Never Dreamed'..."
Blender (Magazine) (p.80) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "Skynyrd stayed closer to the common dirt of the everyday, rooting their music in blues, soul and outlaw country and composing every note of their three guitarists' solos with blue-collar labor."