This year, Every Sunday Evening, Album Rock WXYG, The GOAT will be featuring a full album at 8:00 PM from the halcyon musical days of 1976. 1976 was one of the top Years in Album Rock history. Another year of tough choices every week. So many great ones to choose from. After 52 Weeks of featuring so many of the great albums that debuted in 1975, next Sunday we will be moving on to another amazing year of ALBUM ROCK EXCELLENCE, 1976.
Tune in at 8:00 PM, Next Sunday Evening, October 25th for “One More from the Road”, a live album recorded and released by Lynyrd Skynyrd in 1976. This was the band's first live album, and the only live album released during the band's classic period from 1970 to 1977, when their plane crashed, killing lead singer and songwriter Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines, and backing singer Cassie Gaines.The recordings were made at three concerts at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia, in July 1976. Lynyrd Skynyrd had supported rock promoter Alex Cooley since 1974 so that the theatre could be saved from demolition. The album was released in September 1976. It was certified gold by the RIAA on October 26, 1976 and platinum on December 30, 1976. Double live albums were commonplace during the '70s, even for bands that weren't particularly good in concert. As a travelin' band, Lynyrd Skynyrd made their fame and fortune by being great in concert, so it made sense that they released a double-live, entitled One More from the Road, in 1976, months after the release of their fourth album, Gimme Back My Bullets. That might have been rather quick for a live album -- only three years separated this record from the group's debut -- but it was enthusiastically embraced, entering the Top Ten (it would become one of their best-selling albums, as well). It's easy to see why it was welcomed, since this album demonstrates what a phenomenal catalog of songs Skynyrd accumulated. Street Survivors, which appeared the following year, added "That Smell" and "You Got That Right" to the canon, but this pretty much has everything else, sometimes extended into jams as long as those of the Allmans, but always much rawer, nearly dangerous. That catalog, as much as the strong performances, makes One More from the Road worth hearing. Heard here, on one record, the consistency of Skynyrd's work falls into relief, and they not only clearly tower above their peers based on what's here; the cover of "T for Texas" illustrates that they're carrying on the Southern tradition, not starting a new one. Unlike so many live albums, this one is essential, as a fan, it's damn hard to take this album off after it starts. This gem really captured the original Lynyrd Skynyrd in all its glory! They were a great band with a triple guitar attack, a very talented piano player, and prominent lead vocalist and front man who could write great songs.
Tune In and Turn On next Sunday evening, October 25th at 8:00 PM for The GOAT'S "The Long Play with Al Neff”.
