Lynyrd Skynyrd Album: “Solo Flytes”

Even though I was LS fan going back to 70's, in 1978 I went off to college and lost track of the original surviving band members so I wasn't familiar with the music on this CD. I was surprised how many great songs are on this album. Billy, Gary & Allen really shine on some of the songs like they did in the original band. The single S. Gaines song is excellent.

If you are not familiar with this music like I was and you like classic Lynyrd Skynyrd (RVZ era) then you'll enjoy this CD. It's a lot of bang for the money. There are 17 songs so even if you didn't care for half the songs you just can't go wrong at this price, just edit the play list and you'll have at least 8 to 9 great tunes. I like the album more and more, each time I listen to it.

I give it a 5.

Solo Flytes is a compilation of the bands that members of Lynyrd Skynyrd were involved in after the plane crash. While one could argue that there is an overabundance of Rossington Collins Band material here, this album is solid all the way through. Highlights here are Steve Gaines' "One In The Sun" (from an album he recorded with his band Crawdad prior to joining Skynyrd), the lovely, acapella "Pine Box", and a live version of "Don't Misunderstand Me" featuring Dixie Dregs/Deep Purple guitarist Steve Morse. Every track here's a winner, so check it out now.

This collection is AWESOME! It goes to show how talented these folks were. There is not a bad track on the album. The only thing that would make it better would be to add another CD and fill it with more songs.

I just wanted to comment that the first guy must be anti-Artimus Pyle, since of all the bands he lists the *only* other band on the CD is the Artimus Pyle Band aka A.P.B. - which is what he's calling 5th rate. I liked these spinoff bands enough to collect all of them on vinyl before some kind of CD came out for the majority of them, and the A.P.B. is just as good as the others.

This collection does leave out the 1986 album by Rossington "Returned To The Scene of The Crime" which is excellent and similar to "Love Your Man" but was on a different label.