The sad events occured at the start of the year (Billy Powell and Ean Evans' deceases) unmistakably created an unusual atmosphere for the achievement of this album. A new studio recording was already a kind of little surprise, but when we remember the first months of 2009, it's easy to understand that the question was very present and legitimate within the band ! But in fact, it's surely written somewhere that Lynyrd Skynyrd isn't yet ready to give up, and they began a mini tour in Europe with a fierce determination and an enormous heart. This tour had to contribute to ease the integration of the two new members (Peter "Keys" and Robert Kearns), and also to act as a springboard towards the big US summer rendez-vous : the Rock & Rebels Tour with Kid Rock ! At the same time, the studio sessions were in full swing and Skynyrd and Roadrunner were announcing with a tremendous satisfaction this God & Guns' release for the end of September ! So, what does this new album look like ? ...
Well, I'd tend to say "like current Skynyrd". Yes I know, it's easy, and I don't take a great risk, and yet I'm really under the impression that this expression is what is matching at best to recount the musical content of this album ! It starts with "Still Unbroken", that most of the band's fans have already surely listen to, since this song has been set generously in line to be free downloaded on the net! A title perhaps a bit heavy from the musical point of view, but very important for the band's image. The second single extracted is called "Simple Life", a song that I imagine fitting well with the image that the Gary Rossington's gang wishes to keep with its following ! Unmistakably an hyper graded title for the US radios (barely more than three minutes) that would have deserved to me a small extra guitar chorus… (Ha la la... the fans always want more !) So, if we're quite far from the vein of Twenty, Edge of Forever, or even Vicious Cycle, songs like "Little Thing Called You" or "Comin' Back For More" (even though they are not necessarily identifiable "made in Skynyrd") still remain quite pleasant to the ears ! Je regain a real pleasure with "Southern Ways", in an atmosphere and a tempo fluctuating between "Sweet Home Alabama" and "All Summer Long" (Kid Rock). I have to confess that this song is the one that got me the thrills from the first listening !
Through this album, it's also interesting to notice that with the writing Skynyrd takes its place in politics ("God and Guns" or "That Ain’t My America"). Saying that Rickey, Johnny, Gary, etc... are not necessarily "hyper enthusiastics" about the current political action of the president Obama is not really a press scoop, but regardless they have the respect of the ballot boxes laws, like they say! Well, that said, a Skynyrd's album stays of course a must-see musical event. As proof, this "Skynyrd Nation", a song that shows how this band will let an indelible mark in the rock music's world ! Then a wonderful tribute to Billy with "Gifted Hands" and the CD1 is over, but I imagine that all the Lynyrd Skynyrd's fans will be intent on purchasing the "Special Edition" that let them appreciate a bonus CD with three more studio titles ("Bang Bang", "Hobo Kinda Man" and the magnificent "Raining In My Heartland"), as well as live versions of "Red White And Blue", "Call Me The Breeze", and "Sweet Home Alabama" recorded a priori in the Freedom Hall (Louisville, Kentucky) and also broadcasted on TV as a back-up for HDNet Concert Series (High Definition TV), three songs also so as not to forget Billy and Ean too quickly!
Here is superficially what this new Skynyrd's album looks like, but as anyone knows... the best way to appreciate is of course mainly the one that we can make personally as we slip the disk in the player !
Lynyrd Skynyrd Forever !
John Molet
Traduction : Y. Philippot-Degand
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