Second Helping by Lynyrd Skynyrd

Second Helping, Lynyrd Skynyrd's second album, came out on MCA on April 15, 1974, and it's the sound of the Jacksonville boys proving the first one was no fluke. Al Kooper produced it, with sessions at the Record Plant, and the band was loaded for bear: Ronnie Van Zant singing, a three-guitar front line of Gary Rossington, Allen Collins and Ed King, Leon Wilkeson on bass, Billy Powell on keyboards and Bob Burns on drums.

This is Southern rock at full boil, boogie and blues rock and hard rock all tangled up and hollering. The guitars chase each other like hounds on a scent, Powell's piano rolls along underneath, and Van Zant sings with the easy, unhurried authority of a man who's never once doubted what he's saying. "Sweet Home Alabama" is the big one, a loose, sunlit strut that doubles as an answer song to Neil Young's "Alabama" and "Southern Man", while "Call Me the Breeze" rolls down the highway with the windows down and "Don't Ask Me No Questions" snaps and snarls.

"Sweet Home Alabama" became the band's biggest hit single, climbing to No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 in August 1974, and the album reached No. 12 on the Billboard album chart. It went Gold on September 20, 1974, and Double Platinum on July 21, 1987.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.