I might not be the right guy to write a Lynyrd Skynyrd review, because quite frankly, I have never liked the band. It’s not like I hate them, but in my book, they have always been extremely overrated and southern rock has never been my case of beer. I’m mostly familiar with the hits and they are quite a few, but they never did anything for me and if I never hear “Sweet Home Alabama” again, it will be too soon. I admit that I have never ever listened to a whole Skynyrd album back to back, but the truth is, I have never seen point in doing that. The reason this review is written is that I was recommended by a friend to give their new album a shot and I thought that I could do that, just for the hell of it and at first listen I kind of liked what I heard. Now, it has been said to me that the Lynyrd Skynyrd of today is more a melodic hard rock band with a southern rock influence than southern rock per se. If that is case, I can’t tell, but it could be a pretty good explanation why I actually liked this album. So for better or worse, here are my opinions of the music, be it right or wrong. Here we go.
The title track is total southern rock, still a pretty good stomper. Not usually not my bag, but I like it and there is a dirty groove to “Homegrown” that makes this raunchy rocker a favourite here. “Ready To Fly” is a big ballad, strings and all that could very well give them a radio hit and “Something To Live For” is a complete power ballad, not a far cry from Poison’s “Something To Believe In”. A good ballad, but a little to close to being a clone of said Poison song. They go into melodic rock territory with “Life’s Twisted”, a great track with a cool groove, “Nothing Comes Easy” rocks really hard and “Honey Hole” is a really dirty tune that makes me think of Black Country Communion or early Whitesnake, but lyrically it’s a bit confusing when you think of the band’s christian beliefs. What will God say about such a naughty tune? On the other hand, they turn around completely with “Start Livin’ Life Again”, a finger pointing cheeseball that tells us how dangerous it is with drink and drugs and take Jesus in your heart for salvation and bla bla bla. This is nothing but stupid redneck religious crap. Makes my stomach turn.
Where they could have left shite like that and some of the fillers off the album, it also contains a bunch of bonus tracks that are all great, such as “Poor Man’s Dream”, “Do It Up Right” and “Low Down Dirty”, all of them solid hard rockers that really should have been in the real track list. I really have a problem with the band’s redneck point of views on how to live life properly with God and guns (yes, I know it’s a Skynyrd album title) and some right wing political opinions which actually leaves a bad taste in your mouth, but musically this album is much better than I thought it would be. Lynyrd Skynyrd will never be my favourite band and I’m pretty sure I won’t go back and check out their earlier stuff, but with this album they have recorded a very good album and I will certainly keep listening to it, with the skip button on just a couple of songs.
Jon Wilmenius (7/10)
Tracklist:
1. Last Of A Dyin’ Breed
2. One Day At A Time
3. Homegrown
4. Ready To Fly
5. Mississippi Blood
6. Good Teacher
7. Something To Live For
8. Life’s Twisted
9. Nothing Comes Easy
10. Honey Hole
11. Start Livin’ Life Again
Bonus Tracks:
12. Poor Man’s Dream
13. Do it Up Right
14. Sad Song
15. Low Down Dirty
CD & Festival reviews 
Their ‘One More From The Road’ live album is an absolute scorcher. You should check it out, its got all of their most energetic and exciting tracks played loud and passionately.
Its one of those things like Kiss’ Alive or Priest’s Unleashed In The East, y’know where its way better than the studio originals.
Never been a Skynyrd fan, but sure, I’ll check it out. Like you said, some live albums delivers on a different level than many studio albums.