Yes, I am very much aware that “Gimme Back My Bullets” is hardly recognized by most Southern rockers as a ‘classic’ album, but Lynyrd Skynyrd afficionados (like me) know better. Granted, “Second Helping” earns the title for “Best Lynyrd Skynyrd Album”, and their debut contains undisputable classic tracks such as “Freebird”, “Tuesday’s Gone” and “Gimme Three Steps”, but this album sits comfortably with them and in some ways even surpasses them. It isn’t an album full of relentless hits or anthemic guitar mastery, but it does contain a series of consistently strong songs that never once misses a beat. Ronnie Van Zant’s lyrics are sharper than ever, and his bandmates Allen Collins and Gary Rossington provide material that never lets up. There isn’t a single dud in the batch, and every song rings true with an honest expression that eclipses the occasional posturing of their earlier releases. On “Gimme Back My Bullets”, you can feel that the band’s intentions here are true. If any album exists that retains the legendary spirit of Lynyrd Skynyrd, the one that one that allows them to sound the way that they wanted to sound without record label intervention, this is it.

Featured tracks:

Gimme Back My Bullets

Trust

Every Mother's Son

(I Got the) Same Old Blues

Double Trouble

Roll Gypsy Roll

Searching

Cry fo the Bad Man

February 1976 - Billboard Charted #20