Lynyrd Skynyrd : Remembering the Free Birds of Southern Rock

Rating:
Summary: Nothing New
Review: As a life long fan, actually born and raised in Jacksonville, Florida myself, I figured Id read all there was to read and I already knew what there was to know and I was right. This book was a disappointment to me because it held very little personal stories. The beginning was fair, but that is really all there is to it. Three quarters of the book is just about the songs, how Allen or Gary played them, how skillful they were with their instruments which we already know, or the fact the Ronnie didnt "sing from his gut" he "sang from his throat". Just turn on any classic rock radio station and you can hear for yourself that the boys could play the devil out of their instruments and give me a throat singer anytime!! I would have preferred to read about Ronnie, Allen, Gary and all the rest in more of a personal sense. I say, skip this book unless you are into techno-babble about guitar playing. The portions about the plane crash are better, but I prefer to focus on the people instead of how they died. We have the music, nothing else matters. Thank You!

Rating:
Summary: Great book about the greatest rock band
Review: If you love lynyrd skynyrd you need to read this book. The book gives you an insight to the life of Ronnie Van Zant, who the author grew up with as a young boy. The author also was the security chief for the band, so he gives good insight on life on the road with the band. The author also talks about the other members of the band and talks about the talent that all of the members brought to the band. This book is great and should be read by anyone who wants to know more about this ledgendary rock band. I could not put this book down. The pictures were also great

Rating:
Summary: Best of the Skynyrd books
Review: Of the pre-1977 lineups of Skynyrd, this is the best history so far. It ends in 1977 with the fateful crash but still doesn't give us a keen insight to Van Zant but it does shed a little more light on Allen Collins. However, this is written with a sharper and more jaundiced eye than Marley Brant's books. The fact that Odom was an insider lends more credence to the volume than Brant's books which contain quite a bit of hearsay and mud slinging. The definitive history of this enduring band has yet to be written.