This album pleasantly surprised me. Although I have always liked Skynyrd, I have never been a big fan of Southern Rock. Thus, I approached this collection with less than full optimism, thinking it might not be that good. I was wrong. This is an excellent retrospective. Indeed, this is perhaps the best non-boxed-set "best of" collection that I have ever come across, in terms of thoroughness and song selection. Truly "The Essential Lynyrd Skynyrd". Almost every Skynyrd song that a casual fan could ever want is included in this set. Classics like Free Bird (studio and live versions), Tuesday's Gone, Sweet Home Alabama, That Smell, and many others are all in this set. Also included are awesome album tracks like The Ballad of Curtis Loew, Call Me The Breeze, and Was I Right Or Wrong Diehard (which shows Ronnie Van Zant's oft-neglected pathos-inspiring songwriting abilities) among others. Skynyrd fans will even pleased with this set, which offers several live takes, original and alternate demos, and some very nice linear notes. This is a must own album for any Southern Rock or Lynyrd Skynyrd fan.

If all you know about Lynyrd Skynyrd is "Sweet Home Alabama" and "Free Bird," this album will open your eyes. From their 1973 debut through 1977's Street Survivors (released just three days before the fatal plane crash), Skynyrd was responsible for some of the most powerful rock music of the Seventies. The triple lead-guitar threat of Allen Collins, Gary Rossington and Ed King (later replaced by Steve Gaines) coupled with the gritty vocals of songwriter Ronnie Van Zant was indeed a potent combination. In addition to the aforementioned songs, "Gimme Three Steps," "Saturday Night Special," "Gimme Back My Bullets" and "That Smell" (among others) have become FM radio staples. If you want to delve even further into the band's history, pick up either of their first two albums or Street Survivors. Their three-disc box set also offers a healthy dose of demos and live cuts. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

As great a band as Lynyrd Skynyrd (pre-plane crash) was, this one collection actually manages to included virtually anything that all but the most devoted of fans will ever need to hear. The Ronnie Van Zandt era lasted for 5 studio albums, 1 live album, and a later release ("First and...Last") consisting of studio recordings that predate "Pronounced...", the "official" first album. "Pronounced..." was very strong, the second ("Second Helping") and sixth ("Street Survivors") albums were flat-out great, the third ("Nuthin' Fancy") and fourth ("Gimme Back My Bullets") albums were, frankly, uninspired, and the posthumous release "First and...Last" was a nice snapshot of a band that was, at that point, still searching for their sound. The fact is, though, that all of Skynyrd's truly top notch songs can be found on this 2 CD set, "The Essential Lynyrd Skynyrd". If you haven't already started your Skynyrd collection, this one will do all by itself. Then, if you're still hungry for more, you can go for the live fifth album ("One More From The Road"). After that, picking up these various pre-crash studio albums will only get you the leftovers, scraps that do not hold up to the standard of the material on this collection. And there's no need to even bother with the post-Ronnie Van Zandt albums.

Lynyrd Skynyrd are primarily remembered for two songs - Sweet home Alabama and Free bird - but there is so much more of their music that is worth listening to.

Sweet home Alabama is an ode to the pleasures of living in Alabama, whatever Neil Young might think - the Canadian rock icon (whose music I also enjoy) had recorded a couple of songs, one titled Southern man and the other titled Alabama, which offended them. Despite the reference to Neil Young and another controversial reference to Alabama's then-governor (George Wallace), this song is essentially a joyous, fun song and should be taken as such. I've never been to Alabama, but this song makes it sound like paradise. Neil Young's song made it sound anything but.

Free bird has become a classic piece of rock music. Apart from its sheer quality, its length (almost ten minutes) helps its popularity in jukeboxes - you pay the same to play a record whatever its length, so you get your money's worth with Free bird. And you get two versions here - the original studio version from 1973 plus a live version from 1976.

There are many other great tracks here, among them I ain't the one, Simple man, Saturday night special, Tuesday's gone and an amazing cover of J J Cale's Call me the breeze.

Lynyrd Skynyrd were among the best southern rock bands of the seventies, perhaps even the best of all. This collection contains all their best music, superbly re-mastered and with extensive liner notes.

This 2-disc compilation of Lynyrd Skynyrd's library of songs is a very good collection of tracks for those just starting out on this most American of rock bands. Though Lynyrd Skynyrd may not have had the virtuoso guitar playing that The Allman Brothers band had (and which band does) or the heavy, southern blues-rock sound of Creedence Clearwater Revival, what they did have was the songwriting of its great frontman Ronnie Van Zant.

Lynyrd Skynyrd took the dueling lead guitar style pioneered by Thin Lizzy and perfected by The Allman Brothers Band's Duane Allman and Dicky Betts, and did them one better by having three lead guitarists in Allen Collins, Ed King and Gary Rossington. This gave Lynyrd Skynyrd a distinct overdriven blues-rock sound that when mixed with true Southern rock style made the band the definitive Southern rock band. This compilation includes their classic track "Sweet Home Alabama" and one of the most played power ballads (Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" being first and foremost) in "Free Bird" (both the album and even longer live concert version). Other tracks I'd like to point out are "The ballad of Curtis Loew", "Comin' Home", and "Simple Man".

This collection really doesn't have a bad track to it. It's a very good starting off point for anyone just starting to listen to this great Southern Rock band. Those needing to listen to the bands other songs would then be free to check out their full albums.