True Skynyrd fans already own this "deluxe edition." For the casual fan, the one who owns the box set or any of the many "greatest hits" compilations, it's worth noting what is actually here.

First, as with all of the "deluxe editions" issued by Universal, the packaging is excellent. Original artwork, nice slipcase, an excellent 24-page booklet with archive photos and pretty much everything you ever wanted to know about "Street Survivors" and the events that preceded and followed its release.

Disc 1, "The Original Album," is just that...the album as it was released in the best possible digital format.

Disc 2, "Criteria Studios Album," is the "other" version...yes, they recorded the album twice. The draw here is the longer, slower version of "That Smell," with no shortage of guitar solos. You've heard "Jacksonville Kid" before (Ronnie's new lyrics added to "Honky Tonk Night Time Man," and the last track he recorded in his lifetime).

The final 5 live tracks from Fresno CA in August 1977 are of historic interest, and the sound quality is basically "acceptable bootleg." It's the Street Survivors band in the early stages of the tour that would never happen. Less than two months later, Ronnie, Steve, Cassie and Dean were gone, and the survivors...real, actual survivors...were changed forever.

Skynyrd fans will, and should, want to add this to their collection. The more casual fan may not appreciate it in the same way. It's an essential 5-star release nonetheless.

The fifth and final studio album of Lynyrd Skynyrd's original incarnation has always lived in the shadow of the 1977 plane crash that followed just three days after the LP's release. The band's fans couldn't help but refract the album through the prism of vocalist/songwriter Ronnie Van Zant's death, adding layers of meaning that weren't originally written into these songs. Thirty-one years later, the band's demise still hovers over this swan-song, but at the same time, the album's vitality and the band's then-bright future still shines through. Geffen's two-disc deluxe reissue augments the album's original eight tracks with a wealth of bonuses, including previously unreleased original versions of songs that were completely re-recorded for the commercial release, and five live tracks from the band's last-known concert recording, taped just two months before the plane crash.

Having become a top concert draw throughout the mid-70s, the band found a surprising amount of time to record this album. They produced a finished version with Tom Dowd in Florida, ditched the tapes and relocated to the Atlanta studio where they'd waxed "Free Bird." They re-recorded the bulk of the album from scratch, dropped a few songs and added a few others to create the final release. Though most of the titles remained the same between the two sessions, the energy and sound are quite different. The band is more pumped up on their self-produced recordings, and where Dowd stripped things down, the band added layers, such as the horn chart on "What's Your Name." Their intuition was right, and though some fans didn't appreciate Skynyrd evolving away from their rougher roots, Van Zant's songs easily took the extra polish.

Van Zant's lyrics continued to mine the autobiographical clarity and detail he'd shown on earlier albums, and the addition of guitarist Steve Gaines added country flavor to the original "I Know a Little" and a cover of Merle Haggard's "Honky Tonk Night Time Man." Still, the band could always play it gritty, as the Collins/Van Zant "That Smell" so aptly showed. The earlier version of the song, taken a hair slower and with Van Zant's vocal more isolated and dry, is even more harrowing (a second early version, included here, extends the song to 7:30 with a lengthy guitar jam). The overall hallmark of "Street Survivors" is the confident sound of a band at the top of their game.

Fans will relish the opportunity to hear the earlier unreleased version of the album, including a pair of songs ("Georgia Peaches" and "Sweet Little Missy") that were dropped from the final track list. An additional highlight presented here is Van Zant's rewrite of "Honky Tonk Night Time Man," as the autobiographical "Jacksonville Kid." The five live tracks are good performances of historical interest, but only limited (and mono) audio quality. This is a welcome upgrade to the original CD issue. 4-1/2 stars, if allowed fractional ratings. [©2008 hyperbolium dot com]

It's hard to believe I'm writing a review of a record that originally was released in 1977 (my senior year of high school)... but this 30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition takes a great record and makes it better. Disc 1 is a remastered version of the original record while disc 2 is the original version of the record, recorded at Criteria Studios and produced by Tom Dowd. Disc 2 finishes up with 5 songs recorded live in California in August 1977. The Criteria Studios material is nice to hear and some of the versions sound quite different than the ones released on the original Street Survivors. My only complaint is that the quality of the recordings for the live material is pretty poor. Everything else sounds great, but the live tracks sound like mediocre quality bootleg recordings.

I see a lot of conflicting reviews here, and frankly, I don't get it. The fact that someone bought the Deluxe Edition of Street Survivors means they probably REALLY liked the standard issue - and any audiophile or big fan of this band should love this release.

Any newbie or casual fan of this band, or anyone who doesn't care if this is the best sounding remaster up to this point, should get the standard edition and save some money. But if you love this band and/or you're looking for the best sounding version of the original album, this is just the ticket. The overall difference in mastering quality isn't tremendous, but inadequacies that existed from song to song have been rectified. It's obvious that each track got its own mastering instead of just setting the controls and applying it to the whole album. This was the best way to do this album since it was derived from three different recording studios using three different engineers and three different producers.

The first version of this album, that the band recorded in Miami, is on the second disc, and it's clear why the band didn't like it - it was more laid back and quiet - a departure from the bands rip-roaring and brawling reputation. They added some fire to it when they re-recorded it in Georgia, but the Miami version is still very interesting, and it would have been the album we all know if the band hadn't gotten cold feet!

Sometime fate is cruel, and that has never been more apparent than on October 20, 1977, when Skynyrd's plane crashed. They had just released their best album and had recently hired their newest fireball guitarist Steve Gaines, who contributes enormously to this stellar effort. It is one of the worst tragedies in rock and roll that Steve Gaines' light shined so briefly before being taken from us. An amazing guitarist, terrific vocalist and superb songwriter, plus a humble, helluva nice guy to boot, he was just beginning to come into his own on this album. Best of all, he didn't try to leave the other Skynyrd players in the dust; on the contrary, Gary and Allen's playing was kicked up a notch just by Steve's presence! This made the whole band even greater than it was before Gaines' arrival.

This repackaged, redone version of this album is a real treasure. Some of the tracks are like "Ehh--OK, that one wasn't so remarkable...", but if you're really into this album or Skynyrd themselves, it's a real journey back into that time hearing early versions of the songs and all. I think MCA has overdone repackaging of Skynyrd material on the whole, but in this case they really deliver! BUY THIS!