‘Nuthin’ Fancy’: Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Triumphant Third Album
The record’s creation tested the band’s spirit, but it resulted in music that stands the test of time.
Now widely accepted as a southern rock classic, Lynyrd Skynyrd’s third album Nuthin’ Fancy peaked inside the Top 10 of the Billboard 200 on release, but its success was hard won. Indeed, the album’s creation tested the band to the very limit.
Things began to go wrong when Skynyrd’s original drummer Bob Burns quit just weeks before the album sessions were due to commence in January 1975. He was replaced by Kentucky-born sticksman Artimus Pyle, but negativity still dogged the sessions, with the band resenting producer Al Kooper’s desire to dictate the direction the music was taking.
“He tried to tell us what to do, but we wouldn’t let him,” guitarist Allen Collins told Crawdaddy! Magazine in a 1975 interview. “He once brought up the idea to do a Grand Funk-like song, but we said we didn’t do that s_t. There’s good and bad parts to everybody and I’m not saying anything against him, but we ain’t gonna use him anymore.”
Even after the tracks went down, problems persisted, with the band disliking Kooper’s initial mix and nominating guitarist Ed King to remix it. Eventually, though, the group’s doggedness paid off, for while chaos reigned during its making, Nuthin’ Fancy arguably delivered Lynyrd Skynyrd’s strongest – and most consistent – set of songs to date.
The album’s go-to cut was its spin-off hit “Saturday Night Special,” which followed the group’s previous hits “Sweet Home Alabama” and “Freebird” into the Top 30 of the Billboard Hot 100. However, while this infectiously boisterous rocker was ideal for radio, its message has often been misconstrued. Its subject matter was the use (and abuse) of handguns, but despite what Skynyrd’s critics said, “Saturday Night Special” was absolutely not some kind of gung-ho redneck manifesto. In fact, Ronnie Van Zant’s lyric (“They ain’t good for nothin’/but put a man six feet in a hole”) railed angrily against the use of such weapons.
Elsewhere, Skynyrd was back on more familiar ground, with angular blues-tinged rockers “Cheatin’ Woman,” “On The Hunt” and the proud blue collar anthem “I’m A Country Boy” showing off the band’s dynamic, three-pronged guitar attack and revealing Pyle to be a more than able replacement for Burns behind the kit. However, Nuthin’ Fancy also reflected the Floridian rockers’ gentler side, with both the musicians and vocalist Van Zant excelling on more plaintive material such as the semi-acoustic heart-to-heart “Am I Losin’” and the laid-back yet potent blues workout “Made In The Shade.”
Indeed, despite the travails involving its recording, Nuthin’ Fancy more than delivered for Lynyrd Skynyrd as it not only went Top 10 in the U.S. (where it was later certified platinum), but it brought the band some international recognition and only just missed out on a first Top 40 placing on the U.K. album chart. Its making chronicled a tough period in the band’s history, but it resulted in rock music that still stands the test of time today.
“Nuthin’ Fancy maintains the feel, sonically and stylistically of [the band]’s first two albums” Rolling Stone declared in its review of the album. “Tracks such as “On The Hunt” and “Cheatin’ Woman” are as good as anything the group has put on record. Lynyrd Skynyrd is an important group with a future.”
