Lynyrd Skynyrd

"Freebird" and "Gimme Three Steps" have both been played to death and maybe aren't even such great songs to begin with. But sometimes, like when Friday night has turned into Wednesday afternoon and it's time to come down, nothing will calm your rattled nerves like the keyboards on "Tuesday's Gone" or the image of Ronnie Van Zandt singing "Simple Man" with no shoes on.

Lacking both hippie roots and virtuosos, post-Allmanites like ZZ Top, Marshall Tucker, and Wet Willie become transcendently boring except when they get off a good song. But in this staunchly untranscendent band, lack of virtuosos is a virtue, because it inspires good songs, songs that often debunk good-old-boy shibboleths. Examples: "Poison Whiskey," "Mississippi Kid," and "Gimme Three Steps," whee Ronnie Van Zant, instead of outwitting the dumb redneck the way onetime Dylan sideman Charlie Daniels does in "Uneasy Rider," just hightails it out of there. Savvy production from onetime Dylan sideman Al Kooper. (Grade - A)