Lynyrd Skynyrd - Second Helping

Second Helping is the second studio album by American southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, originally released in April 1974 via MCA Records.

Lynyrd Skynyrd wrote the book on Southern rock with their first album, so it only made sense that they followed it for their second album, aptly titled Second Helping. Sticking with producer Al Kooper (who discovered them), the group turned out an album that replicated all the strengths of the original, but was a little tighter and a little more professional.

It also revealed that the band, under the direction of songwriter Ronnie Van Zant, was developing a truly original voice. Of course, the band had already developed their own musical voice, but it was enhanced considerably by Van Zant's writing, which was at turns plainly poetic, surprisingly clever, and always revealing.

Though Second Helping isn't as hard a rock record as debut Pronounced, it's the songs that make the record. "Sweet Home Alabama" became ubiquitous, yet it's rivalled by such terrific songs as the snide, punkish "Workin' For MCA", the Southern groove of "Don't Ask Me No Questions", the affecting "The Ballad Of Curtis Loew", and "The Needle And The Spoon", a drug tale as affecting as their rival Neil Young's "Needle And The Damage Done", but much harder rocking.

This is the part of Skynyrd that most people forget - they were a great band, but they were indelible because that was married to great writing. And nowhere was that more evident than on Second Helping.

This album is a 2025 limited edition reissue on yellow coloured vinyl housed in a single pocket sleeve, pressed in Europe via MCA Records.