CAN'T YOU SMELL THAT SMELL ?
OOH, THAT SMELL
THE SMELL OF DEATH
THAT SURROUNDS YOU
Street Survivors
is the fifth studio album
by the Southern rock band
released on
October 17, 1977.
The LP is the last
Skynyrd album recorded by
original members
Ronnie Van Zant
and
Allen Collins,
and is the sole
Skynyrd studio recording
by guitarist
Steve Gaines.
Three days after the album's release
the band's
chartered airplane
crashed en route to
Baton Rouge, Louisiana,
killing the pilot,
co-pilot,
the group's assistant
road-manager
and three
band members
Van Zant,
Gaines,
and Gaines'
older sister,
backup singer
Cassie Gaines
and severely
injuring most
who survived the crash.
The album was an instant success,
achieving gold certification
just 10 days
after its release.
It would later go
double platinum.
The album performed
well on the charts,
peaking at No. 5
(the band's highest-charting album),
as did the singles
"What's Your Name"
and
"You Got That Right",
the former a
top-20 hit
on the singles chart.
Background
Street Survivors
was recorded twice,
once with Tom Dowd
at the helm at
Criteria Studios in
Miami, Florida,
and then at
Studio One in
Doraville, Georgia,
five months later
with uncredited
co-producers
Kevin Elson and Rodney Mills.
The Doraville recording
was used for the initial release
of the album.
On March 4, 2008,
a remastered version
of the album,
Street Survivors: Deluxe Edition,
was released with
these alternate versions
of most of the songs
as well as five live tracks.
Differences are minor
on some songs,
with the major difference
being a much slower
and extended earlier version of
"That Smell".
Also included are
two songs recorded for,
but not included on
the original album,
"Georgia Peaches"
and
"Sweet Little Missy",
with the latter being
included twice,
in demo and final form.
Also included is a version of
"Honky Tonk Night Time Man",
with Ronnie's alternate
autobiographical vocal take,
entitled
"Jacksonville Kid",
which is believed
to be the last vocal take
he ever recorded
in a studio.
* The song
"One More Time"
was added to the album,
presumably after it was decided
to drop one of
the two tracks above.
However,
this song is the
original recording
from their 1971
Muscle Shoals demo;
it was not
re-recorded
for this album.
Hence it features
Greg Walker,
Rickey Medlocke,
and
Ed King
in place of
Leon Wilkeson,
Artimus Pyle,
and
Steve Gaines.
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Street Survivors
was a showcase for
guitarist/vocalist
Steve Gaines,
who had joined the band
just a year earlier
on the recommendation
of his sister Cassie.
Publicly and privately,
Ronnie Van Zant
marveled at the multiple talents
of Skynyrd's newest member,
claiming that the band would
"all be in his shadow one day".
Gaines' contributions
included his
co-lead vocal with
Van Zant on the co-written
"You Got That Right"
and the guitar boogie
"I Know a Little",
which Gaines
had written before
he joined Skynyrd.
So confident was
Skynyrd's leader of
Gaines' abilities,
that the album
(and some concerts)
featured Gaines
delivering his
self-penned blues
"Ain't No Good Life"
one of the few songs
in the first incarnation
Skynyrd catalog
to feature a
lead vocalist
other than Van Zant.
The album also included
the hit single
"What's Your Name"
and the ominous
"That Smell"
a cautionary tale about
drug abuse that
seemed to be aimed at
fellow band members
both Collins and
Gary Rossington
had serious car accidents
which slowed the
recording of the album
Plane Crash
On October 20, 1977,
only three days after
the release of
Street Survivors
, and five shows
into their most
successful headlining
tour to date,
Lynyrd Skynyrd's
chartered
Convair CV-300
ran out of fuel
near the end of their flight
from Greenville, South Carolina,
where they had just performed
at the
Greenville Memorial Auditorium,
to LSU in
Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Though the pilots
attempted an
emergency landing
on a small airstrip,
the plane crashed in a
forest five miles
(8 km) northeast of
Gillsburg, Mississippi.
Ronnie Van Zant,
Steve Gaines,
Cassie Gaines,
assistant road manager
Dean Kilpatrick,
pilot
Walter McCreary,
and co-pilot
William Gray,
were killed on impact.
The other band members
(Collins, Rossington, Wilkeson, Powell, Pyle, and Hawkins),
tour manager
Ron Eckerman,
and road crew
survived,
but suffered
serious injuries.
Following the crash
and the ensuing press,
Street Survivors
became the band's
second platinum album
and reached No. 5
on the
U.S. album chart.
The single
"What's Your Name"
reached No. 13
on the single
airplay charts in
January 1978.
The original cover sleeve
for
Street Survivors
had featured
David Alexander's
photograph of the band
standing on a city street
with all its buildings
engulfed in flames,
some near the center
nearly obscuring
Steve Gaines's face.
After the plane crash,
this cover became
highly controversial.
Out of respect for the deceased
(and at the request of Teresa Gaines, Steve's widow),
MCA Records
withdrew the original cover
and replaced it with a
similar image
of the band against
a simple black background,
which was on the back cover
of the original sleeve.
An urban legend
has long claimed that
only those band members
touched by flame
in the photograph
were killed in the crash,
but this is not true
(flame appears to touch nearly all band members).
The original
"flames"
cover was
restored for
the
Deluxe Edition.
ALSO ADDED EXTRA BONUS !!!
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