Second Helping was the second album by Lynyrd Skynyrd, released on April 15, 1974. It contained the group’s biggest hit single, “Sweet Home Alabama”, a response to Neil Young’s “Alabama” and “Southern Man”. The song reached No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 in August 1974. This was the group’s last L.P. with Bob Burns on drums.

The album was recorded at Record Plant Studios in Los Angeles except for “Sweet Home Alabama”, which was recorded in Doraville, Georgia. It reached No. 12 on the Billboard charts and went gold on September 20, 1974, and double platinum on February 21, 1987.

Lynyrd Skynyrd wrote the Southern rock book with their first album, so what made their second album so special was that they followed the same formula with a better title, Second Helping. With the help of Al Kooper as producer, who would eventually discover them, the group ended up with an album that had all the strengths of the first, but was a little tighter and more professional.

Kooper was also one of the musicians on Second Helping, where he sang and played piano on two tracks, while “Sweet Home Alabama” featured vocals from Merry Clayton, Clydie King, and many others. Clayton, best known for her female vocals on the Rolling Stones’ “Gimme Shelter,” wasn’t the only Stones guest on the Skynyrd album. Saxophonist Bobby Keys also played saxophone on “Don’t Ask Me No Questions” and on Skynyrd’s cover of J.J. Cale’s “Call Me The Breeze.”

It also became apparent on Second Helping that the band, under the guidance of songwriter Ronnie Van Zant, had developed a truly original voice. Of course, the band had already developed its own musical voice, but it was also greatly enhanced by Van Zant’s songwriting, which was in turn purely poetic, surprisingly intelligent, and always revealing. While Second Helping isn’t as hard rock as their first, what makes it so special are its songs.

“Sweet Home Alabama” is ubiquitous, but it competes with great songs like the biting “Workin’ For MCA,” the southern-tinged “Don’t Ask Me No Questions,” and the tender “The Ballad Of Curtis Loew” and “The Needle And The Spoon,” the latter of which is a drug-influenced tale that rivals Neil Young’s “Needle And The Damage Done,” but in a much harder, much more rock-oriented composition.

The part of Skynyrd that most people forget is that, in addition to being a great band, they were indelible over time because they were tied to strong compositions, a fact that was nowhere more evident than on Second Helping, where skill was combined with good taste.

From this legendary album, I select the song “Workin’ For MCA.”

Tracklist

1. Sweet Home Alabama 4:42
2. I Need You 6:54
3. Don’t Ask Me No Questions 3:24
4. Workin’ For MCA 4:46
5. The Ballad Of Curtis Loew 4:45
6. Swamp Music 3:29
7. The Needle And The Spoon 3:52
8. Call Me The Breeze 5:23