I'll keep this short and perhaps add more later, but was saddened to learn today of the death of Billy Powell, the piano player for Lynyrd Skynyrd. Powell was my favorite bandmember and his talent behind the ivories compared with anyone in rock 'n roll. His touch is a hallmark of Skynyrd's sound, never more noticeably than in the intro to Free Bird. For more details, check out the AP article.
Showing posts with label Lynyrd Skynyrd. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lynyrd Skynyrd. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Friday, December 19, 2008
My Free Bird Tradition
I have a tradition dating back to when I was 13 and I got my first real stereo after my bar mitzvah. When I got that stereo, I also bought my first CDs. Among them were Jimmy Buffet’s boxed set, the 
Allman Brothers’ Decade of Hits, Lynyrd Skynyrd's (pronounced 'lĕh-'nérd 'skin-'nérd) and their live masterpiece, One More From the Road.
Starting with that stereo and continuing with just about every component, speaker, Walk/Disc/i-Man/Pod/Phone and any other music-playing apparatus I’ve since acquired, the very first song I played was Free Bird. Specifically, I played the 15-minute live version. It’s a wonderful tradition and, honestly, it served a purpose. Between the piano intro, the crowd noise and, of course, the extended guitar solos, Free Bird does provide a decent workout for your new system. It lets you know if you just dropped a few hundred bucks on crap.
Anyway, you might be wondering why I’ve bothered to share this with you. Well, I have this friend up in Toronto named Jon Tracey. Many of you know him. Well, Jon probably knows me as well as anyone in the world and expressed sincere disappointment that my very first post on this blog was not about Free Bird.
Well, Free Bird is allowed to have its 35 false-endings, where each
crescendo begets yet another crescendo, rising in pitch, speed and might until finally, it seems as if the entire energy of the room is pointed and holding and struggling this peak note… before it collapses in exhausted revelry. And as such, the might of Free Bird comes not from Billy Powell’s sweet opening, the crowd’s jubilant air horn or Ronnie Van Zant’s famous, pleading question. Rather, the strength of Free Bird comes 15 minutes later, the end of the beginning, if you will.
And that is why, with my 7th post, I give you Free Bird.
Allman Brothers’ Decade of Hits, Lynyrd Skynyrd's (pronounced 'lĕh-'nérd 'skin-'nérd) and their live masterpiece, One More From the Road. Starting with that stereo and continuing with just about every component, speaker, Walk/Disc/i-Man/Pod/Phone and any other music-playing apparatus I’ve since acquired, the very first song I played was Free Bird. Specifically, I played the 15-minute live version. It’s a wonderful tradition and, honestly, it served a purpose. Between the piano intro, the crowd noise and, of course, the extended guitar solos, Free Bird does provide a decent workout for your new system. It lets you know if you just dropped a few hundred bucks on crap.
Anyway, you might be wondering why I’ve bothered to share this with you. Well, I have this friend up in Toronto named Jon Tracey. Many of you know him. Well, Jon probably knows me as well as anyone in the world and expressed sincere disappointment that my very first post on this blog was not about Free Bird.
Well, Free Bird is allowed to have its 35 false-endings, where each
crescendo begets yet another crescendo, rising in pitch, speed and might until finally, it seems as if the entire energy of the room is pointed and holding and struggling this peak note… before it collapses in exhausted revelry. And as such, the might of Free Bird comes not from Billy Powell’s sweet opening, the crowd’s jubilant air horn or Ronnie Van Zant’s famous, pleading question. Rather, the strength of Free Bird comes 15 minutes later, the end of the beginning, if you will. And that is why, with my 7th post, I give you Free Bird.
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