Rossington Collins Band - Live

[cottonmike]

Who saw the them? What was the experience?

I saw them in '80 shortly after they released their first album in Phoenix and they left a scorched earth with that 90 minute performance . Frikken' unreal, it was.

It was flawless and fiery, and just an unadulterated display of raw, contagious adrenaline, conveyed from the band to the crowd. One of my best friend's brother was part owner of the company "Security Services". Those bouncers got totally shredded that night. It was completely out of control from the opening note til the end of the show.

Barry Lee Harwood was the featured lead guitarist for the night, and for that band. He played a P-90 modded Firebird, and his tone and playing was just filthy-good. Rossington and Collins were still on the mend, physically, you could tell, but the entire outfit was extremely well prepared. Still, I remember being somewhat surprised as to how readily Rossington and Collins differed to BLH. He was the spark and you could tell they were digging it.

It was one of those "pinch yourself" moments in time, cause somehow you just knew it was never going to be this good again.

Those lyrics for that first album (AAA) were very deep and mature and real. I think they are extremely strong. It's an album of no filler, no fluff. No stinkers. Extremely well executed in every way, in typical Skynyrd fashion.

There has been quite a bit of debate over at the Ed King Forum as to who really wrote those lyrics. A former forum member, who has recently passed away, laid claim to have written most all of those songs, and never been credited for it. It was a relational thing with Harwood that went bad, by her version. Most people discounted her story as well as her as being fanatical, but the more time that passed, the more her version took on cred with me. That, and the fact that Dale Krantz has never since written any worhtwhile lyrics, whatsoever.

During the intro slide part of Freebird, some drunk fan did something very disrespectful-I don't know what-Rossington stopped playing pulled back and tried to kicked the guys teeth out. Then Gene Odom, RVZ's childhood best friend, appeared from stage right, and ordered the perp to be delivered to him by the bouncers-which they complied. Dude got a serious beat down, and they picked up and finished Freebird, without missing a beat.

Without the leadership of Ronnie Van Zant, this band had a flash of brilliance, but unfortunately quickly unraveled. Having a woman lead singer caused a division between Collins and Rossington that ultimately lead to them having an all out fist fight that pretty much ended there bond that was closer than most brothers that are blood.

The more you dig, the more tragic the Skynyrd story is. Seems it never ends. Incredible band with a most incredible story.

I know not everybody here loves Skynyrd like me, but, how do you NOT make a movie about the story of this band? Really?

Here are a couple of songs that feature Barry Lee Harwood on lead and slide guitar. See what you think.

I'd love to here your experiences in seeing this powerhouse band, live.

Thank You.

Michael

Feel the power of this live band:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-z35MSbJOY
(BLH on the P-90 modded Firebird, mid-song lead break).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhJQ4...eature=related
(Barry Lee Harwood on slide played with an SG).

PS: I'm not a musician, just a music lover, and I really like hanging around at this forum. Great site you guys have here. Thanks for that.