Second Helping brought
Lynyrd Skynyrd mass success and for the follow-up they offered
Nuthin' Fancy. It was a self-deprecating title for a record that may have offered more of the same, at least on the surface, but was still nearly peerless as a Southern rock record. The biggest difference with this record is that the band, through touring, has become heavier and harder, fitting right in with the heavy album rock bands of the mid-'70s. The second notable difference is that
Ronnie Van Zant may have been pressed for material, since there are several songs here that are just good generic rockers. But he and
Skynyrd prove that what makes a great band great is how they treat generic material, and
Skynyrd makes the whole of
Nuthin' Fancy feel every bit as convincing as their first two records. For one, the record has a rawer edge than
Second Helping, which helps make the slight preponderance of predictable (but not bad) material easy to accept, since it all sounds so good. Then there's the fact that many of these eight songs still showcase
Van Zant at the top of his game, whether it's the storming opener "Saturday Night Special," "Railroad Song," "On the Hunt," or the rollicking "Whiskey Rock-a-Roller." Yes, this does pale in comparison with its predecessors, but most hard rock bands would give their left arm for a record that swaggers and hits as hard as
Nuthin' Fancy. [The 1999 MCA reissue adds a pair of bonus tracks: live versions of "Railroad Song" and "On the Hunt."] ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine