MCA 5370
from Rate Your Music.com:
Three years after paying tribute to the legendary '70s work of the bad ass Lynyrd Skynyrd via the double LP set Gold & Platinum, the big brass from MCA went back to the well one more time, issuing the eight song Best of the Rest collection. Pushed out with a cool packin'-heat cover sleeve, the set, compiled by Leon Tsilis, Adds two previously unreleased tracks from the drop-the-hammer Jacksonville based band of raucous ockin' rebels, each penned by the trio of Ronnie Van Zant, Allen Collins and Gary Rossington.
The Best of the Rest LP opens with the jukin' "I've Been Your Fool" and is chased with the ass kickin' swamp rockin' "Gotta Go". The pair of down-home cuts were produced by Jimmy R. Johnson and Tim Smith. The main draw from the recording is the inclusion of the blue collar "Workin' For MCA", which for some unexplained reason was left off of the Gold & Platinum retrospective.
The lyrics to the sacrastic "Workin' For MCA" were hastily written by mainman Van Zant, as Skynyd prepared to perform before the suits at the Sounds of the South launch party on Sunday, July 29, 1973. Staged at Richard's in Atlanta, where Lynyrd Skynyrd took the stage after Al Kooper introduced the band as "the American Rolling Stones", the group tore into "Workin' For MCA", and kicked ass throughout the entire set, which concluded with the legendary "Free Bird". Executives from the label, radio programmers, disc jockeys, promoters, music critics, and special guest Marc Bolan, were blown away by the high-octane performance.
The live version of "Workin' For MCA", from Skynyrd's epic One More From the Road recording, was choosen for Best of the Rest. The powerful song builds on a storming intro and Van Zant's chest beatin' vocal delivery. The shot-and-a-beer rocker is one of the hottest cuts from the L.S. canon.
The Best of the Rest collection is filled out with the raucous "Double Trouble", the Dixie flag-wavin' "I'm a Country Boy", "Call Me the Breeze", Street Survivor's "I Never Dreamed", and the live take of "T For Texas", also pulled from One More From the Road.