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Lynyrd Skynyrd’s thirteenth studio album, Last of a Dyin’ Breed, arrived in stores just yesterday, but another recent release may have fans of the Southern rock legends even more excited.  Southern Surroundings: The Ultimate Skynyrd Collection is a Wal-Mart-exclusive 1-CD/2-DVD set, selling at the retail giant’s locations for just $11.88.  (That is, if you can find it; your author visited four locations before procuring a copy!)

Of its three discs, the third is the most unique, and it’s also the disc that gives the new collection its title: a DVD containing full high resolution 5.1 surround mixes of ten Skynyrd classics.  Yes, these all-new discrete mixes have been prepared by the dean of surround sound, Grammy Award winner Elliot Scheiner, and are available in Advanced Resolution Surround in true DVD-Audio format.  A Dolby 5.1 track has also been included for those playing the disc in standard DVD-Video players.  (The songs are also playable in 96 kHz/24-bit stereo on the DVD-A layer and PCM stereo on the standard portion.)  Not only does this title mark a major-label return to the DVD-Audio format, but Scheiner (Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs, Hotel California, The Nightfly) has worked the magic he’s known for in creating a truly immersive surround mix on Skynyrd favorites including “Free Bird” and “Gimme Back My Bullets.”

Top 10 hit “Sweet Home Alabama,” alas, isn’t one of the ten tracks mixed into surround.  But it leads off the CD on Southern Surroundings, which is actually identical to 2000’s anthology All-Time Greatest Hits, with Doug Schwartz’s remastering.  This platinum-selling CD remains a solid single-disc Skynyrd primer, running nearly 75 minutes’ length over fourteen tracks.

What else will you find on the new set?  Hit the jump!  Plus: the full track listing and order link!

The second disc on Southern Surroundings is a DVD containing the band’s powerful performance of November 11, 1975 on the BBC’s venerated Old Grey Whistle Test television program.  This seven-track concert first appeared as part of the 2006 deluxe edition of 1976’s Gimme Back My Bullets, the band’s fourth album.  It’s valuable as a document of the original band in concert less than two years before the tragic plane crash that took the lives of Ronnie Van Zant, Steve Gaines, Cassie Gaines, assistant road manager Dean Kilpatrick, pilot Walter McCreary and co-pilot William Gray.  (Allen Collins, Gary Rossington, Leon Wilkeson, Billy Powell, Artemus Pyle, and Leslie Hawkins sustained serious injuries.)

Southern Surroundings is housed in a glossy digipak which has credits for all three discs.  There is no dedicated booklet included.  It’s available now exclusively at Wal-Mart and online at the retailer’s website.  (As of this writing, it’s currently out of stock online.)  You can reach Wal-Mart’s link just below!

Lynyrd Skynyrd, Southern Surroundings: The Ultimate Skynyrd Collection (Geffen/UMe B0017003-50, 2012)

Disc One: CD (previously released as All-Time Greatest Hits, MCA CD 088 112 229-2, 2000)

1. Sweet Home Alabama
2. Gimme Three Steps
3. Simple Man
4. Saturday Night Special
5. Swamp Music
6. The Ballad of Curtis Loew
7. Call Me The Breeze
8. Comin’ Home
9. Gimme Back My Bullets
10. What’s Your Name
11. You Got That Right
12. All I Can Do Is Write About It (Acoustic Version)
13. That Smell
14. Free Bird (Live)

Disc Two: DVD (previously released as part of Gimme Back My Bullets: Deluxe Edition, MCA CD B0005553-00, 2006)

1. Double Trouble – The Old Grey Whistle Test – BBC Television
2. I Ain’t The One – The Old Grey Whistle Test – BBC Television
3. Call Me The Breeze – The Old Grey Whistle Test – BBC Television
4. I Got The Same Old Blues – The Old Grey Whistle Test – BBC Television
5. Every Mother’s Son – The Old Grey Whistle Test – BBC Television
6. Sweet Home Alabama – The Old Grey Whistle Test – BBC Television
7. Free Bird – The Old Grey Whistle Test – BBC Television

All tracks first transmitted on BBC – November 11, 1975

Disc Three: DVD-Audio/Video

1. Saturday Night
2. Gimme Three Steps
3. Swamp Music
4. Gimme Back My Bullets
5. The Ballad Of Curtis Loew
6. You Got That Right
7. That Smell
8. All I Can Do Is Write About It
9. Simple Man
10. Free Bird