Lee Oskar & WAR ::: C/D?

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I don't think the SEARCH function works for 3 letter words, so I wasn't able to find any exisinting WAR threads (but if they're here, provide a link please!).

So, I included Lee Oskar in the title, because it was he who added the definitive funky harmonica sound. I LOVE WAR. After Eric Burton = even better. Why Can't We Be Friends, All Day Music, Deliver The Word... All Classic. Who else did the latin/jazz/funk/rock like these cats? Eh??

Bobby Peru (Bobby Peru), Monday, 18 April 2005 20:23 (twenty years ago)

"Galaxy" = one of my favorite dance tracks of all time.

Joseph McCombs (Joseph McCombs), Monday, 18 April 2005 20:58 (twenty years ago)

I have a ton of War LPs, with good reason. The World Is A Ghetto, All Day Music, Deliver the Word, Galaxy, Why can't We Be Friends, Platinum Jazz, and the soundtrack to the Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs film Youngblood are all great!

Gear! (can Jung shill it, Mu?) (Gear!), Monday, 18 April 2005 21:02 (twenty years ago)

I saw Lee Oskar being a prima donna asshole last week at the Frankfurt Music Fair. Dig his old band, though.

Colin Meeder (Mert), Monday, 18 April 2005 21:19 (twenty years ago)

two years pass...
thats a shame

haunted house is fantastic though, proper bassline tune

600, Friday, 27 April 2007 10:05 (eighteen years ago)

Who else did the latin/jazz/funk/rock like these cats? Eh??

Mandrill!

Oilyrags, Friday, 27 April 2007 13:00 (eighteen years ago)

Yep - Mandrill, and occasionally Jimmy Castor too!

War: Stone-cold classic all the way, how can they be anything else? Their first coupla albums have a handful of tracks that are too long/slow/quiet for my personal taste, but that just means they were eclectic. And I still think "Low Rider" has the most unstoppable groove of any song, ever. (Except maybe "The Cisco Kid".)

Myonga Vön Bontee, Friday, 27 April 2007 15:44 (eighteen years ago)

War = absolute classic. Very few groups have combined hooks, chops, and funk the way they did. Check out War Live for evidence of how they could stretch a song to 10 minutes and beyond and never become tedious.

There's a bootleg floating around on the torrent sites of War rehearsing in what sounds like someone's living room circa 1978; even just fooling around, they were tight. As their 45 sleeves used to say, they truly were "A Far Out Production."

Side note, they're my all-time summer band. The obvious pick is "Summer," which wafted through the air like a cool breeze in the summer of '76. But I also have strong memories of the pure sunshine of "Why Can't We Be Friends?" the summer before, "The Cisco Kid" and "Me and Baby Brother" bracketing the summer of '73, and "Slippin' Into Darkness" cutting through a late-night summer transistor signal in '72.

There was just something about their sound that brought to mind smoggy sunsets, cruising the main drag, backyard barbecues ... just the whole urban summer vibe. Love that band.

The Deacon, Friday, 27 April 2007 17:20 (eighteen years ago)

Yeah, I always associate "Why Can't We Be Friends?" with summer '75 too!

What are the Eric Burdon albums like, I wonder? I've only heard "Spill The Wine". Any appreciable difference in quality, aside from the singing?

Myonga Vön Bontee, Friday, 27 April 2007 19:08 (eighteen years ago)

The Burdon albums are curious; he was a bit over the hill, and they didn't quite have it together yet, so there's lots of aimless jamming and not lots of melodic discipline. I'd say make those LPs the last stop in your War collection.

The Deacon, Saturday, 28 April 2007 02:22 (eighteen years ago)

seven months pass...

Okay, these guys are best evar or so. I have and love All Day Music and Why Can't We Be Friends (on the stereo right now), what else do I need?

The Reverend, Friday, 30 November 2007 05:53 (eighteen years ago)

The singles "L.A. Sunshine" and "Galaxy."

Joseph McCombs, Friday, 30 November 2007 06:25 (eighteen years ago)

The World is a Ghetto, Deliver the Word, and the self titled album "War" from 1971. Seriously.

Bobbi Peru, Friday, 30 November 2007 06:45 (eighteen years ago)

eight months pass...

hey its summer

been in kinda a downloading frenzy to get all their good stuff - there's these aging guys around the corner from me who have a little latin-rock combo and every now and then I can hear them rehearsing in their garage-studio, brings the total War vibe to the neighborhood - made me think "wtf why do I not own Low Rider"

Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 31 July 2008 16:45 (seventeen years ago)

two weeks pass...

these motherfuckers

The Reverend, Wednesday, 20 August 2008 07:54 (seventeen years ago)

"There Must Be a Reason Why" spooks the shit outta me everytime I hear it

The Reverend, Wednesday, 20 August 2008 07:59 (seventeen years ago)

left to right:

Lee Oskar, P.J. Proby, Jim Ford

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51nI740gStL._SS500_.jpg

henry s, Wednesday, 20 August 2008 13:25 (seventeen years ago)

The Burdon albums are curious; he was a bit over the hill, and they didn't quite have it together yet, so there's lots of aimless jamming and not lots of melodic discipline. I'd say make those LPs the last stop in your War collection.
-- The Deacon

Finally heard 'em a year ago, and yeah they're pretty damned uninteresting. Maybe one salvageable album amongst an elpee's worth of tunes. (I was never a huge Burdon fan, anyways.)

Myonga Vön Bontee, Wednesday, 20 August 2008 14:59 (seventeen years ago)

lee oskar solo rekkerds tend to have an average of one phat beat per disc and the rest is nothing i really want to listen to.

scott seward, Wednesday, 20 August 2008 17:38 (seventeen years ago)

"Spill the Wine" is about cunnilingus, y/y?

The Reverend, Thursday, 21 August 2008 03:33 (seventeen years ago)

one year passes...

SPILL THE WINE

The Reverend, Saturday, 12 June 2010 05:56 (fifteen years ago)

TAKE THAT PEARL

The Reverend, Saturday, 12 June 2010 05:56 (fifteen years ago)

lol @ my last post itt

The Reverend, Saturday, 12 June 2010 05:57 (fifteen years ago)

ten years pass...

I'd like to change the thread title - Lee Oskar was never the leader - but this could be the most underrated (male) band in rock history. They captured something very specific about L.A. that I'm not sure anyone before them did, except for maybe (and that's a very big maybe) Frank Zappa. They were HUGE for a few years there - "The World Is a Ghetto" was Billboard's Album of the Year in 1973 - and their present-day semi-obscurity, "Low Rider" excepted, is a fucking travesty.

thewufs, Wednesday, 12 August 2020 03:26 (five years ago)

i like the pic up there of lee with his Lee Jeans shirt. i hope he took it to the max and wore all Lee denim.

andrew m., Wednesday, 12 August 2020 16:04 (five years ago)

the b-side to "spill the wine," "magic mountain," is such a stomper.

andrew m., Wednesday, 12 August 2020 16:06 (five years ago)

This is SO OTM:

There was just something about their sound that brought to mind smoggy sunsets, cruising the main drag, backyard barbecues ... just the whole urban summer vibe. Love that band.

How many other bands get this stark and gritty and weird without any sacrifice in pop accessibility? You listen to their records and you can practically see the mist rising off the pavement. An alchemical miracle, this band.

thewufs, Thursday, 13 August 2020 01:09 (five years ago)

I've always really appreciated War and thought I was weird for doing so. My favorite album has always been Deliver the Word. Such a pleasant and rewarding listen. But yeah: they were pretty unbeatable for the first half of the 1970s.

Totally different head. Totally. (Austin), Thursday, 13 August 2020 03:15 (five years ago)

nine months pass...

so i've gone back to their early 70s run the past few days (all day music, the world is a ghetto, deliver the word, and why can't we be friends?) and i'm now convinced they were absolutely, inarguably one of the best bands of the 70s. that four album run has got to be one of the best ever and it's crazy because all of those albums have at least one instantly recognizable alltimer on them but the entire albums are just so solid. unbelievably funky grooves, ballads always poignant and soulful, and just — holy hell these guys could play!!!

favorite still remains deliver the word; probably their most ambitious and moody album and that title track! what a killer! and it starts off with one of my alltime favorite mixtape openers, the absolutely transcendent 'h2overture.' seriously: put that on, instant mood improvement.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TViT_KFVWgI

things repeat forever and there never is a remedy (Austin), Thursday, 3 June 2021 20:13 (four years ago)


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