WAR albums poll

decided to stick the burdon albums in there because the good shit contained therein is b/c of war.

Would love to get some recommendations here. I only have (and love) Galaxy.

"a friend" heard spill that wine once when he was tripping and it was fucking amazing

The World Is A Ghetto is unf/wable imo.

These guys are HUGE HUGE HUGE among my parents' set. Grew up with their music all around me. Voting for "All Day Music"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBiNoOM2IFk

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

voting The World Is A Ghetto but I might like Platinum Jazz & Galaxy better now that I like fusion

np: "city country city" from TWIAG - epic funky/mellow instrumental track while I start cookin dinner, perfecto

I love All Day Music and The World is a Ghetto but Deliver the Word gets my vote. The title track is one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard.

I've not heard any of the albums after Why Can't We Be Friends, are any of the others worth getting?

We had the Greatest Hits disc from the mid-70s and played that thing to death. Shame but I never heard any of the proper albums as a result. Leaves me ??? for voting.

my parents have seriously become close friends with one of the two current iterations of the band (i think the only original member is lonnie, the singer). like, my mom makes them brownies (no pot) and lasagna when they tour around maryland, which is very often, and then they all hang out together at the hotel. i have no idea how this happened, seeing as they weren't really fans of the band beforehand. there isn't a single person at any of their shows under the age of 50.

these albums can be procured pretty cheap on vinyl, probably their core classics are ADM/WIAG/DTW/WKWBF. galaxy is alright and platinum jazz has some jams but those four are the place to start.

War
All Day Music
The World Is A Ghetto
Why Can't We Be Friends?

You really can't go wrong with these four and I would bet there is solid music on all of them. They are/were a kick ass band.

Slippin' into Darkness has a pulse on something that is pretty true. Sad thing is pop music is just not that loose now, everything is way too conformed to the grid.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

these guys are massively underrated

Absolutely love their best singles (for me, "The World Is a Ghetto," "Slippin' Into Darkness," and "Summer"), and they had bigger hits that are also good. The World Is a Ghetto has the first two, but the one album I'd want is their Columbia best-of.

kinda overlooked by a lot of folks

I don't know why either. 'Low Rider' is one of my favorite songs

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

I listened to War yesterday, which I never do. I thought it would turn me into a hippie. It didn't!

i missed this thread, totally woulda voted for All Day Music

Platinum Jazz is pretty dope despite the horrible name. Checked it out via Spinna's recent comp. Easy to find in the $1-2 bin and well worth it.

it's WAR season!!

def

oh shit you are right

my time of year

yes!

Are the rest of the lps getting remastered reissues with extra tracks? The World Is A Ghetto is really good in its latest form.

it's ALMOST war season!! I listened to Deliver the Word today.

Cinco del Mayo still nearly two months away.

that time of year

Man, some of those albums with zero votes. Youngblood is the bomb.

Their album The World Is a Ghetto was the best-selling album of 1973

!!!

Got into Galaxy this year, pretty good, easy-to-like record. Title track is them doing disco, and makes me wonder what other War-does-disco records/tracks are good.

Really can't go wrong with any of their 70s records at least up to Galaxy, I have liked them all. They were a deeply talented group.

Are Eric Burdon Declares "War" or The Black-Man's Burdon (paging horrible 70s album titles thread...) worth hearing?

I've never bothered with them tbh

There were several other lps reissued on cd by the label that did that TWIAG in 2013.
I think that all the others had no bonus tracks. Was the sound improved over the older cds?
Also previous cd of the Live lp had the same weird track division that the lp had. I think lp had things dictated by vinyl sides. Cd was presumably not remastered so banding remained the same but it meant tracks were weirdly divided. There was a bootleg that turned out to be the same performance that had the tracks banded per performance 18 minute track as 1 piece etc. Called Cisco Kids or something.
It's also the one bootleg I'm aware of at least without Burdon. Would love others from the early 70s.

i haven't heard 'black man's burdon' but the first one is i think really good overall. beyond 'spill the wine' there are some tunes that are nice workouts for all of the War players.

I like Eric Burdon and the Animals. The War records with Burdon got segments that are kind of dated as it was built around these kinda beatnik monologues that Burdon would weave inbetween songs or musical segments. Probably worked better live than it does on the records. He did some similar stuff on some of later Animals records, I think some people considered it perhaps kinda cornball. It's still War and Burdon is a fine bluesy singer to my ears. First one is the best but there are some moments on all three including the later out-takes record.

WAR season

No votes for Youngblood?!?

RIP to B. B. Dickerson:

https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/obituary/9550962/bb-dickerson-dead-war-founding-member

Their album The World Is a Ghetto was the best-selling album of 1973

Was surprised by this too, and Wikipedia has a link to Billboard's top five as a reference. Basically late 1972 releases, which make sense - they'd eventually peak in the new year and most of their sales would be made in 1973. Diana Ross's Lady Sings the Blues was #5, Carly Simon's No Secrets was #4, Talking Book was #3, Summer Breeze by Seals/Crofts was #2.

war live is sick

Revived just in time for war season

It is crazy that this amazing band seems invisible to contemporary listeners aside from the obvious hit

all their 70s albums are end-to-end. they were on United Artists, who didn't really know how to be a record label imo, but I think garden variety radio racism limited their reach.

I think what I most love about this band, even more than the general good times vibe of "just hanging out with your friends and enjoying life", is the almost sentimental utopianism they project in a lot of their tunes and the underlying wistfulness that it's something that will likely not come to pass.

Listening to Why Can't We Be Friends? this morning and it hits the spot.

they were all of that, omar, and absolutely fucking stellar musicians to boot. that run of albums from all day music through why can't we be friends? is one of the best ever. i can't wait until more people start venturing past "lowrider" and start rediscovering one of the best bands of the era.

(but also "lowrider" still jams p fucken hard, even with the overplay)

also because they're quite difficult to search for, here are some other war threads on ilm-
WAR - PLATINUM JAZZ
Lee Oskar & WAR ::: C/D?

do love me some humbly cinematic east la funk.

https://www.harpsurgery.com/tag/lee-oskar/

It was a great honour for the Harp Surgery to receive an email from Junior Wells’ daughter yesterday, confirming the legend that the great Junior Wells was indeed buried alongside a tray of Lee Oskar harmonicas. In a recent interview with Lee Oskar, the maestro couldn’t recall the full facts from that sad day, however it is now clear the friendship he had with Junior was a very special one. Then most unexpectedly the Harp Surgery received the following astonishing e-mail..

This is to verify that Jr Wells was buried with Lee Oskar harmonicas. I know this to be a fact because I was there at the funeral. Mr Oskar also played the most beautiful song (solo). I have never heard a harp played that way before. I would like to thank him for being his friend and honoring us with his presence. The reason I know all of this is because Jr was my dad. I miss him everyday but his fans and friends help keep him alive for our family. May God bless and keep all of you. Thanks Jr’s Family

They have a little vocal signature in many of their tunes that is really effective even when repeated:

- seven or eight guys sing in unison in rough baritones (so you think "these guys aren't really vocalists")
- then, on the third line or so, the better singers in the group add a couple of layers of harmony on top

It's maybe their vocal trademark equivalent to the Family Stone singers trading lines in the verses.

Is the first Lee Oskar solo album any good? I saw a copy in the dollar bin yesterday and would have taken a chance on it, but it was beat to shit.

enh, yeah they're okay. if you liked the extended jams they would get into on the war albums, then you'll probably dig it. liking harmonica is a prerequisite, of course.

https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/war-the-world-is-a-ghetto-50th-anniversary-collectors-edition/

big ol' The World Is a Ghetto 50th anniversary box, limited to 4000 copies. i'm not gonna get it, but it might be worth tracking down for some.

https://www.discogs.com/release/31261327-War-The-World-Is-A-Ghetto-The-Complete-Sessions

it's on streaming.

Apparently the surviving original members of War are coming together to do a post-Walk of Fame event at Amoeba this coming Thursday. As much as I love the band (at least the "hits"), I haven't been following them, and I wasn't aware that Lonnie Jordan and Jerry Goldstein fired all of the other original members back in the early '90s, so it's been a very strained relationship between them. This would be the first time the entire surviving band has reunited in decades.

Actually just double-checked to make sure it was the classic line-up and not, say, Eric Burdon, but here's the info:

The original founding members of WAR are doing a special album signing at Amoeba Hollywood Thursday, June 5th at 1pm -- right after their ceremony on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Come meet Lonnie Jordan, Howard Scott, Harold Brown & Lee Oskar and get "Why Can't We Be Friends" or their "Greatest Hits" collection signed!

Tickets for this event are available STARTING NOW with pre-purchase of "Why Can't We Be Friends" on 3CD or 3LP vinyl or "Greatest Hits" on CD or LP IN-STORE ONLY at Amoeba Hollywood.

** Max 1 signing ticket + item (of the above WAR album titles) per person
** In-store purchases only. No online or phone orders possible.
** Space is limited.

Iconic band WAR will be honored with the 2,814th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Thursday, June 5, at 11:30 am at 6212 Hollywood Boulevard. The ceremony will be emcee'd by Jimmy Jam and will be joined by George Lopez, longtime producer Jerry Goldstein, and more

No mention yet of Live in Japan here. t's pretty great
Looked like there might be recordings of the band live from the preceding couple of years too held by the band.
I do wish somebody would release something like the War Live that was released during their lifetime. Or they remastered and rebanded that one so tracks were continuous.

This band was so good. I went through a run listening to their records a few months back again.