Archive
WAR
50th-anniversary coloured-vinyl release of their first five LPs for Record Store Day
The Vinyl 1971–1975
AVENUE/RHINO
9/10
Eric Burdon might have helped launch them to the world, but LA’s War only really got good after the British singer left. This RSD boxset packages the band’s first five post-Burdon albums on coloured vinyl, and all have something to recommend them. The self-titled 1971 LP features the jittery 6/8 vibe of “War Drums”, the harmonica-led “Vibeka” and the wonderfully creepy “Fidel’s Fantasy” (a counter-revolutionary anthem that probably alienated a few leftist hippies). All Day Music moves into dreamy, slow-motion soul, including the folk-funk of the title track and the gentle jazz-funk of “Nappy Head”. The World Is A Ghetto – America’s biggest-selling album of 1973 – is a tremendously musicianly brand of laidback West Coast funk that truly took them out of the R&B ghetto; 1973’s Deliver The Word features the stone-cold funk classics “Me And Baby Brother”, “In Your Eyes” and “Southern Part Of Texas”; while 1975’s Why Can’t We Be Friends? mixes quiet-storm soul with heavy-duty salsa and the Latinfunk of “Low Rider”. A tremendous and often forgotten catalogue.