The Californian funk/fusion band War is considered to be one of the best live acts of the 1970′s. Having sold over 50 million albums, these seven musicians were unique in their style and dedicated to live performances. While touring constantly during the early 70′s to promote their records, this fine live double vinyl album was recorded in Chicago, in 1972. Just lay back and enjoy a trip back with War.
California Funk
Think of the beaches and the rollin’ hills of southern California, beautiful sunsets and that easy going lifestyle that found its worldwide popularity during the 1960′s. Whether it was the happy-go-lucky style of the Beach Boys, the provoking lyrics and music of The Doors or the peace & love movement. California has always been a source of inspiration since then, transporting a certain vibe in its music, no matter which genre. It’s that mixture of a positive attitude towards life (music) and that poetic/intellectual consciousness (lyrics) that gives the west coast of the U.S.A an own musical identity to this day. Of course, music is being developed and pushed further by influences from other musicians, by other styles of music. So, when we talk about the history of funk in general, names like James Brown & Fred Wesley, Sly & The Family Stone and the famous Mothership of George Clinton’s Parliament pop up first to one’s mind. They all represent the loud voice of funk while a Californian septet experimented with several music genres successfully – fusion evolved and was mastered by War, at that time. “Spill the Wine” was their big shot and break through in 1970 as Eric Burdon & War. They separated on an European tour and continued as War, perfecting their style of fusion on the basis of funk. Curiously, they are rarely listed next to other funk/fusion bands, but they are well known among those who dig funk. And they should be known by everybody digging music, especially on vinyl, period.
“Spill The Wine” Eric Burdon & War
War – Live (2 LP)
As mentioned before, War was constantly touring, sometimes for nine months straight. From once being the opening act for Isaac Hayes in early 1972 they became a celebrated main live act themselves pretty fast. Their producer, Jerry Goldstein, saw a good opportunity to cut a live album during a four-night gig in Chicago’s High Chaparral club, in November 1972. So, this double LP is a “best of” those four live gigs at that club. The introduction is held by Chicago’s radio host E. Rodney Jones of WVON.
The session starts off with a mellow groove, accompanied by the flute of Oskar Miller and the group’s vocals acting as a background choir. The opening of “Sun Oh Son” isn’t much different from the studio album version (1971) – the Hammond organ, the typical sound of R&B and funk, at that time. The funky beat kicks in after 2:20 minutes as well as the vocals, but the live version lasts five minutes longer, highlighting the saxophone solo by Oskar Miller which is not featured on the studio recording of 1971. Then, the rhythm dies down after 7 minutes only to pick up, again, adding the vocals for the finale.
Coming in second and picking up the tempo is “Cisco Kid“, one of their biggest chart successes in 1972, from the album “The World Is A Ghetto“. By the way, “Cisco Kid” is inspired by the same titled Western character of a short story from 1907 which gained popularity through TV series, comic strips and radio plays.
“Slippin’ Into Darkness”, War 1971
The version of the double live album shows the whole spectrum of War’s musical ability to perform a song across all popular genres like rock, R&B, jazz and funk, of course. Strong R&B vocals and Howard Scott with a stunning rock/funk guitar solo as they take this song further to “Slippin’ part 2″ with great performances on percussion (congas) by Harold Brown and Papa Dee Allen and Lee Oskar’s harmonica above all. A musical trip of 18 minutes (the whole B side of LP1), so be prepared for an acoustic joy-ride.
“All Day Music”, War live on Soultrain 1972
“All day Music” (featured on the same titled album, 1971) takes the crowd into a mellow mood, again and plays at double length of the original tune. Personally, especially this song reminds me strongly of Maze featuring Frankie Beverly, another Californian big player of R&B/funk and their first album, later on in 1977. With his song the audience/listener is 45 minutes into the concert/live album and ready for a new song that hasn’t been published before. “Ballero” shows clearly the influences of Latin music and makes you groove, instantly – the flute is spreading that “flower power” feeling of that time, kind of. The song closes with a vibrant groove where all instruments come together in perfect harmony.
“Ballero”, War (taken from the live album 1973)
War admitted that “Ballero” was a rather improvised track and they didn’t even know what they were singing about, then. It’s been released as a single in 1974 and became #33 in the Top100 charts. After 8 minutes performing “Ballero” all the instruments back off slowly while the beat is kept in a quieter voice, then picking up the tempo with the guitar for a transition to “Lonely Feelin’” which kicks in full force with the Hammond organ. Energetic, loud, psychedelic to a certain degree if you allow the rhythm to take over your body and soul. Head-banging guaranteed!! It’s totally different than the original song from their album “War” (1971) that shines through its vocals/lyrics besides the drive of that song. The live version is instrumental only, 2:40 minutes of exploding funk!
To gain back balance and air to breathe, War leads us into a jammin’ part introducing another smash hit of theirs, “Get Down” (1971 from the album “War”). Originally 4 and a half minutes long, the live version is a whooping 20 minutes session of pure funk. Besides that it was their most controversial song when performed live in certain north American States. The lyrics of that song were sort of too critical for the police and governmental institutions, and in this live version we hear a special referral to the Mayor of Chicago and the police. The expression “get down” is a synonym for at least 4 different meanings as a) to party, b) to dance, c) to have sex and d) to confront and War uses each meaning in its lyrics of that song. Bare in mind it’s been the early 1970′s and the authorities had their problems with provoking songs or behavior (think of The Doors and their stage experiences).
“Get Down”, War (taken from the live album 1973)
This concludes the double live album of War, which was released in 1973 and sold over 1,5 million copies. If you’re lucky to own one copy, put it on your turntable, turn up the volume and take a trip back to the beginnings of funk. My own personal copy is in no good shape, unfortunately, but it’s still delivering great funk music and I don’t want to miss it in my collection!
For more information (e.g. the 2008 reunion tour), check War’s official homepage.
