War - The World Is A Ghetto

Released - November 1972

Genre - Funk

Producer - Jerry Goldstein, Lonnie Jordan & Howard Scott

Selected Personnel - Howard Scott (Guitar/Percussion/Vocals); B.B. Dickerson (Bass/Percussion/Vocals); Lonnie Jordan (Organ/Piano/Percussion/Vocals); Harold Brown (Drums/Percussion/Vocals); Papa Dee Allen (Percussion/Vocals); Charles Miller (Saxophone/Woodwinds/Percussion/Vocals); Lee Oskar (Harmonica/Percussion/Vocals)

Standout Track - The World Is A Ghetto

Another step back in time to make a retroactive addition to my list as we hop back to 1972 for another album I've found through my ever-deepening love of funk and soul music. In all honesty, I kind of overdid it a bit in my plunging into the genre earlier this year, but it helped me to discover a number of truly great records. But after listening to classic records by the likes of Funkadelic, Parliament, Isaac Hayes, Marvin Gaye, Sly And The Family Stone and Stevie Wonder (you'll notice none of those early Stevie Wonder albums made my list - apologies to fans, he's just not convincing as an album artist, I think), I felt like I'd reached saturation point for a while and needed to take a break. I spent the next few months tentatively dipping my toes into post-punk (which is better than I'd ever expected to find it), telling myself that I'd continue my forays into funk and soul music the next time I found some that really took me by surprise.

That opportunity came a couple of weeks ago at a comedy gig in Kentish Town. During the interval, the pub's resident DJ put on a piece of music that grabbed me by the scruff of the neck, a slow, oppressive, atmospheric funk jam where a saxophone screamed over a slow bass groove. On asking to know what it was, I was told that it was the title track to The World Is A Ghetto, generally accepted as the finest album by the band War. I'd been aware of War for some time, of course, though for whatever reason I'd never got round to listening to any more than their biggest hit, "Low Rider" (which I initially only became familiar with because they used it in those Marmite ads in the 90s). It's odd, considering how much I love "Low Rider," that I didn't target War more when I first started developing an interest in the genre earlier this year, but finally I've found them. So far I've only heard The World Is A Ghetto, but based on all it gets right I'm keen to hear more.

Like Sly And The Family Stone, War were a racially diverse group, consisting of members from both black and Latino communities. In the generally quite cut-and-dried racial geography of the music scene at the time, bands like War that were able to fuse such diverse musical influences stood out above many other funk bands of the time. War began in the late 60s under the stewardship of producer Jerry Goldstein as the new backing band for former Animals frontman Eric Burdon. After Burdon quit the band in 1970, War forged on with Goldstein and morphed into a new kind of outfit. Like Funkadelic, who around the same time were beginning to establish themselves as a band focused on instrumental jams rather than being defined by one lead vocalist (as in the case of Sly Stone), War became a collective of sorts which would largely focus on instrumental music, with relatively simple lyrics aiming to speak out about equality, brotherhood and community against racism and prejudice.

This new version of War had already released two albums by the time of The World Is A Ghetto, and I've yet to see what those albums are like, but the general consensus seems to be that this was where they really found their voice and produced their most compelling and consistent work. The mood of oppressive menace and despair that hung so heavily when I first heard the title track is actually largely absent on what is mostly a hugely feelgood album, one that ably fulfils their aim of espousing optimistic messages of hope and brotherhood. "The Cisco Kid" is a feelgood Latin-flavoured shuffle to it, and a catchy vocal chorus, and also exhibits War's famed method of having Lee Oskar's harmonica and Charles Miller's saxophone playing prominent melodic lines in unison in order to sound like a totally new instrument. It's a technique best exhibited by the melody of "Low Rider," but the same effect is clear on "The Cisco Kid," which was the album's hit single.

For me, "Where Was You At" is a fairly by-the-numbers and forgettable funk song, but the album's first side closes in fine style with the epic jam of "City, Country, City," an instrumental that starts with a pretty and stately guitar figure before veering rapidly into high speed, frenetic organ solos from Lonnie Jordan that don't drop the pace once until the closing minute or so, where Howard Scott's languid guitar solo twines itself around the now measured pace of Jordan's organ. The mood of the album's second side is more downbeat, in keeping with the album's pessimistic title. "Four Cornered Room" is by no means the best musical moment on the album, but is a hugely atmospheric piece of music. It's anchored by the slow, death-knell bass of B.B. Dickerson, over which the harmonica wails and cries and the full band shriek a funereal chorus that more or less just echoes the same phrase over and over again - "As I sit in my four-cornered room." For a band whose biggest hit is something as upbeat as "Low Rider," "Four Cornered Room" is a truly bleak piece of music.

As I said, the tone of the following title track is similar, but ultimately perhaps more hopeful. It certainly has more musical momentum to it, and is less dirge-like in its pace. The distorted, aquatic-sounding guitar riff that kicks things off establishes a hazy, smog-like vibe before the horns truly kick things into gear and a steady, measured groove is established. The vocal parts have some gorgeous harmonies to them, and despite the bleak title the lyrics actually do espouse a kind of wide-eyed hope for finding comfort in others, rather than a cynical cry of anger at the world around them. It truly comes into its own as a piece of music about halfway through, when Miller truly lets loose shrieking and wailing on his sax and the jam builds and builds in fierce intensity to a truly cathartic conclusion.

It's easily up there with something like Funkadelic's "Maggot Brain" as one of the finest funk jams in terms of atmosphere and transformational mood, and the high-point of the album by a long way. It's followed by something of a damp squib in the closer "Beetles In The Bog," a song which echoes some of the tone of "The Cisco Kid" but doesn't pull it off half as convincingly. Despite that, this is an album that makes precious few mistakes, and the only two songs that do struggle to wholly convince me are its shortest, meaning the vast majority of this album consists of some awe-inspiring soundscapes that it's a pleasure to get lost in. Anybody who might have even remotely enjoyed any of the other classic albums by Funkadelic or Sly And The Family Stone that I've recommended here will find a lot to love here, and I'm certainly excited to listen to more of War's stuff to find out what other great material I've missed out on in all these years since I first saw that Marmite ad.

Track Listing:

All songs written by Papa Dee Allen, Harold Brown, B.B. Dickerson, Lonnie Jordan, Charles Miller, Lee Oskar & Howard Scott)

1. The Cisco Kid

2. Where Was You At

3. City, Country, City

4. Four Cornered Room

5. The World Is A Ghetto

6. Beetles In The Bog