War - Best of War More (13 tracks) +Album Reviews

Declaring "War" on Cheap Anthologies

Brian D. Rubendall | Oakton, VA | 02/10/2003

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I first owned "The Best of War...And More" on LP some twenty years ago, and unfortunately the CD version is not an improvement. Middleweight contestants in the arena of 1970s funk rock bands, War was far better at producing singles that albums, and as such needs to be represented by a decent anthology album. Instead, you get short edits of several songs, including "Spill the Wine" their debut compilation single with former Animal Eric Burdon. There's also a pointless remix of the single "Low Rider," that is redunant and unnecessary. The CD package contains no booklet, only a single sheet with very little information about the band. And at only 13 tracks total, it is a very skimpy collection.Overall, a shoddy anthology from a decent band that deserves better treatment."

Good Music -- Disappointing Selections

Westley | Stuck in my head | 08/03/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"The music of War sounds invariably recalls a sticky summer day in LA for me. Their sound was fairly progressive for the 1970's: combining latin sounds, jazz, funk, and rock. They racked up an array of great hits in the 1970's, first as the backup band for Animal's lead singer Eric Burdon and then on their own. The majority of their hits are here, including the Top 10 songs "Spill the Wine" (#3 in 1970), "The Cisco Kid" (#2 in 1973), ""Why Can't We Be Friends?" (#6 in 1975), "Low Rider" (#7 in 1975), and "Summer" (#7 in 1976). These songs are venerable enough to be "oldies," but they sound astonishingly current. Unsurprisingly, these songs have been sampled by numerous acts and used in numerous movies, perhaps most recently "21 Grams."

Unfortunately, this collection omits two of their biggest and best songs: "The World is a Ghetto" (#7 in 1973) and "Gypsy Man" (#8 in 1973). If a band has seven Top 10 singles, all of those songs should be on their greatest hits collection! The CD also culminates on a low-note - a 1987 remix by Arthur Baker of "Low Rider." You might not recognize that name, but you'll recognize Baker's sound; he scored such 80's movie as "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," and he injects the remix with an unhealthy dose of 80's cheese.

Ultimately, this anthology is arguably the best single-disk compilation of War's music although with some serious flaws. Casual fans will probably be satisfied, but others should seek out one of their double-disk collections.

"

Edited versions and a major omission bring this one down

rockland6674 | Massachusetts, USA | 03/10/2002

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Any War compilation that doesn't include "The World Is A Ghetto" really shouldn't be called a "best-of". I just don't understand why Rhino/Avenue chose to omit this song, yet included two versions (the original and a remix) of "Low Rider". I realize that "The World Is A Ghetto" appears on "The Best Of War And More, Volume 2," but we shouldn't HAVE to buy Volume 2 to get this song. Then again, maybe this is why it was omitted from Volume 1. Also, "Spill The Wine," "The Cisco Kid," "All Day Music" and "Slippin' Into Darkness" are edited versions that were supplied to radio stations, not the longer versions that appeared on the regular 45s (The edited version of "Spill The Wine" keeps turning up on War compilations. You need to pick up "Eric Burdon Declares 'War'" to get the unedited version.)"

The food is great but the portions are small

Andy Agree | Omaha, NE | 04/10/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"War was a joyful band of rhythmic funksters with clever vocals and gorgeous harmonies. This collection includes most of their best songs from the 70s, but is missing some real gems (notably "Gypsy Man" and "The World is a Ghetto"). Another reviewer pointed out that some of the tracks are shortened radio edits. There may be more cases of this than I can recognize, but either way there are some songs here, like "Slipping into Darkness" and "All Day Music", that are just too good to be this short.. "City Country City" is whittled down to just the "country" section, and lacks the journey from and back to the city that made the original so evocative. But the music is superb (except for "Living in the Red"), and even the songs that have never disappeared from radio play still stand up well ("Low Rider" and the charmingly weird "Spill the Wine"). But like a delicious meal with too-small portions, this CD leaves me hungering for more. A great band needs a strong "best of" collection, and this CD just isn't it. So why 5 stars? Because setting aside all the coulda-woulda-shouldas about this as a compilation, 4 stars just doesn't quite describe the superior quality of the music it contains."

If it isn't broke?

lsikl26210@aol.com | Florida | 04/14/1999

(2 out of 5 stars)

"This is a bad compilation of a great band. If you notice, there are two Best Of's. That is because this album is missing some great songs. The much better, 1976 Greatest Hits was only released as a Gold CD, is now out of stock, and is sorely missed."

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