dreadpirateroberts Laid back without being sleepy, War's third release is confident funk with jazzy moments complete with pretty flawless R&B and soul-styled vocals. A number one album in 1972, it included two top ten singles and is just about a track for track knock out.

Their third album after Eric Burden left mid-tour in 1971, 'The World is a Ghetto' was triumphant release, building on their previous album 'All Day Music' and surpassing it in both scope and performance. Opening with the humorous 'Cisco Kid' with its quirky organ, sax and clarinet (not to mention the lyrics) it was a hit single that Duncan Renaldo (The Cisco Kid) apparently liked and found 'funny' when he met Scott.

'Where Was You At' follows with its funky guitar and one of the surprises for those new to War's brand of funk, Oskar's harmonica - which features prominently in the album's highlight 'City, Country, City.' Named exceedingly well, it's cruisy, evoking dusty trails and open fields courtesy of acoustic guitar and harmonica, but also spliced with sudden morphs into more urban-sounding territory as the tempo picks up and Miller is given room to perform several saxophone solos before he gives way to Jordan's organ. The piece incorporates a percussion break and a quiet guitar solo from Scott before fading into 'Four Cornered Room' with its Wild West feel, another longer piece that shows the band's flair for thematics - and plays out over a gradual build that allows the vocalists to improvise around the title.

The album's second single, the title track, is a masteful a song, starting out in a deceptively gentle manner before the horns burst into the song's melody. Again, Oskar's harmonica plays an important role, as do the wonderful harmony vocals - not to mention the lead performances. Almost a lament for LA, it's theme is pretty universal if you've spent any time in, well, any city. Blessed with big bass sound and Brown's relaxed groove, the song picks up a little for the choruses but manages to occupy a state in between the tone of verse and chorus for the solos (where Miller gets a little frantic for just a moment), courtesy of a subtle shift in the bassline and beat.

Wrapping things up is 'Beetles in the Bog' which has a similar quirky feel to the opener, but the endless 'chorus' sound to vocal doesn't really work for me and the song kind of fades from memory pretty quickly. Still, an album that deserves its place on all the 'Greatest Album' lists floating around out there, as few bands seem to be as good as War at keeping their funk relaxed without becoming dull.

Sean Trane After the ultra-successful ADM album, War had to confirm that they were no fluke and their next effort certainly did that. Actually with that cartoon artwork and a committing title like The World is A Ghetto, War assured themselves a multi-racial following.

The album’s opening track is one of the group’s most enduring tracks showing that the LA band was looking beyond the bay all the way to Frisco: Cisco Kid is a Latino-rhythmed track that had me wonder if it was one of Nuyorican-group of Mandrill or Cymande’s track. The following Where Was You At is more of a funky-fied Gospel music. The lengthy 13-mins+ City Country City was originally foreseen as a movie soundtrack of Nigger Charlie (but it didn’t happen), which might explained some lengths here and there. Musically in the better moments, we are close to High-Heeled-Traffic or Auger’s Oblivion Express. Flute, organs, sax and congas a gogo, but it could’ve been shortened a bit.

The flipside opens on the superb slow-tempoed moody epic Four Cornered Room, with solid and stupendous vocal harmonies sending chills down the spine and it is the entrance to the album’s centre. The title track is a no-less superb track, that probably fits best as War’s anthem track. Thoughtful lyrics, delicate lavish vocal harmonies (Burdon is now light years away), exquisite wind instruments interventions, discrete guitars, superb Latin percussions (bongos, congas) and always on-the-dot keyboards (mostly organ) and an edited version became the second hit of the album. The closing Beetles In The Bog is not dealing with the Fab Four lost in the Bayou, but is the album’s most up-tempoed funk track set to the usual War vocal harmonies and is an amazing end to the album.

Easily as good as the outstanding AD, if not better, Ghetto is one or my all-time fave ethnic album and the music is was then groundbreaking (as was Traffic, Mandrill, Cymande and a few more) and most progheads would gain to re-discover how such groups were progressing music along their own terms.