WAR — The World Is a Ghetto (review)

WAR — The World Is a Ghetto album cover Album · 1972 · Latin Rock/Soul Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
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.

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