WAR — War (review)

WAR — War album cover Album · 1971 · Latin Rock/Soul Buy this album from MMA partners
3/5 ·
Sean Trane
This third self-titled album was first supposed to be an offshoot project as the War musicians wanted to live their own existence, and with Eric Burdon’s consent, they went into the studio and recorded this album with their lead singer, but with the Dane Lee Oskar. The album relies a lot on older tracks from their Creators and Nightshift days, when they toured LA’s club scene. They also added another couple newer tracks to complete the album. With another impressive “hand” artwork, the album did use the name WAR, not even knowing that this would be no more a problem, since Eric Burdon left a few weeks after its release. Soo War is really a transitional album, growing from a psychedelic blues band into a jazzy-latin funk combo with plenty to say in future albums.

Opening on the delightful Sun Oh Son, a slow-starting organ-driven funk, written for the occasion by guitarist Scott with now-singer Dickerson dishing out the Vietnam-minded lyrics. A strong start, but unfortunately almost cancelled by an up-tempo piano-driven Lonely Feelings blues that goes back to their Nightshift days (pre-69). Nothing wrong with that particular track per se, but it’s just another blues. Closing the first side, War Drums is another pre-Burdon track, but this one hits the right button with its up-tempo percussions and inspired sax… generally War is over-extending their tracks, but here they probably should’ve expanded a bit more.

Opening the flipside is Lee Oskar’s Vibeka, dedicated to Dane ex-girlfriend that had died too soon, it is based on a Scott chord succession and an Oskar melody, but nothing worth waking up the neighbours by raising your volume to 11. And what to say about this complete waste of time called Fidel’s Fantasy where the band taunts Castro…. Pretty useless some 40 years down the road, when Fidel is still around and I’m not sure Dee Allen singing this is still on this planet of ours.

Little did the band know when they recorded WAR, that Eric Burdon was about to leave them a few weeks later, but this “solo” album came in perfectly in time to help the band build their confidence to go at it without their wild frontman. While this album was not exactly made for chart success, it hit the spot right on, by being almost invisible in the charts. Definitely a bit of a disappointment, this self-titled album is best seen as transitional, where the band morphs slowly from a psych-blues band to a jazzy-funk-rock combo.

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