Meanwhile, high time i posted something in the fridaynight groove corner. One of the grooviest bands of the seventies was War a name they got from the man who sort of put them on the map, Eric Burdon, only to disappear into relative obscurity shortly afterwards. Their first get together i posted earlier (Rhotation 5). As this week is all about doublebubbles Burdon & War's second perfectly fits the bill, a real classic from a time that smoking whatever was common and the nights were long and sweatty...take a little trip
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Eric Burdon was a founding member and vocalist of the Animals, a band originally formed in Newcastle in the early 1960s. The Animals were one of the leading bands of the "British Invasion", and the band had quite a following around the world. Along with The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Dave Clark Five, and Gerry and The Pacemakers, they introduced British music and fashion to an entire generation in an explosion of great tunes and outspoken attitude on, and off the stage. Burdon sang on such Animal classics as "The House of the Rising Sun", "Good Times", "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood", "Bring It On Home to Me", and "We Gotta Get Out of this Place". The Animals combined the traditional blues with rock to create a unique sound. By 1966 the original members had left, except for Barry Jenkins, and the band was reformed as Eric Burdon and the Animals later going through several line-up changes, the New Animals .This lasted until 1969.
War formed out of the ashes of an earlier R&B covers group, The Creators. In 1968, the band was reconfigured and dubbed Nightshift; Peter Rosen was the new bassist, and percussionist Thomas Sylvester "Papa Dee" Allen, who'd previously played with Dizzy Gillespie, came onboard, along with two more horn players. In 1969 they were discovered by producer Jerry Goldstein, he suggested the band as possible collaborators to former Animals lead singer Eric Burdon, who along with Danish-born harmonica player Lee Oskar had been searching L.A. clubs for a new act.
After witnessing Nightshift in concert, Burdon took charge of the group. He gave them a provocative new name, War, and replaced the two extra horn players with Oskar. To develop material, War began playing marathon concert jams over which Burdon would free-associate lyrics. In August 1969, Burdon and War entered the studio for the first time, and after some more touring, they recorded their first album, 1970's Eric Burdon Declares War. The spaced-out daydream of "Spill the Wine" was a smash hit, climbing to number three and establishing the group in the public eye. A second album, The Black Man's Burdon, was released before the year's end, and over the course of two records it documented the group's increasingly long improvisations.
Burdon's contract allowed War to be signed separately, and they soon inked a deal with United Artists, intending to record on their own as well as maintaining their partnership with Burdon. Burdon -- citing exhaustion -- suddenly quit during the middle of the group's European tour in 1971, spelling the beginning of the end; he rejoined War for a final U.S. tour and then left for good.
In 1971 Burdon began a solo career. Around this time, he also recorded the album Guilty! He has led a number of groups named Eric Burdon Band or some variation thereof, with constantly changing personnel. Burdon rejoined briefly with the other original Animals in 1976 and 1983, but neither union lasted. His popularity has remained stronger in continental Europe than in the UK or U.S. Today he continues to record and tour either on his own, or in front of yet another version of "Eric Burdon and the Animals" as Black & White Blues
War had already issued their self-titled, Burdon-less debut at the beginning of 1971, but it flopped. Before the year was out, they recorded another effort, All Day Music, which spawned their first Top 40 hits in "All Day Music" and "Slippin' Into Darkness". The follow-up album, 1972's The World Is a Ghetto; boosted by a sense of multicultural harmony, topped the charts and sold over three million copies, making it the best-selling album of 1973. Deliver the Word was another million-selling hit, though it had less of the urban grit that War prided themselves on. War consolidated their success with the double concert LP War Live, recorded over four nights in Chicago during 1974.
Released in 1975, Why Can't We Be Friends returned to the sound of The World Is a Ghetto with considerable success. The bright, anthemic title track hit the Top Ten, as did "Low Rider," an irresistible slice of Latin funk that became the group's first (and only) R&B chart-topper, and still stands as their best-known tune. 1976 brought the release of a greatest-hits package featuring the new song "Summer," which actually turned out to be War's final Top Ten pop hit. A double-LP compilation of jams and instrumentals appeared on the Blue Note jazz label in 1977, under the title Platinum Jazz; it quickly became one of the best-selling albums in Blue Note history.
In 1977, the band switched labels, moving to MCA for Galaxy; though it sold respectably, and the title track was a hit on the R&B charts, disco was beginning to threaten the gritty, socially aware funk War specialized in, and it proved to be the last time War would hit the Top 40. After completing the Youngblood soundtrack album in 1978, the original War lineup began to disintegrate.
Things started to go downhill for the group in the late 70s when bassist B.B. Dickerson left and another member, Charles Miller, was murdered. Various line-up changes followed but the original magic was lost and the group were not as successful, eventually becoming just a touring act. Papa Dee Allen collapsed and died on-stage of a brain aneurysm in 1988, leaving Jordan, Hammon, Oskar, and Scott as the core membership. Interest in War's classic material remained steady, as they have been heavily sampled by hip-hop artists creating a new generation that discovered the music of War. The band continues to tour, although with only one of the original members.
Eric Burdon and War were reunited for the first time in 37 years, to perform a concert at the Royal Albert Hall London on 21 April 2008. The concert coincided with a major reissue campaign by Rhino Records (UK), who released all the War albums including Eric Burdon Declares "War" and The Black-Man's Burdon.
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The title is a pun on The Black Man's Burden, an expression which refers to black slavery, used as the title of a book by E. D. Morel (1920) in response to the poem, "The White Man's Burden" (1899) by Rudyard Kipling, which refers to (and champions) American imperialism (including its history of slavery).
Eric Burdon & War - The Black-Man's Burdon 1 ( 105mb )
Paint it Black suite (01-07) (13:24)
01. Black On Black In Black (2:04)
02. Paint It Black (2:04)
03. Laurel & Hardy (1:21)
04. Paint It Black II (1:10)
05. P.C. 3 (1:33)
06. Black Bird (2:13)
07. Paint It Black III (2:57)
08. Spirit (8:34)
09. Beautiful New Born Child (5:07)
Nights in White Satin suite (10-14) (17:29)
10. Nights In White Satin I (4:28)
11. The Bird & The Squirrel (2:45)
12. Nuts, Seeds & Life (4:01)
13. Out Of Nowhere (3:21)
14. Nights In White Satin II (2:52)
Eric Burdon & War - The Black-Man's Burdon 2 (107mb)
01. Sun / Moon (10:07)
02. Pretty Colors (6:47)
03. Gun (5:50)
04. Jimbo (4:52)
05. Bare Back Ride (7:09)
06. Home Cookin' (4:13)
07. They Can't Take Away Our Music (6:51)
Elsewhere on this blog--Rhotation 05
Eric Burdon Declares "War" ( 69 ^ 97mb)
War Greatest Hits ( 76 ^ 98mb)
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