The Ravages of War

What the hell is this?!," I shouted as I opened the promo kit only to find a plastic army helmet with the words "War is Coming" neatly stenciled across the front. The helmet and other equally ridiculous gimmicks were dreamed up by some under assistant West Coast promo man to announce War's first "solo" album.

But how can a group have a solo album? It's not easy. First of all you have to be a black band that helps a neurotic white blues singer like Eric Burden achieve his ultimate fantasy. And you've got to play along with this white singer's fantasies and record with him foolish albums like Black Man's Burden. Sooner or later you'll realize that the white man is using you as his fool once again, and you'll try to make it on your own with a new record company. Usually it's the singer that leaves the band who has the solo album; in War's case it was the other way around.

War, their first album, fell flat on its face. It was hopelessly laden with ridiculous production techniques that appeared to be the product of the most infantile of minds. For example, on the first cut, Sun Oh Sun, while the band sang "Bullets" on one channel, a gun went off on the other. Cute, hey? Ugh! The problem was made all the worse because Sun Oh Sun was potentially a good song.

In order to add to the group's misery, United Artists busied itself promoting the album by offering a free ride on a tank to anyone who bought the album in Los Angeles. The company also forced the group to appear in ridiculous 99-cent concerts in the Hollywood Bowl.

But all of that was last year. Now War is back with a second album, All Day Music. It may well be one of the best releases of the year.

Although the same production staff--Jerry Goldstein and Chris Huston--did both albums, they seem to have gained some measure of experience and have decided to cut the inane gimmicks this time around. The band--Howard Scott, guitar; B.B. Dickerson, bass; Lonnie Jordan, keyboards; Harold Brown, drums; Papa Dee Allen, conga and bongos; Charles Miller, horns; and Lee Oskar, harmonica--also seems to be tighter and more sure of themselves. Even United Artists has gotten itself together and instead of a lot of hype the promo man just handed me the album and said, "Here, you'll like this." He couldn't have been more correct. "All Day Music," the title cut, starts the album off, and like most of the other songs it is based on a percussive, African rhythm. The various instruments interweave creating a sound smoother than the finest silk. Voice adds to voice until the listener is confronted with a solid wall of harmony. The whole song just fits into a nice, easy groove. The song really conveys the feeling of lazily lying around the grass on a beautiful spring day in California. It's beautiful.

War has its heavy side too. "Get Down," another cut, has a hard, driving rhythm that makes you want to get up and clap your hands and stomp your feet. When the band starts singing "you've got to get down, down, down," you feel compelled to join in and shout out a mighty "Get down brothers!" at the end.

The album is essentially without any flaws. It is diverse, to be sure, but there is a complex unity that stitches the whole album together. The material ranges anywhere from "Nappy Head" the theme to the movie Ghetto Man, to the driving "Baby Brother" that was recorded live at one of War's 99-cent concerts.

"There Must Be A Reason" on the first side sums up all the various influences operating on War. The song begins with soft vocal harmonies eventually leading into a tumultuous, forceful cry. Throughout the song, the instruments are carefully blended in front of a very rhythmic percussion pattern. Although the production teeters along the fine line between good production and over-production, it manages to pull the whole song together into one dynamic whole.

War has come a long way since the summer of 1970 and "Spill the Wine." They've matured both as musicians and composers, and with "All Day Music" they've made a superb musical statement.