War “The World is a Ghetto”

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#466 in the Series) is War, The World is a Ghetto

I’m not sure if you heard that Jerry Lewis is no longer hosting the Labor Day Telethon.  The news got out last week.  Prior to that, it was announced that the show would not be its usual 21 hours.  Starting this year, it’s only going to be on for six hours.  I’m really bummed about this.  I really got a kick out of the stuff that would happen about three or four in the morning.  It could get really interesting at times.  One of the things that I’d see every year was War playing about a 10 minute medley of all their hits. I have no idea who was in the band anymore, but they sounded good every year.  I hope they make the cut in the shorter show.  I did some more snooping around. The band I want to see is actually now called “Lowrider Band” I believe they contain most of the original band like Lee Oscar, Harold Brown,  Howard Scott and BB Dickerson. So remember the name  “Lowrider Band.”

I’ve wanted to have them represented on our Cool Album of the Day site for some time.  I’ve looked a few times and never could decide on which album to write-up.  Just about every album has a couple great songs on it.  They all seemed pretty good to me.

I’ve decided to go with “The World is a Ghetto” why, well it was rated the 449^th best album on Rolling Stone Magazine’s Top 500 list. It’s the only album from War that made the list. I guess I’ll go with it for that reason.

“The World is a Ghetto” had two major hits on the disc. The title cut and “Cisco Kid.” “The World is a Ghetto “as a single peaked at #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.”Cisco Kid” was the highest charting single in the band’s history, it just missed making it to the top. It peaked at #2.  As an album, it reached #1.  1972 was a nice year for these guys.

— Larry Carta

 Track listing

All tracks composed by War (Papa Dee Allen, Harold Brown, B.B. Dickerson, Lonnie Jordan, Charles Miller, Lee Oskar, Howard E. Scott).

Side one

1. “The Cisco Kid” – 4:35
2. “Where Was You At” – 3:25
3. “City, Country, City” – 13:18

Side Two

1. “Four Cornered Room” – 8:30
2. “The World Is a Ghetto” – 10:10
3. “Beetles in the Bog” – 3:51

Personnel

• Howard Scott – guitar, percussion, vocals
• B.B. Dickerson – bass, percussion, vocals
• Lonnie Jordan – organ, piano, timbolies, percussion, vocals
• Harold Brown – drums, percussion, vocals
• Papa Dee Allen – conga, bongos, percussion, vocals
• Charles Miller – clarinet, alto, tenor and baritone saxes, percussion, vocals
• Lee Oskar – harmonica, percussion, vocals

War Bonus Videos: Some of their other best tunes. Great Stuff