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Following the collapse of the New Animals after the fetid LOVE IS double set, Eric regrouped in L.A., ostensibly to break into the film industry. His new managers Steve Gold and Jerry Goldstein had other ideas and paired the Newcastle Cat with Night Shift, a local Latin-funk bar band. The combo not only clicked, but cooked, 'specially when E.B. brought in a Danish harmonica ace named Lee Oskar to fill out the Shift's simmering, joyous soul/R&B gumbo. (Renaming the band War was Eric's way of turning a word associated with tragedy into a positive.) This collection gathers several high-points from their fertile fusion, most notably the loopy, infectious "Spill the Wine" and the moving "They Can't Take Away Our Music," easily the best song Burdon ever had a hand in writing. Note how E.B. graciously shares the mic with his bandmates before bringing down the house on the chorus---absolute magic. At their best, the Burdon/War partnership artfully fuses impressionistic lyricism with fluid funk ("Magic Mountain"; "Home Dream"; "Gun"; the anthemic "Home Cookin'"; the stirring chorus of the gospel-like "Beautiful Newborn Child" sounds like something from the O BROTHER WHERE ART THOU soundtrack). Even the oft-covered "Paint It Black" (Burdon already recorded it with the New Animals) is revived with a trippy salsa-funk arrangement. The only lemon here is the ridiculous cover of "Nights In White Satin," but Burdon never could let go of the sixties. And yet, War's so committed, they nearly make this dopey epic work. Even so, "Vision of Rahsaan" would have worked better here. Although War scored a string of great hits like "Slipping Into Darkness" and "Why Can't We Be Friends" after Burdon left the group (a long story), the band seemed somewhat faceless without their "overfed, long-haired leaping gnome" of a frontman.

...although it was nice to see Magic Mountain make the cut (the flip side to the smash hit Spill the Wine, which also made an appearance in the film called "The Magic Garden of Stanley Sweetheart" with the tagline; "Stanley Sweetheart needs a new head. He's growing one in his magic garden". starring Don "Miami Vice" Johnson). This by no means is the best of Eric Burdon & War. Not even close.

Sure, the essentials are here like Gun, Tobacco Road, Spill The Wine and Beautiful New Born Child. But it's what's left off that I find somewhat disturbing. Almost insulting to anyone who liked this version of War (Eric Burdon) more than the latter (Jerry's version). It can be argued that the latter were more relevent based on the amount of hits manufactured by the post-Burdon War. And they had alot of them in the 70's like The Cisco Kid, Gypsy Man and Slippin Into Darkness to name a few. I mean, who could forget Cheech prepping his Chevy to Low Rider in "Up In Smoke"? But when you think of "The Best Of;" you're thinking of something definitive. And that's not here on this compilation. Even though Burdon wasn't with War for very long, much more ground could have been covered.

The omissions are plentiful here. And why Out Of Nowhere, Sun/Moon and Pretty Colors are left off is any War-philes guess. No Roll On Kirk? Are you kidding? CD's hold approximately 70 minutes of recorded material and the gems The Bird And The Squirrel and (Charles Miller, famous for his sax solo in The World Is A Ghetto, played the flute every bit as good) Nuts, Seeds & Life are nowhere to be heard. Avenue records and whomever compiled this collection of songs for release proves yet again...to be out of touch with the War effort and their fans. oh and..."I am not wrong! They say they understand me, But I cannot stand to be understood!".

"The Best Of;"? ...Hardly.

olofpalme63

I see that the timings of the songs are listed here, and according to it,this CD contains the 4 minute "edited album version" of "Spill The Wine" instead of the full 5 minute version. I counted the total timings & saw this CD is about 56 minutes long. Why on earth put the single edit here when there's plenty of room for the full version? I'd gladly buy this album if only it had the full "Spill The Wine". I already have the short version on my "Best Of War & More" CD.

Eric Burdon, the white singer with the most privileged black voice ever born established during the brief time together (1969-1971) with WAR a true halo of musical fluency and literally opened a gate for the necessary exit of so many encountered rhythms that were in baling point at that moment. On one hand, Santana and his fusion elements, the Soul as the most genuine expression from the sixties, was in decay.

This fortunate blending of jazz elements and the Latin swing (alas Poncho Sanchez- Dizzy Gillespie and Manteca) was much more than a simple ensemble with successful results as Chicano for instance.

Burdon knew wisely to arrange famous versions of the hard rock and could harmonize them through his potent voice and a memorable team of notable musicians. Lonnie Jordan recalled with admiration these revealing opinions: 2 Eric taught me a lot - we were able to improvise with him in ways that I had not thought were possible before. Sometimes we'd play for 45 minutes nonstop on stage, improvising all the way through. He really amazed me."

Tobacco road and Paint in black were two anthological themes that literally received a new treatment and shone with own light. On the other hand you should take into ccou8nt the fantastic blues "Mother earth" and "Home dream", two track many times forgotten and even neglected at the moment to consider the most representative pieces of this famed ensemble.

Nevertheless "Spill the wine" would become the main presentation card and practically its hymn through the world.

In this sense this ensemble marked a landmark and not simply a transition vehicle as you could suppose, around the richness and future source of inspiration to many future ensembles that found and still on determining clues to create new possibilities of expression.

So this album is not only a refulgent and historical album, it's part of the reduced elite of invaluable recordings along the treasures of time. Pitifully I cannot give five stars because these pieces are not exactly the best of their production.

Despite the somewhat unusual gatefold photo the music was even more unusual. PC 3 was about as un-p.c. as it could be in 1970.Going on 34 years of hearing "Spirit" it still is a haunting song.Eric's voice melds with War's georgeous harmonies throughout.Especially on Pretty Colors. Eric is his sometimes salicious self on Bare Back Ride[great music].War brought out the best of Eric Burdon's stories.I had the pleasure of seeing this tour in 1970 in a college gym.Eric & War played over 2 1/2 hours of totally stoned out jazz/funk/soul/rock/blues/latin/ gospel/psychedelic/boogie/etc. To this day it was the best show I have ever seen.Eric makes "Knight's in White Satin" his own & even further confuses me about the song!Eric brings out the emotional highs & lows of the lyrics.War is the most under-rated part of this combo.What bar were they playing in before hooking up w/ Burdon?I would have liked to have seen the first time eric met them.A truely unique pairing that produced music that combined everything & knew no boundries.......the album/cd sounds as fresh & innovative today as in 1970.They even sneak in the hated DRUM & BASS solos.Eric still preachs love[Out of Nowhere].....The best is saved for last with "They Can't Take Away Our Music".Eric Burdon has always worn his heart on his sleeve w/ his references to those artists who made him the artist he still is in 2004.In this song he/they pays tribute to so many people that I had heard of but had never really HEARD that it still amazes me how far his /their musical experience was. This is music at it's Finest..... Crank up the volume and spend 90 minutes in musical bliss.Hey "Pretty Colors " brought back memories of ROY G BIV.

Music which goes to the core of life... Powerfull, original and very very cool...