Why Can't We Be Friends

War, ??? | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 18, 1992)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Avenue Records
• ASIN: B0000032V8
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,721 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

No Description Available
No Track Information Available
Media Type: CD
Artist: WAR
Title: WHY CAN'T WE BE FRIENDS?
Street Release Date: 08/18/1992
Domestic
Genre: SOUL/R & B

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Make it break down to the FUNKY, FUNKY rhythm!, January 30, 2007

By 

BiggO (Baltimore metro area) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Why Can't We Be Friends (Audio CD)

Growing up, this was my favorite WAR album. I was actually born a year before it was released, but by the time I was about three or four, this was one of those albums that just jumped out at me...mainly because of the COVER.I think it was my favorite because as a kid, I was happy, optimistic, and innocent (like most normal kids are). This is probably the most joyous album they ever made, and it was the first War album I really connected to.

Every song is good (but that was the norm for them, by then). War was always sort of a "communal" band; no single member ever stood out above the others. In fact on this album, you get to hear 6 of the 7 members sing lead vocals on their own cuts...even LEE OSKAR (the lone exception being Papa Dee Allen...who does get a verse on the title cut).
The songs that initially grabbed my pre-K attention on this album were "Low Rider" and "Smile Happy." Everybody knows the former cut; the latter is another in a long line of great instrumental cuts. Every song is great, though. In college, "Lotus Blossom" became a song that I really loved. "So" is a beautiful, melancholy tune that could be played during a really sad scene in an old western.

If you buy this album for just one song, buy it for "Heartbeat."
By the time my father bought me my OWN copy of this album when I was about 7, "Heartbeat" became my favorite cut. It's not as well-known as the other songs on this album or any OTHER War album, but it's a BEAST!!! A deceptively simple, "proto-rap" groove featuring Harold Brown on vocals, it's been sampled a few times by hip-hoppers (one of the first groups I remember using it was Whodini in the mid-80s) and is one of those songs that any DIE-HARD fan like myself knows even though casual fans don't have a clue. I don't think I've EVER heard it on the radio...not even the college stations, but this song is at or near the top of the list of their baddest funk workouts.

10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars WW III..., April 27, 2000

By 

yygsgsdrassil "yygsgsdrassil" (Crossroads America) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Why Can't We Be Friends (Audio CD)

...part III of the funkiest Trilogy ever. It has the road-dawg classic "Low Rider" and the anti-conflict ditty "Why Can't We Be Friends" and some of the best bossylatin/funk/California soul ever! You don't do better than these three Wars... per-i-od!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best albums of the 1970s, June 1, 2010

By 

New England Pat (Virginia, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Why Can't We Be Friends (Audio CD)

The eighth album by this popular group may be their best ever, achieving even greater popularity than their landmark album release, "The World is a Ghetto". War's instrumentals and vocals establish a nice groove for listeners with a mixture of R&B/rock fusion rhythms and mellow, soulful sounds that always satisfy. Each track is wonderful to hear, and "Heartbeat" seems to capture the group's personality, an uptempo, funky groove that bounces along and sweeps listeners along with it. Songs like "Lotus Blossom", "So", "Smile Happy" and "Low Rider" lead up to the title track which is a great way to close out the CD. This disc is a must-have for fans of 1970s soul music and of this group in particular.