Why Can't We Be Friends?

, War

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 18, 1992)
• Original Release Date: 1975
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Avenue Records
• ASIN: B0000032V8
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #13,512 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The title song remains the obvious hit and standout track on War's sixth album. Inspired by a fight that broke out in the audience before the group mounted the stage, "Why Can't We Be Friends?" became a Top 10 hit on both R&B and pop charts, as did the followup, "Low Rider." Another highlight is "Don't Let No One Get You Down," an upbeat, self-help message song. The rest of the album focuses on War's patented East L.A. sound, heavy with percussion, spiced with staccato bursts of horns and Lee Oskar's harmonica flares, filled with optimstic lyrics and soulful vocals, and includes the extended jam of "Heartbeat." If you like the low-rider sound that War pioneered, this is a great record for cruising or partying. --Tom Vickers

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 11 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 (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

...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 3 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

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.

5.0 out of 5 stars "War at it's best", July 25, 2005

By	J. A. Valerio (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

In my opinion one of the best War CD's, of course all their music is good. The sweet notes of "So", "Leroys Lament" and Mazatlan tug at your heart. "Lotus Blossom" poetic and beautiful. A must have CD for War lovers!!!!