Customer Reviews

Why Can't We Be Friends

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

...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!

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.

Great CD, of much missed LP from my youth. My son "stole" the LP years ago when he was my age when I first heard it.

It has been such a long time since I heard it in full and have driven my neighbours mad with repeat playings.

Thank you, great price, speedy delivery.

War were one of the bands that benefited very heavily from the united funk era of the early/mid 70's. They scored enormous success on all fronts with 1972's World Is a Ghetto which built up momentum for the less heralded Deliver the Word. Those and one spirited live set later War were back in the same basic place they were in 1972. But there was a change. As occurs with most musical genres a certain level of sophistication is bound to occur. And that's what happens here to a great degree. As another reviewer pointed out War were very much a collective band where one member never dominated the spotlight,at least not for very long. It was one of the main features of funk bands during the 70's And on this album the bands very nature becomes the source of their latest development. Here vocals take a much stronger overall priority in the music than it did before,not that instrumentation still isn't at the same level. Even still it's very much people music all the way.

"Don't Let No One Get You Down" and "Lotus Blossom" both start the album out with two sophisticated midtempo funky soul ballads. A similar flavor returns later in the album with "So". But in between there's something very interesting happening. In keeping with the bands ability at instrumental jamming in a number of musical genres channeled together through funk "Leroy's Latin Lament" takes the cake-it's sophisticated balladry,afro latin funk and even mid 70's pop/rock all at once without ever sacrificing it's sense of being firmly in the groove. There's no mistaking where "Heartbeat" comes in-it's full on boogaloo funk all the way and keeps it up for more than six minutes. It's always been one of my favorite of the uptempo grooves here,even when I only had the album on vinyl. "Smile Happy" and "In Mazatlan" both have these jazzy,harmony rich effects to them with the combination of percussion with different instrumental effects. Of course there's the big hit songs. The most well known,that latin rock classic "Low Rider" and the title track,with it's witty reggae style take on dealing with racial differences is another favorite of mine,no matter how much I've heard it.

Musically speaking War wouldn't make any more records quite like this interestingly enough until the early 80's. They'd always remain one of the more individual of the original funk era bands. Very much in the spirited of Santana and Mandrill they seemed to have this certain flavor to their sound that was very much their own. All the same,especially in the slickness on some of the slower vocal numbers here the subtle changes in sound they'd undergo for the remainder of the decade does begin to show it's face. Unlike many bands who will switch styles in abrupt musical jump cuts,War had the good sense to make the transition gradually over the course of a few albums,as opposed to just getting themselves too wet in a new sound right away. Not only did it keep a lot of their listeners with them. But made the transitions seem less severe. And from my experience nothing seems to be more potentially frightening for any musicians to overcome with their audience than too severe a musical transition. And will the overall creative caliber of this album that was something War managed to avoid entirely.

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!!!!

Some really classic tracks on this cd and what a great cover a lot of their music is played in movies.

Why Can't We Be Friends? is best remembered more for what it wasn't. That is to say; this wasn't War as much as it was War impersonating War. Although at the height of their commercial success, War seem to be performing in a practical mode. Thus rendering the results predictable.

The campy clown band feel of Friends shows a witty, softer side of War. And even though Low Rider (no mistaking B.B.Dickerson's thumping bass here) was a hit on both sides of the Billboard charts, one can't help but think how out of place it feels on this 1975 release. Low Rider did find proper digs in Cheech & Chong's Up in Smoke film and soundtrack.

Confusing and somewhat disoriented, Why Can't We Be Friends? hints at the days of disco that lie ahead. Even though the War effort seems to be winding down, Jerry and the crew cashed in on the next release (Greatest Hits). However, War would never reach these heights (commercially) in the studio again.

olofpalme63

War is classic rock/funk at its best however this CD isn't the best choice for it. A couple songs stand out such as Low Rider and Why Can't We Be Friends but they have so many other soul/ old school songs that one Cd can't capture

This album, along with "The World Is A Ghetto" is the best album this band has put out. Te title track, along with "Low Rider" are two of the best songs this band has recorded. Pick this album up and bring back those memories. If you are new to this band, it will introduce you to some of the better music of the 70's.