The World is a Ghetto

i love how this album feels like one long jam session - there’s only six songs so they all kind of flow together as different acts in a whole piece, to the extent that i found myself occasionally forgetting which track i was on and getting lost in the music. there’s an extremely solid groove throughout, the group vocals play into the social consciousness of the lyrics and it gets to have fun and laidback moments without taking away from the overall experience. the saxophone playing is also spectacular, particularly on “city, country, city.” i ought to include my favourite tracks on each album from here on out, for this one it was the title track. 8.5/10.

mid - 2

Better when I give it more attention

I was not familiar with this band, and listening to this I described to my friend it sounds like "Low Rider" and started talking about how much I hated that song when it would play on late night TV when George Lopez would be jumping across the screen. Turns out it is the same band. This is clearly not my type of music. "City, Country, City" 13 minutes of percussion and bass lines is 13 minutes I will never get back. " Beetles in the Bog" sounds like Oompa Loompa music. Great album art though. 1/5.

Стильна робота. Класні ритми, є грув. Можна трохи покритикувати за легку одноманітність.

Дуже стильний і кайфовий альбом від легенд. Мало слухав їх, а дарма!

The insanely long and repetitive instrumentals and semi instrumentals were so incredibly boring that I had to skip forward in search of something different in them. Safe to say not for me

Funk is great when it's about feeling good. It's even better when it's about feeling bad.

This is a solid album that has some really excellent musicianship. It didn't really connect with me today, but I could see my rating improving a fair bit on repeat listens. Also, I would like to voice my appreciation of the great, moody album art that really fits the vibes of the music well. Favorite track: "The World Is a Ghetto"

Good

The long tracks were too long but very good album otherwise. Some very good grooves and musicianship.

Yea this jams hard and it feels rude to not give it a 5.

Чувствую себя обманутым и разачарованным , такое хорошее начало и очень посредственное продолжения альбома

thought the psychedelic tapestry of this funk record was pretty cool

I was expecting good things from this album but sadly it didn't hit the mark.

I had high expectations for this one, but it didn't end up working for me

I feel bad for not really liking a funk band with on point messages about society but the jam elements just never really worked for me. Every song meanders along for too long with not quite enough hooks before fizzling out except for maybe Beetles in the Bog, which was a pretty high point to end the album on.

this album makes me feel like i'm part of an underground rat gang hanging out in the cutscene of a video game where we're executing a dodgy hamster but the hamster tries to escape and we start hunting him slowly through the city and everything is in slow motion. will never be this cool in real life. 3.25/5

Rate: 7.5/10.

What a surprise. This goes

Alright this.

This music is empty, gives me nothing but it has a mood, was not so boring to listen to it.

Bom

The one 13 minute long track leaned a little elevator music- but still funky elevator music. Overall I enjoyed this

Loved the first cut “The Cisco Kid” but the rest of the songs just didn’t didn’t live up to that o r.

This one kinda blew me away. The instrumentals reminded me of "Lowrider", lo and behold, "Lowrider" is their song! The density of instruments and how they interplay is fascinating. Love the soulful vocals. Sprawling, varied interesting songs. I need to listen to more of these guys!

Really liked this one! The instrumentation is so creative!

Great funk, and not annoying in the way Eric Burton can be

(Strong 7/10) Pretty fun record! The lead single "Cisco Kid" is fun but I heard it a lot on the radio as a kid and it kinda wore off for me. The track that really blew my socks off was "City, Country, City". That jam was stellar and the way they play off of each other was super cool. The psyched out dirge of "Four Cornered Room" brought it down a bit for me, but really this album is just a good time. Will definitely grow on me more the more I hear it.

Good.

Thought I’d like this more. Two big hits (Cisco Kid and Why Can’t We Be Friends) but their other big hits were better (Spill the Wine, Low Rider, Slipping Into Darkness, Summer, All Day Music). Non-hits here were just okay.

An ok album I like the instrumental songs it's not ground breaking but solid music quite enjoyable Just nothing spectacular, with more listens I might change to a higher rating but for now it's a 3

What a groovy album. Cisco Kid was the only one I knew going in, and that was already a classic to me. City Country City's fun, jazzy journey between a light, calm countryside and an up-tempo, bustling city makes it such a neat track. Despite the fact that it's 13 minutes it never feels like it. World Is A Ghetto and Beetles In The Bog are also a lot of fun.

The Cisco Kid The World Is a Ghetto

quite enjoyable vibe but says nothing 3.5 stars.

Ok

smooth psychedelic funk at its best

Favourite War album

Great mix of genres. Way exceeded expectations.

The Cisco Kid is an overplayed turd but thankfully it picks up after that

Glad I listened to this again cause I'd forgotten how much of it was instrumentals. Anyway: iconic

I hear “Cisco Kid” now and again on the radio but didn’t know anything else about War. I think I really like 70’s funk like this and Sly. That bass and that groove I can really get into. Even the 10 minute plus instrumental “City, Country, City” slaps hard. “World is a Ghetto” is a standout with its socially conscious lyrics.

Too much like the Grateful Dead for me. Too funky, too jammy. I appreciate how great the music is but don’t enjoy it

Where Was You At is fantastic! What an interesting record.

Never heard the non-hits. Great stuff.

Thought I would have liked this more than I did

Some groovy shit happening her

This record is kind of one-note and not really any better than any of the other horn bands of the 70s. A little more soulful and groovy, but it felt like background to other's foreground.

Loved the voice. Interesting

Great diversity of instrumentation, an amazing fusion of soul and jazz, with touches of psychedelia, funk, and blues. All in all a great listen, and easily one of the best album covers of all time. Favorite Song: City, Country, City Score: 87/100

Pas écouté en entier

it’s like walking in the street, is kinda cold, is fall, you are going home kinda album

Regular usual soul experience - however, at least I've listened to other War songs apart from Low Rider ha-ha

City, Country, City is the shit.

Heard before?:❌️ Will listen again?:❓️

oh. yes. love the intro to city, country, city. actually this whole track is fire yesterday i got jimmy smith / back at the chicken shack, which was a good, but standard, 4 piece jazz set up. then i listened to soft machine / third, which was a very experimental, esoteric prog jazz situation. this is like the best of both worlds. it's got the varied instrumentation. the tracks are not interminably long, but it's got some great vocals. this was released the same year as curtis mayfield / superfly, and you can hear the relation. but this is in the jazz form. it's a 5/5

Cool, easy listening

Enjoyable enough listen, not really my style but would be happy to listen again.

Loved it. Soulful, funky, groovy, fivestarsy

noisy

The opening line of "Cisco Kid" took me waaay back...but I didn't know any other lyrics! Good vibe.

3.5. Was too slow and melancholy for me to want to listen again, but some stars for social commentary, some nice vocal harmonies, expressive sax solo, and an overall cool rhythmic vibe. This did prompt me to do some listening to the Why Can't We Be Friends album by War, and I liked that one more!

Love the slow funk grooves. Lots of room for the instruments to breathe.

More soul and jazz than the typical Funk from War Urban in the dictionary definition meaning “Reflecting the fast-paced habits, styles, or attitudes typical of city dwellers.” In this case resulting in a sophisticated, soul -infused, mix of funk, rock and jazz I was leaning towards a 4 but “City,country, city” is such a banger - a 13 minute jazz funk masterpiece that raise the bar for the album that never drops again

Nice sound, but I can't really find any interesting songs in those overlong jams

Really good funk

Pretty cool album. I think the only song I had heard from war before was Low Rider. This album sounded like a funky, jazz album. Kinda like Steely Dan but better than them. Enjoyed it.

Pretty cool, but some tracks were overly long

great 7/10

The Cisco Kid - 8/10. Funky and classic. Where Was You At - 7/10. More good soul music. City, Country, City - 8/10. Jazzy and slick. Four Cornered Room - 8/10. Jazzy and slick. The World is a Ghetto - 9/10. This is chill in the best possible way, and a reminder that the conflict has always been Rich vs Everyone Else. Beetles in the Bog - 8/10. Super cool and chill. Overall Rating - 4.00/5 (8.00/10). This is classic, old-school soul, and I'm totally here for it. Chill, relaxed, but with a clear and positive message through the lyrics. We're all in this together.

Wasn't sure what to expect going into this, but I have to say that this was amazing. Some good lengthy songs with great musicians to make them worth listening to. Will have to revisit this one, especially City, Country, City.

La verdad que no me pareció gran cosa el disco. Por momentos aburrido, por momentos buenos temas. Lo que sí, algunos temas muy largos... 6 canciones para 43 minutos es poco.

Surpreendente

Enjoyable listen, but didn't expect so much to be instrumental. It's smooth and funky, with standout tracks like Cisco Kid and the title track. Not sure I'll return to it much but solid album.

Gear: ZMF Bokeh Closed Artwork: 🪝🚗🏚️ Production (50th Anniversary Edition): 🎧😘🤌 Music: 🐢🎷💎 Rating: 👑👑👑👑(👑)/5

The groove sessions are cool, but won't be rushing back

😃

Interesting album. Wouldn't be my usual sort of thing, but I found it was good to have on in the background while working and just groove away. I don't think I'd otherwise want to just sit and listen to it though – the jam nature of the band means some of the tracks get quite repetitive, and one or two are maybe overly long.

This is a good album to do on chores day or you’re walking to the gym just so you know task you need to do and you need background music wars got you here get you up and going with Cisco‘s kid and then you just feel the groove all the way through some of the songs are very very long but again you’re just hearing the music as it flows through a man gotta give it a five out of five, but it definitely has its place. Don’t think I would return to this album a lot but when I need an album to do some chores or walk to the gym and I don’t really wanna focus on a lot of lyrics and just groove here you go.

Very groovy. Love it

Muy bueno che

An enjoyable listen.

I must have worn the grooves out in this LP when it first came out. I thought, and I still do, that these guys are one of the grittiest and funkiest bands ever to grace my ears. The title track especially is epic soul/funk. So I've seen them once in concert and they did not disappoint.

低端派对感觉是对的啊

4.4/5 Favorite Songs: The Cisco Kid City, Country, City The World Is A Ghetto

The Cisco Kid - 4/5 Where Was You At - 3.5/5 City, Country, City - 4/5 Four Cornered Room - 3.5/5 The World is a Ghetto - 4/5 Beetles in the Bog - 4/5 A good funk outing with some influences of soul, latin, jazz, rock, and others. A perfect soundtrack for traveling around New York during the 70s. Overall: 4/5 Favorites: The Cisco Kid, The World is a Ghetto

Jag har lite blandade känslor för detta album. Det är sjukt groovy och instrumentalt helt otroligt skickligt utfört. Älskar alla funky vibes, alla jazziga vibes och det allmänna groovet. ”City, Country, City” är min favoritlåt på albumet. 13 minuter rå banger. Det enda negativa jag har att säga om albumet är att jag inte alltid älskar sången. Jag tror säkert detta album skulle kunna vara en av mina favoriter om jag lyssnar mer.

Gillar albumet mycket, om jag hade mer tid att lyssna hade detta blivit bättre i bättre. Vilket jag märkte efter andra och tredje lyssningen. Ger detta en 8

Instrumental, piola de fondo, nada wow. 6.5/10

some fun prog jazz

Didn't know War had albums like this (a lot of improvisational stuff), but I liked it.

"Cisco Kid" is a song I always liked when I heard it on the radio back in the day, so hearing that funky vaguely Latin beat song first put me in a good mood to hear the rest of this record. I was worried that “City, Country, City” was getting a little too smooth jazzy for me, but then the sax, keyboards, and percussion stepped outside of those bounds to great effect. (I’d love to know what they were thinking when they wrote “Beetles in the Bog” - it’s a weird little song, but I thoroughly enjoyed it as a person who likes both insects and bogs.) There’s a lot of interesting space-jazz-blues-funk on this record - glad I got to hear it, since all I knew before this was “Cisco Kid.”

I know of the band, but hadn't heard this before. It's great. Not quite at "What's Going On?" level, but man, I dig it.

good

sorry i just cant listen to ts random noises its annoying

Really solid album but didnt captivate me enough. Maybe just a genre preference. Not bad by any means. Would listen to again.

4/5

Funk/ soul jams that get into the groove a little too much and then don't know what to do with it.

Obviously some quite long songs, but the drawn out length seems to work for some of them, particularly the title track.

I feel like Cisco Kid is also a friend of mine, too. Really fun, competent funk album with a lot of groove. Extremely solid all around.