WAR – ‘The Collection 1977-1994’ Album Review
The name WAR might not be one too familiar to some of our readership but you only have to look back at some of the accolades bestowed up this legendary SoCal group – accolades which have seen the group shift 50 million records worldwide, while picking up 20 platinum, multi-platinum, and gold records along the way, to see that their music has had a major impact worldwide.
Now, revisiting some of their extensive back catalogue, WAR have returned with this impressive box set ‘The Collection 1977-1994’. As the title says, this collection pulls together five albums issued by the group – 1977’s ‘Platinum Funk’ and ‘Galaxy’, 1979’s ‘The Music Band’, 1982’s ‘Outlaw’, and 1994’s ‘Peace Sign’ and wraps it all up in one stunning package that, if you’re a fan of the pop/funk outfit, will you scrambling for your wallet.
A weighty 32-track compilation, the second to be released by the band, ‘1977-1994’ is the first time since their original pressings that these five albums are being released on vinyl, and each LP has been pressed in a rainbow of spinning colours. Given a fresh lease of life in the form of a remastered audio by award-winning engineer Bernie Grundman, the collection while being nearly fifty years old, certainly doesn’t suffer from sounding dated.
Showcasing the diversity of the group given their 18 year time span, each of the albums taps into a world of influences from jazz to funk to Latin, melding it all together to create a sound that, from album to album managed to stay fresh and unique. Over the course of the eighteen years, that’s an impressive feat, for a collective celebrating their fifty-fifth anniversary, it’s an incredible achievement.
This second set of albums comes hot on the heels of both the ‘1971-1975’ collection and their 2023 ‘The World Is a Ghetto: 50th Anniversary Collector’s Edition’ and continues to show a group who went from strength to strength carving out their own unique sound and style which, listening to this latest collection, clearly contributed to the kind of record sales that have WAR earning their official star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in the next twelve months.
This kind of jazz/funk hybrid might be a generational thing but, for that generation, these collections breathe new life into genre-defining albums while giving longtime fans of groups like WAR the chance to revisit some classic albums. With an extensive back catalogue still to plough through, expect more from the iconic group in the future and if you want to check out WAR as they travel their way across the States, head over to their Official Website for all the details here.
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