War Live is the first live album by funk group War

War (band)

War is an American funk band from California, known for the hit songs "Low Rider", "Spill the Wine", "The Cisco Kid" and "Why Can't We Be Friends?". Formed in 1969, War was a musical crossover band which fused elements of rock, funk, jazz, Latin, rhythm and blues, and reggae...

, recorded during a four-night engagement at Chicago's High Chapparral club and released on United Artists Records

United Artists Records

United Artists Records was a record label founded by Max E. Youngstein of United Artists in 1957 initially to distribute records of its movie soundtracks, though it soon branched out into recording music of a number of different genres.-History:...

 in 1974. Originally issued as a double LP, the album was later reissued as a single disc CD on Avenue Records, distributed by Rhino Records.

The album contains a mere seven songs, including "Ballero" which was previously unreleased. Many of the songs appear in extended versions, two of them filling an LP side apiece. One single was taken from the album: "Ballero" / "Slippin' Into Darkness" (both heavily edited for single release), which charted at #33 on the USA pop chart, and #17 on the R&B singles charts.. The album sold 1.5 million copies.

Cover art

The front cover shows a grid of 24 concert photos. A further 24 photos appear on the back, and 48 more on the inner gatefold. Early copies had no artist name or title on the cover (aside from the spine); this information appeared on a large yellow sticker attached to the shrink wrap. The sticker lists six of seven track titles. On later copies, the cover was modified to include an image of the sticker, now printed on the cover and covering part of the photo spread. Note that the exclamation mark after the title only appears on the sticker and later front covers; it does not appear on the spine or labels, and should not be considered as part of the title. On the CD reissue, the original front cover panel has been replaced by one of the innersleeve panels.

Track listing

All tracks composed by War

War (band)

War is an American funk band from California, known for the hit songs "Low Rider", "Spill the Wine", "The Cisco Kid" and "Why Can't We Be Friends?". Formed in 1969, War was a musical crossover band which fused elements of rock, funk, jazz, Latin, rhythm and blues, and reggae...

 (Papa Dee Allen, Harold Brown, B.B. Dickerson

B.B. Dickerson

Morris "B.B." Dickerson was the bass player for the 1970s Latin–funk group War, and before that The Creators....

, Lonnie Jordan

Lonnie Jordan

Leroy "Lonnie" Jordan was a founding member of War, an American funk band in the 1970s and 1980s. Jordan had a number of roles over the years, acting as vocalist and playing guitar, piano, synthesizer, and percussion...

, Charles Miller

Charles Miller (musician)

Charles Miller was an American musician best known as the saxophonist and flutist for multicultural Californian funk band War.-Biography:...

, Lee Oskar

Lee Oskar

Lee Oskar is a Danish harmonica player, notable for his contributions to the sound of the rock-funk fusion group War, which he formed with Eric Burdon, his solo work, and as a harmonica manufacturer...

, Howard E. Scott

Howard E. Scott

Howard E. Scott is an American funk/rock guitarist and founding member of the successful 1970s funk band War.-Biography:...

), except where indicated. (The first track has no credit.)

Side one

1. "Introductions by E. Rodney Jones of Radio Station WVON, Chicago, Ill." – 0:31
2. "Sun Oh Son" – 10:39
3. "The Cisco Kid" – 6:05
4. "(intro) Slippin' Into Darkness" – 0:20

Side three

1. "All Day Music" (War, Jerry Goldstein) – 10:09
2. "Ballero" – 8:29
3. "Lonely Feelin'" – 3:00
4. "(intro) Get Down" (War, Goldstein) – 0:07