“We the people have declared
war against the people for the right to
love each other”.
Personally I prefer the second title,
but then record companies can be such
picky people.
Eric Burdon and War was one of those unstable
combinations that throws out sparks and
heat even as it heads toward meltdown.
Looking back it seems amazing that the
team up of a British Blues / rock singer,
a freaked out Danish harmonica player
and an L.A. – based R and B / Jazz / Latin
sextet came together at all. Their mixture
of ethnic background and musical influences
created a sound that was as hard to classify
as exciting as it was to listen too. Eric
Burden and War ran that fine line between
genius and total excess as their star
blazed a fluorescent trail across the
musical stratosphere.
The brief career only lasted two years
and two albums, (1969 – 71) during this
brief time together they performed with
a sense of daring, risk, imagination,
and adventure.
“Eric Burdon declares War” was the first
and most successful of the two albums,
(the other “Black Man’s Burdon” being
released the following year) recorded
after nearly a year of touring, the band
went in and laid down what they were playing
on stage with very little overdubs and
plenty of ad-libbing.
The music captures the kinetic inter play
between Burdon and his band mates. Their
ability to communicate with and improvise
off each other gives “Declares War” its
power and its glory. The tension between
Burdon’s unpredictable nature, War’s polished
instrumental skills, and Lee Oskar’s reckless
jamming harmonica runs through the music.
Burdon was an artist with a definite message,
and working with a multi-racial band was
part of his statement. “War” wasn’t a
name to be chosen lightly in 1969 (or
now come to that) it acknowledged both
cultural and artistic conflicts and challenged
audiences to deal with such issues, at
least that’s my slant looking at the monikers
meaning.
The free flowing approach of the album
starts immediately with first cut “The
Vision Of Rassan” with its name checks
to Charlie Parker and John Coltrane, this
was the bands tribute to jazz reed player
Roland Kirk, and wets the musical palate
for what is to come.
From there, Burdon leads the band into
an expanded exploratory version of Tobacco
Road, that had previously been a hit for
the Nashville Teens, but not much of their
version remains as Burdon uses the lyric
as a springboard for an odd erotic sermon,
nailed down by War’s tight supporting
play.
The albums best known track “Spill The
Wine” is a Latin tinged daydream of a
song which became a number 3 in the U.S.A
and a number one in the rest of the world.
“Mother Earth” an old blues standard gives
us the main theme for the 13 minutes of
“Blues For Memphis Slim”. As the band
coasts along, Burdon expounds upon sex,
birth, and morality, stepping aside to
allow Charles Miller and then Lee Oskar
to strut their stuff.
The albums concludes with the vocal workout
“Your No Stranger” a nice return to normality
after what has gone before.
The following year the partnership dissolved,
fortunately the music they recorded survives,
a remarkable combination of divergent
ancestries and united talents.
Pawed by Mott The Dog
Remastered by Ella Crew
E-mail: review@mott-the-dog.com
