Grooves & Messages: Greatest Hits of War

Performer: War
Artist: Eric Burdon; Jose Feliciano
Distributor: WEA (Distributor)

Notes: War: Lonnie Jordon (vocals, guitar, piano, organ, synthesizer, timbales, percussion); Howard Scott (vocals, guitar, percussion); Lee Oskar (vocals, harmonica, percussion); Charles Miller (vocals, flute, clarinet, saxophone, percussion); B.B. Dickerson (vocals, bass, percussion); Ronnie Hammon, Harold Brown (vocals, drums, percussion); Papa Dee Allen (vocals, bongos, congas, percussion); Eric Burdon (vocals, percussion). Additional personnel: Pat Rizzo (vocals, flute, saxophone); Luther Rabb (vocals, bass); William Bergman, Greg Smith, James Coile (saxophone); John Berry, Lee Thornberg (trumpet); Rae Valentine (drums, programming); Matt Hyde (programming); The Waters, Debbie Moman, Milton "James" Myrick (background vocals). Producers: Jerry Goldstein, Lonnie Jordan, Chris Huston, Howard Scott, War. Compilation producer: Jerry Goldstein. Engineers include: Ed Barton, Chris Huston, Richard Moore. Originally released on the MGM, United Artists, Avenue and MCA labels between 1970-1994. Includes liner notes by Bruce Garfield. Digitally remastered by Dave Collins (A&M Mastering, Los Angeles, California) & Rick Essig (Frankford Wayne Mastering Labs, New York, New York). Personnel: Lonnie Jordan (vocals, guitar, piano, organ, synthesizer, timbales, percussion); Howard Scott (vocals, guitar, percussion); Charles Miller (vocals, flute, clarinet, saxophone, percussion); Pat Rizzo (vocals, flute, saxophone); Lee Oskar (vocals, harmonica, percussion); Harold Brown (vocals, drums, percussion); Papa Dee Allen (vocals, congas, bongos, percussion); Eric Burdon, B.B. Dickerson (vocals, percussion); Luther Rabb (vocals); William Bergman, James Coile, Greg Smith (saxophone); Lee Thornburg, John Berry, Jr. (trumpet); Rae Valentine, Matt Hyde (programming); Debbie Moman, Milton Myrick, Maxine Willard Waters (background vocals). Audio Remixers: Soundprops; The Ganja Kru; Orinoko; Plump DJs; Armand Van Helden. Liner Note Author: Bruce Garfield. Grooves & Messages is another compilation from Rhino that recycles War's greatest hits and, like the previous collections, it contains most of the hits, but not all of them. The difference is, it actually has all the Top 10 pop hits and the majority of the Top 10 R&B hits (only "LA Sunshine" is missing), and it's sequenced in chronological order -- two important elements that were absent on The Best of War and its sequel, The Best of War & More, Vol. 2. Sounds perfect, doesn't it? The problem is, Grooves & Messages contains a bonus disc of remixes. There are a couple of big-name mixers here, including Armand Van Helden and Ganja Kru, but none of the mixes are of any interest. Furthermore, the casual fans that will want the first disc will have little use for the second. Still, that first disc is the best, most concise collection of War hits on the market, and Grooves & Messages is a specially priced double-disc set, so it may be worth the time of some casual fans, those willing to spend a little bit more to get a good hits collection. However, it would have been nicer if the first disc was available individually. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Q (11/99, p.158) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...To know the hits included here is to know grits really ain't groceries....there's also the temptation of a second CD, featuring War remixes by such acolytes as Ganja Kru, La Pozze Latina and Hithunter."

First as a backing band for Eric Burdon, and then on its own, multi-cultural band War played true "world music" years before the term was coined. The group pioneered a blend of soul, R&B, funk, Latin, jazz and African music, and even managed to have several hit singles along the way. Harmonica player Lee Oskar recorded several notable solo albums as well.

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