War - The Music Band, Vol. 1 & 2 / 1979

 

The Music Band is an album by the American band War, released on MCA Records in 1979.^[2][3] It peaked at No. 41 on the Billboard 200.^[4]

In 1979, War considered changing its name to The Music Band, possibly regarding its old name as too aggressive for modern times. (They had formed in 1969 during the Vietnam War.) But by the time this album was released, they decided to keep the name War, and make "The Music Band" the title of a series of albums, of which this is the first.

The album marked the group's first personnel changes since lead vocalist Eric Burdon's departure in 1971. B.B. Dickerson (bass) left during the sessions, but appears on some tracks, while others feature his replacement, Luther Rabb. Composer credits can be used to determine which bassist played on which tracks. Another new member was Alice Tweed Smith (credited as just Tweed Smith on this album), the group's first female vocalist, and also the first member not to be included in composition credits, which had always included the entire group previously.

The cover art appears rather plain at first glance, but the printing method was somewhat elaborate. Instead of normal four-colour printing, it used cardboard painted solid red, with metallic silver print. (Black print also appears on the back.) Embossing was also used, especially on the back cover where ink-free embossing illustrates a tall marching bandleader's shako hat, the logo for the Music Band series. (The next album's inner sleeve photo would show the band posing with a cardboard cut-out man wearing this hat, and the cartoon face that had appeared on the cover of Why Can't We Be Friends? in 1975.) The inner gate fold for this album has a full colour photo of the group (without either Dickerson or Rabb, but with new member Smith), and the album also came with a lyric and credits inner sleeve. The track listing on the back cover shows songs in a different order from their actual appearance.

An edited version of "Good, Good Feelin'" was released as a single (and thus the longer album version is subtitled "original un-cut disco mix"), backed with "Baby Face (She Said Do Do Do Do)" from the earlier Galaxy album (1977). "I'm the One Who Understands" was later re-recorded for the album, ☮ (Peace Sign) (1994). 

 

The Music Band 2 is an album by the American band War, released on MCA Records in 1979.^[2][3] It peaked at No. 111 on the Billboard 200.^[4]

War had more personnel changes since the previous album in the series, earlier in 1979. Charles Miller (saxophone) left after recording one song, replaced by Pat Rizzo (ex Sly and the Family Stone) who is credited with playing "horns". The following year, Miller became the victim of an unsolved murder. Another new member was Ron Hammon on drums; the group now had three drummers, the others being Harold Brown and Papa Dee Allen (on congas). Alice Tweed Smith, who was credited as Tweed Smith on the previous album, is Alice Tweed Smyth on this one; she is included in the composer credits for the first time (with spelling of Smith), but only on one track. The album was produced by Jerry Goldstein, Lonnie Jordan, and Howard Scott.^[5] Songwriter credits can be used to determine who played on which tracks (producer Jerry Goldstein is often credited as well), although Smith may be singing background vocals on tracks for which she is not credited, Rizzo and Luther Rabb are not included in the credits for one song (and possibly doesn't play on it), and one track is a new version of an old song with its original songwriting credits. The song "I'll take care of you" is used in film Youngblood as an instrumental and isn't on the soundtrack.

The cover was printed using elaborate methods as used on the previous album in the series: a background painted solid green (instead of using a four-colour printing press), with metallic gold print (plus black print on the back), and embossing. An inner sleeve has colour photos of the group, two from the same photo shoot session, each with eight of nine group members: Papa Dee Allen is absent from one, and Alice Tweed Smith from the other. As was the case in the previous album, the back cover shows songs in a different order from their actual appearance. The plain but elaborate cover art concept continued with the next album in the series, The Music Band Live (1980) which has a black cover.

Two singles were issued from the album: "Don't Take It Away" in 1979, and "I'll Be Around" in 1980. Both have the same B-side, "The Music Band 2 (We are the Music Band)".