The World Is a Ghetto


The World Is a Ghetto is the fifth album by the band War, released in late 1972 on United Artists Records. The album attained the number one spot on Billboard, and was Billboard magazine's Album of the Year as the best-selling album of 1973. In addition to being Billboard's #1 album of 1973, the album is ranked number 444 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. The title track became a gold record.

Cover

The cover illustration, a lighthearted drawing showing a Rolls Royce with a flat tire in a ghetto, was drawn by Howard Miller, with Lee Oskar credited with album concept.

Alternate formats

The album was also made available in a 4-channel surround sound mix in the 8-track tape format.

Critical reception

In a contemporary review for Rolling Stone, Gordon Fletcher said The World Is a Ghetto found War progressing further in the arena of soul and jazz music, and "closer to total mastery of their music as they attempt to use it to communicate the essence of ghetto life". Robert Christgau was less enthusiastic in Creem, believing he "should love this big Afro-roots band" in theory, but was critical of the fairly slow quality of the music and the lyrics, calling it "blackstrap-rock". He singled out the "jazz pretensions" of "Four Cornered Room" and "City, Country, City", finding the latter's rhythmic foundation solid but the song too long and mawkish.
In a retrospective review, Bruce Eder from AllMusic said the album's music encompassed "not only soul and funk but elements of blues and psychedelia" and a "classy, forward-looking production" comparable to Curtis Mayfield's 1970 album Curtis and Marvin Gaye's What's Going On. The Crisis journalist Bruce Britt identified The World Is a Ghetto as one of the few Black rock recordings that became a classic within the pan-African community during FM rock radio's segregation of African-American rock acts in the 1970s, a viewpoint echoed by music historian Jefferson Morley.

Track listing

All tracks composed by War.

Side one

  1. "The Cisco Kid" – 4:35
  2. "Where Was You At" – 3:25
  3. "City, Country, City" – 13:18

    Side two

  4. "Four Cornered Room" – 8:30
  5. "The World Is a Ghetto" – 10:10
  6. "Beetles in the Bog" – 3:51

    CD bonus tracks

In 2012 the album was re-released on CD in a 40th anniversary expanded edition with 4 previously unreleased bonus tracks.
  1. "Freight Train Jam" - 5:41
  2. "58 Blues" - 5:26
  3. "War Is Coming - Blues version" - 6:15
  4. "The World Is a Ghetto - Rehearsal take" - 8:06

    Personnel

  • Howard Scott – guitar, percussion, vocals
  • B.B. Dickerson – bass, percussion, vocals
  • Lonnie Jordan – organ, piano, timbales, percussion, vocals
  • Harold Brown – drums, percussion, vocals
  • Papa Dee Allen – conga, bongos, percussion, vocals
  • Charles Miller – clarinet, alto, tenor and baritone saxes, percussion, vocals
  • Lee Oskar – harmonica, percussion, vocals

    Charts

Singles

Singles from the album include "The World Is a Ghetto" backed with "Four Cornered Room", and "The Cisco Kid" backed with "Beetles in the Bog".