"The Black-Man’s Burdon" by ERIC BURDON and WAR - December 1970 USA 2LP set on MGM/Far Out Records and January 1971 UK 2LP set on Liberty Records – also featuring Lonnie Jordon, Charles Miller, Howard Scott, and Lee Oskar in War with Guest Vocalist Sharon Scott (May 1993, Reissued January 1996, UK/EUROPE ARG Records/BMG Reissue – 2LPs Remastered onto 2CDs) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"...Beautiful New Born Child..."

Talk about a forgotten double-album – and its politics. Released Stateside first just 3 days before Christmas 1970 on MGM/Far Out Records (Blighty would have to wait until Liberty Records put it out in January 1971) – the urge-to-splurge 2LP set "The Black-Man's Burdon" was frankly a bit of a beautiful if unwieldy beast. Radical for its time, the initial 30,000 copies of British twofer vinyl sets even elicited censorship in the UK when the spoken poem-piece "P.C. 3" (Track 5 on Side 1) was deemed riot-incendiary because of naughty HRH Queenie references and therefore had that unholy sin of self-expression excluded from the subsequent 20,000 copies pressed (what a palavar). 

A wild combo of originals and extended cover versions where some songs are 2:43 minutes long, while others stretch to 14-minutes and seven parts, 8-minutes, seven-minutes and so on - Eric Burdon and the seven-piece band War were continuing their Rock-Funk meets Soul meets Jazz meets Blues journey with this adventurous and ambition double-whammy. 

Experimental, Rock-Soulful and even Progtastic in some instrumental passages – big things were expected of the release – especially following as it did on the heels of the catchy "Spill The Wine" 45 from their April 1970 debut "Eric Burdon Declares "War"" that had managed a huge No. 4 chart position. But the sheer size and wild nature of what was on offer proved maybe a step too far-out for the public and radio – the 2LP set limping into the US album charts in late December 1970. It eventually peaked at No. 83 and five or six weeks later, quickly disappeared (as did Burdon's fractious relationship with MGM Records where he felt they weren't behind it enough). 

By the end of 1971 - and after a controversial tour of the UK where the British Establishment made it apparent that they were not too pleased with the double's references to Her Majesty in a not so warm-and-fuzzy light – EB and War had parted (only to be reunited years later). Subsequently, five decades of secondhand record shop rack trawling by music lovers seeking something new or maybe different, has seen the 2LP-set become something of an underground darling – an ahead-of-its-racial-times gob at the powers-that-be. Soul-Rock fans love BMB and speak of it in hushed tones, while samplers dig into its sexy rhythms and look reference-cool as they do so. 

The history of "The Black-Man's Burdon" far-out journey on digital is a strangely muted one too. Even in January 2021, an astonishing 50 years after the event – the best 2CD version is not from the 00s or 10s or 20s – but dating all the way back to the reissue halcyon days of Rhino in the early Nineties. Here are the pretty colors for u...

UK released May 1993 (reissued January 1996) - "The Black-Man's Burdon" by ERIC BURDON and WAR on ARG Records/BMG 74321 30742 2 (Barcode 743213074221) offers the US 1970 Double-Album (1971 UK) Remastered onto 2CDs and breaks down as follows: 

CD1 (44:39 minutes): 
1. Paint It Black Medley [Side 1]
(a) Black On Black In Black
(b) Paint It Black I
(c) Laurel & Hardy 
(d) Pintelo Negro II
(e) P.C. 3 
(f) Black Bird 
(g) Paint It Black III
2. Spirit 
3. Beautiful New Born Child [Side 2]
4. Nights In White Satin I
5. The Bird & The Squirrel 
6. Nuts, Seeds & Life 
7. Out Of Nowhere 
8. Nights In White Satin II 
Track 1 is a Rolling Stones cover except Parts (c) to (f) which are War songs; Track 3 features Sharon Scott and The Beautiful New Born Children of Southern California; Tracks 4 and 8 are Moody Blues covers 

CD2 (45:48 minutes):
1. Sun/Moon [Side 3]
2. Pretty Colors 
3. Gun
4. Jimbo
5. Bare Back Ride [Side 4]
6. Home Cookin' 
7. They Can't Take Away Our Music 
Track 7 features Sharon Scott and The Beautiful New Born Children of Southern California

"The Black-Man's Burdon" was released December 1970 in the USA on MGM/Far Out Records SE-4710-2 and January 1971 in the UK on Liberty Records LDS 84003/4 as a 2LP set in both countries. Produced by JERRY GOLDSTEIN – it peaked at No. 82 in the USA (didn't chart UK). All tracks written by War - excepting "Beautiful New Born Child" and "They Can't Take Away Our Music" - which were written by Jerry Goldstein and War. "Paint it Black" and "Nights In White Satin" are cover versions of Rolling Stones and Moody Blues songs.

WAR was: 
ERIC BURDON – Lead Vocals
LONNIE JORDON – Organ, Piano and Vocals 
HOWARD SCOTT – Guitar and Vocal 
LEE OSKAR – Harmonica and Vocal 
CHARLES MILLER – Tenor, Baritone and Alto Saxophones and Flute
B.B. DICKERSON – Bass and Vocal
DEE ALLEN – Conga, Percussion, Vocal 
HAROLD BROWN – Drums 
Guest: 
Sharon Scott and The Beautiful New Born Children of Southern California sing on "Beautiful New Born Child" and "They Can't Take Away Our Music"

Long-standing Rhino/Atlantic Audio Engineers BILL INGLOT and KEN PERRY did the Remasters from first generation tapes and the Audio is punchy and full (the US version was released 4 May 1993 is on Rhino R2 71193 - Barcode 081227119324). There is a later reissue of this but it hasn't got the booklet - nor has it any improvement in Audio. 

The six-leaf double-sized foldout inlay could be described as functionary at best. The two naked ladies laying on grass alongside other seven African-American nature man-children in the background (the band War) which adorned the inner gatefold sleeve of the original double vinyl album is reproduced on two leaves as is a band photo from the period. But the cool 'Official War Bond One Dollar Bill' (shaped like a dollar) that also came with originals is AWOL. With it, you could get $1 discount upon the purchase of two tickets to any Eric Burdon and War gig up to 31 December 1973 – even though he'd disembarked by then and they simply become WAR. There are the usual credits in black and white and BARRY ALFONSO does a great job with the liner notes that include new interviews with Burdon about the songs and their processes. A rear inlay on the British/EC issue lists and pictures the WAR Masters reissue catalogue (see list below). To the music...

In a bold move, MGM took the full-length 6:50-minute version of Side 4's "They Can't Take Our Music Away" with Sharon Scott on Vocals and put it out as the lead American 45-single. December 1970's MGM K-14196 had the full cut of "Home Cookin'" on its flipside and rewarded the band with a No. 50 placing. The British variant from January 1971 on Liberty LBF 15434 had a 4:50 minutes edit with the same B-side, but it sank without a trace and I can count on one hand the number of times I have seen that Liberty Records 45 anywhere in my fifty years of digging tunes and vinyl. 

Side 1 opens with the 13:34-minute cover of "Paint It Black” – the Stones cover turning up three times amidst the original bits – the second of which is sung as "Pintelo Negro". I have to admit that this too-long opener tests my patience nowadays. One hundred times sexier is 8:39 minutes of "Spirit" – a warbling guitar and drum opening explodes into a great Rock-Funk groove – an always on my mind tune that has the band cooking (why was this not single number two in edit form?). Dig that Lee Oskar harmonica too. 

Side 2 sees Sharon Scott make the first of two appearances on duet/crowd Vocals with Eric as "Beautiful New Born Child" comes slinking out of your speakers. A groove – a vibe – the pounding song is the sort of five minutes they probably made up in the studio (I think it is Sharon pictured on the rear sleeve sat atop EB). They then take "Nights In White Satin” and for the first version – slow it right down to a Soul ballad pace – but I find his vocals are forced even if the backing music is fab. We then 2:44 minutes of Flute-Cool – an instrumental with Congas and strummed acoustics called "The Bird & The Squirrel" where War feel Santana good – such a superb groove. Stunning Bass audio on "Nuts, Seeds & Life" – another shuffling percussion number that solo-instrumentals its way to the finish line. You could call it fluff or filler – but I dig it (teeny bit hissy in the transfer). Part 2 of "Nights In White Satin" feels more Soulful that its predecessor. 

For me the second LP confirms the album's greatness far more than the first. Side 3's "Sun/Moon" is a 10-minute slow Jazz-Rock shuffle – Eric and the boys sounding like a cross between a mellow John Mayall circa "Blues From Laurel Canyon" meeting with Miles Davis rehearsing for "A Kind Of Blue". Things pick up the Funky pace big time with the fantastic "Pretty Colors" where Lonnie Jordan suddenly explodes out of the speakers with his piano fills accompanied by seductive Sax jabs from Charles Miller – Eric talking about ladies with a skin tone he loves (probably my fave track on the album). If any song on "The Black-Man's Burdon" double-album was to convince you that War and EB were on to a very special groove and their own sound – then this near seven-minutes of uber-cool is it. Razorblades, switchblades and your handguns – Eric and the boys want you to ditch the lot in "Gun" – urging the street kids to not inflict any more tears. That brilliance is topped off with "Jimbo" – a Funky as James Brown's underarms chugger that once again benefits from a wicked groove, Lonnie Jordan's naturally fluid piano playing and Oscar's harmonica jabs.

Side 4 opens with a bit of ZZ Top "La Grange" guitar before "Bare Back Ride" kicks 

in proper – yet another foot-stomper that feels like Traffic have been listening to Sly and The Family Stone as Eric sings "...don't blow it baby!" Filled with fantastic soloing from Miller on Sax and Oscar on Harp – "Bare Back Ride" is just so typically hip it hurts. Our hero joined the Navy at the age of 17 but he misses Mama and her "Home Cookin'", while the mighty twofer comes to a dignified Gospel-feeling end with "They Can't Take Away Our Music" – a proud and pure cry from deep within for racial equality – no colour – no skin divide. Nice...

These 1993 and 1996 double-CD releases have been deleted decades and can cost up to thirty quid on the open market (I got mine for a reasonable fifteen-ish, so hunt around). But for sheer hutzpah, melt of styles and sound discovery - like so many of their forgotten albums - this is a blast from the past you will want to feel the heat of again and again...

WAR Masters CD Reissues for the UK/EUROPE

1. Eric Burdon Declares "War" (April 1970 US LP)
1995 CD on ARG Records/BMG 74321 30526 2 (Barcode 743213052625)

2. The Black-Man's Burdon (December 1970 US 2LP-set)
May 1993 2CDs on ARG Records/BMG 74321 30742 2 (Barcode 743213074221)

3. War (March 1971 US LP)
May 1993 CD on ARG Records/BMG 74321 30737 2 (Barcode 743213073729)

4. All Day Music (November 1971 US LP)
1995 CD on ARG Records/BMG 74321 30520 2 (Barcode 743213052028)

5. The World Is A Ghetto (November 1972 US LP)
1992 CD on ARG Records/BMG 74321 30521 2 (Barcode 743213052120)

6. Deliver The War (August 1973 US LP) 
1992 CD on ARG Records/BMG 74321 30522 2 (Barcode 743213052229)

7. War Live! (March 1974 US 2LP set) 
1992 2CD on ARG Records/BMG 74321 30730 2 (Barcode 743213073026)

8. Why Can't We Be Friends? (June 1975, with "Low Rider")
1992 CD on ARG Records/BMG 74321 30523 2 (Barcode 743213052328)

9. Love Is All Around – ERIC BURDON and WAR (December 1976) 
May 1993 2CDs on ARG Records/BMG 74321 30743 2 (Barcode 743213074320)

10. Platinum Jazz (July 1977, 2LP Set, New Material On LP1, Old Material on LP2)
May 1993 CD on ARG Records/BMG 74321 30524 2 (Barcode 743213052427)

11. Galaxy (November 1977 US LP)
January 1996 CD on ARG Records/BMG 74321 30739 2 (Barcode 743213073927)

12. Youngblood – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (August 1978 US LP)
January 1996 CD on ARG Records/BMG 74321 30735 2 (Barcode 743213073521)

13. Outlaw (March 1982 US LP)
January 1996 CD on ARG Records/BMG 74321 30734 2 (Barcode 743213073428)

14. Life (Is So Strange) (July 1983 US LP) 
January 1996 CD on ARG Records/BMG 74321 30738 2 (Barcode 743213073828)