Earlier this year, we filled you in about WAR's upcoming release Live in Japan 1974, due February 7 from Rhino and Avenue Records.  Now, the labels have announced another significant release in their upgrade of the WAR catalogue.  On March 7, Eric Burdon and WAR: The Complete CD Collection arrives on four discs, bringing the 2022 Record Store Day-exclusive vinyl box set to the CD format.

Eric Burdon, the former lead singer of The Animals, famously performed "San Franciscan Nights" with that band, but he was actually living in the American city when he teamed with a local group, Nightshift, to form Eric Burdon and WAR.  Nightshift's roots went back some years to their time performing together as The Creators; when producer Jerry Goldstein saw the big band playing at a North Hollywood club in support of bluesman Deacon Jones in 1969, he immediately sensed their commercial potential.  They began playing live with Burdon before entering the studio, where the British singer-songwriter successfully fused his sensibilities with those of guitarist Howard Scott, pianist Lonnie Jordan, drummer Harold Brown, percussionist Dee Allen, bassist Bee Dee Dickerson, saxophonist/flautist Charles Miller, and harmonica player Lee Oskar.  Their first single, the psychedelic, funky, and soulful "Spill the Wine," became a No. 3 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 and a highlight of their first album together, 1970's Eric Burdon Declares "War." Much of the album fused soul, blues, funk, and jazz, with multi-part jams on "Blues for Memphis Slim" and John D. Loudermilk's "Tobacco Road" clocking in at nearly fifteen minutes each.

Just months after their debut album, Burdon and WAR returned with a second album for MGM Records.  The Black-Man's Burdon, an expansive 2-LP set, opened with a nearly side-long "Paint It Black" medley, built around the Rolling Stones tune and new instrumental passages. The second side featured two appearances of The Moody Blues' "Nights in White Satin," again proving WAR's penchant for reinvention.  The album closed with "They Can't Take Away Our Music," a moderate hit featuring Sharone Scott and The Beautiful New Born Children.  A sprawling psychedelic stew, The Black-Man's Burdon would be the final studio album from the pairing of Burdon and WAR.  Following an onstage collapse, Burdon left the group mid-tour; they would go onto further acclaim with such albums as the recently-reissued The World Is a Ghetto and hits including "Why Can't We Be Friends" and "The Cisco Kid."  Burdon launched a solo career in 1971, and in 1977 enjoyed his first reunion with the original Animals.

WAR wasn't quite done with Eric Burdon yet, though.  In 1976, Jerry Goldstein - who had continued to work with Burdon as well as WAR - rounded up a collection of outtakes primarily recorded in 1969-1970 and assembled them as Love Is All Around.  These included the non-LP B-side "Magic Mountain," a live "Paint It Black," and a cover of The Beatles' "A Day in the Life."  It was all packaged in a newspaper-style jacket bearing such headlines as "First War/Burdon LP in Five Years."

The Complete CD Collection features mastering by Bernie Grundman.  Its due on March 7 from Rhino/Avenue and can be pre-ordered at the links below.  As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

Eric Burdon & War, The Complete CD Collection (Rhino, 2025) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Disc 1: Eric Burdon Declares "War" (released as MGM Records SE-4663, 1970)

1. Dedication
2. Roll On Kirk
3. Tobacco Road
4. I Have a Dream
5. Tobacco Road
6. Spill the Wine
7. Birth
8. Mother Earth
9. Mr. Charlie
10. Danish Pastry
11. Mother Earth
12. You're No Stranger

Disc 2-3: The Black-Man's Burdon (released as MGM Records SE-4710-2, 1970)

1. Black on Black in Black
2. Paint It Black I
3. Laurel & Hardy
4. Pintelo Negro II
5. P.C. 3
6. Black Bird
7. Paint It Black III
8. Spirit
9. Beautiful New Born Child (feat. Sharon Scott & The Beautiful New Born Children of Southern California)
10. Nights in White Satin I
11. The Bird & The Squirrel
12. Nuts, Seeds & Life
13. Out of Nowhere
14. Nights in White Satin II

1. Sun/Moon
2. Pretty Colors
3. Gun
4. Jimbo
5. Bare Back Ride
6. Home Cookin'
7. They Can't Take Away Our Music (feat. Sharon Scott & The Beautiful New Born Children of Southern California)

Disc 4: Love is All Around (released as ABC Records ABCD-988, 1976)

1. Love is All Around
2. Tobacco Road (Alternate)
3. Home Dream
4. Magic Mountain
5. A Day in the Life
6. Paint It Black (Live @ The Whiskey, Los Angeles, CA - 9/8/1969)

Track 3 released on Guilty! - MGM Records SE-4791, 1971
Track 4 released on "Spill the Wine" single - MGM Records K-14118, 1970