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Rhino is revisiting the 1976 collection which reaffirmed WAR’s status as reliable hitmakers.  On July 31, the label will reissue WAR’s Greatest Hits on both CD and vinyl.  Whereas the 2021 edition entitled Greatest Hits 2.0 added an entire disc’s worth of favorites, this release is more compact.  The CD version adds four cuts (including “Spill the Wine”) to the original collection while the LP, part of Rhino’s Spirit of ’76 summer vinyl campaign, replicates the original album track listing.  (The campaign encompasses 23 releases from 1976 including Yes’ Live at Roosevelt Stadium.)

WAR successfully fused funk, jazz, blues, soul, and Latin sounds into a propulsive whole.  The expanded CD version adds one track (the aforementioned “Spill the Wine”) from the original iteration of the group, Eric Burdon and WAR.  The ex-Animal formed WAR with producer Jerry Goldstein who enlisted some of L.A.’s finest musicians including keyboardist Lonnie Jordan, today the sole original member still in the band.  While Burdon departed after just two albums (with one archival trawl, Love Is All Around, released years later), WAR pressed on, survived numerous personnel changes, and even eclipsed its early success.  WAR earned three consecutive R&B chart-topping LPs between 1972 and 1975: The World Is a Ghetto (Billboard‘s best-selling album of 1973 in the U.S. and also a Pop No. 1), Deliver the Word, and Why Can’t We Be Friends.

The collection in both formats features such major hits and radio staples as “Slippin’ Into Darkness” (No. 16 Pop/No. 12 R&B, 1972), “The World Is a Ghetto” (No. 7 Pop/No. 3 R&B, 1972), “The Cisco Kid” (No 2 Pop/No. 5 R&B, 1972), “Gypsy Man” (No. 8 Pop/No. 6 R&B, 1973), “Me and Baby Brother” (No. 15 Pop/No. 18 R&B, 1973), “Why Can’t We Be Friends” (No. 6 Pop/No. 9 R&B, 1975), “Low Rider” (No. 7 Pop/No. 1 R&B, 1975), and “Summer” (No. 7 Pop/No. 4 R&B, 1976).

The LP version will be pressed on 180-gram black vinyl, with lacquers cut by Kevin Gray for an audiophile-style experience.  WAR kicks off a summer tour of the U.S. marking 50 years of Greatest Hits in Albuquerque, New Mexico on July 4.

WAR, Greatest Hits (United Artists UA-LA648G, 1976 – reissued Rhino/Avenue/Primary Wave, 2026) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Links TBD)

LP: Official Store / CD: Official Store

1. Spill the Wine (*)
2. All Day Music
3. Slippin’ Into Darkness
4. The World Is A Ghetto
5. The Cisco Kid
6. Gypsy Man
7. Me And Baby Brother
8. Southern Part Of Texas
9. Why Can’t We Be Friends?
10. Low Rider
11. Summer
12. Don’t Let No One Get You Down (*)
13. So (*)
14. Galaxy (*)

(*) CD-only track new to this edition

Track 1 from Eric Burdon Declares “War” (MGM SE 4663, 1970)
Tracks 2-3 from All Day Music (United Artists, UAS 5546, 1971)
Tracks 4-5 from The World is a Ghetto (United Artists UAS 5652, 1972)
Tracks 6-8 from Deliver the Word (United Artists UA-LA128F, 1973)
Tracks 9-10 & 12-13 from Why Can’t We Be Friends? (United Artists UA-LA441G, 1975)
Track 11 from original Greatest Hits (United Artists UA-LA648G, 1976)
Track 14 from Galaxy (MCA 3030, 1977)