The World Is a Ghetto

The World Is a Ghetto
Studio album by War
Released November 1972
Recorded 1972 at Crystal Industries Los Angeles, California
Genre Soul, funk
Length 43:49
Label United Artists Records
Producer Jerry Goldstein with Lonnie Jordan and Howard E. Scott
War chronology
All Day Music
(1971)All Day Music1971		 The World Is a Ghetto
(1972)		 Deliver the Word
(1973)Deliver the Word1973

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.[1]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[2]
Rolling Stone(favorable)[3]

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.

Track listing

All tracks composed by War (Papa Dee Allen, Harold Brown, B. B. Dickerson, Lonnie Jordan, Charles Miller, Lee Oskar, Howard E. Scott).

Side one

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

Side two

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

40th anniversary expanded edition bonus tracks: Ghetto Jams

In 2012 the album was re-released on CD in a 40th anniversary expanded edition with 4 previously unreleased bonus tracks.[4]

  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

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.[5] Alternative cover interpretation: The older white man who owns the Rolls is the landlord, there to collect rent, evict, or whatever. Plenty of parking,but he parks in front of a fire plug. By the time he returns to his car, the tow truck is already hooked up, supervised by the neighborhood cop. A kid s about to kick the landlord in the butt,as the whole block watches the scene..

Alternate formats

The album was also made available in a 4-channel surround sound (quadraphonic) mix in the 8-track tape format (United Artists UA-DA178-H).[6]

Charts

Year Album Chart positions[7]
US US
R&B
1972 The World Is a Ghetto 1 1

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".

Year Single Chart positions[8]
US US
R&B		 US
Dance
1973 "The Cisco Kid" 2 5 —
"The World Is a Ghetto" 7 3 —
Preceded by
No Secrets by Carly Simon		 Billboard 200 number-one album
February 17 - March 2, 1973 		Succeeded by
Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player by Elton John

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Year End Charts - Year-end Albums - The Billboard 200". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. Archived from the original on February 14, 2008. Retrieved May 13, 2011.
  2. ↑ Allmusic review
  3. ↑ Rolling Stone Magazine Review
  4. ↑ "War – The World Is A Ghetto - 40th Anniversary Edition". discogs.com. Retrieved 2015-06-30.
  5. ↑ "War – The World Is A Ghetto - Original release". discogs.com. Retrieved 2015-06-30.
  6. ↑ Anderson, Mark. "Quadraphonic Popular Recordings (W)".
  7. ↑ "War US albums chart history". allmusic.com. Retrieved 2011-07-13.
  8. ↑ "War US singles chart history". allmusic.com. Retrieved 2011-07-13.
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