War, Inc.

The 400 million people of China are heirs to a great civilization, as their pagodas and stone lions can attest. But they are under attack from the Japanese. Civilian refugees walk, stumble, crawl to escape the destruction of their cities… While in the China of tradition, water buffalo still work the paddies and camels cross the desert, modern China is now a republic founded by Dr. Sun Yat-sen, with modern schools, heavy industry, large engineering projects…

The New Birth revue's (the Nite-Liters and Love Peace & Happiness) potential went practically unfulfilled in the grand scheme of music. Talented and equipped with soulful vocalists such as the Wilson brothers (Leslie and Melvin), Londee Loren, Alan Frey, and Anne Bogan (who not only participated on some New Birth recordings, but also with Leslie and Melvin Wilson as Love Peace & Happiness, who recorded two RCA albums), the world should have been theirs for the taking. This compilation lives up to its name and is primarily funky. Culled from recordings by New Birth, the Nite-Liters, and Love Peace & Happiness, these are 18 gutbucket funky soul numbers. Tracks of note: "Con-Funk-Shun," whose title was adopted by another funk band; a gritty remake (even grittier than Bobby Womack's) of "I Can Understand It"; "Theme From Buck and the Preacher"; "Granddaddy"; "I'm Back"; and "Lonely Room" from Love Peace & Happiness' Love Is Stronger album. The most obvious omits are the plums: "It's Been Such a Long Time," "Wildflower," "Dream Merchant," and "It's Impossible." Even so, Greatest Funk Classics is a straight-up winner.

"Life (is So Strange)" is an album by WAR, released on RCA Victor Records in 1983. It marked the end of a continuous string of albums by the group from 1970, and they would not record another album until a decade later. The band's lineup is not stated on the cover, but composer credits suggest they had been reduced from eight members (on the previous album) to five. The pop art cover references concerns about nuclear war in Los Angeles, the group's home.

"Outlaw" is an album by War, released on RCA Victor Records in 1982. This was War's first album for RCA. Between this and the previous album on MCA, War released a single on LA Records, a company owned by their producer Jerry Goldstein: "Cinco de Mayo", which also appears on "Outlaw", backed with "Don't Let No One Get You Down", an older track from "Why Can't We Be Friends?" (1975).