As a fan of a wide variety of popular (and not-so-popular) music from the 1950s (and sometimes even earlier) up through the present, one of my bucket list projects for years has been to put together a list of my 100 favorite songs of all time. At some point I decided that, once I got around to figuring that out, I could put it out on a blog, for the infinitesimally small proportion of the Internet world that might be interested. So, here we are. While the Top 100 will be a major focus, I also plan to post on a variety of other musical (and occasionally non-musical) topics, in which you may or may not be interested. (If a particular posting doesn’t ring your bell, you’re only a few clicks away from a dancing cat video on YouTube.)

Thursday, December 4, 2014

#5 Slippin' Into Darkness – War (1972)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6L-2IQMDwcA

For my money, War is the best funk band this side of James Brown. Calling them a “funk band” really doesn’t do them justice, however, with the way their sound frequently features Latin rhythms and the harmonica work of Lee Oskar (probably the only Dane ever to play in a successful American funk or soul act).

While the group is best-known for top 10 hits such as “Cisco Kid”, “Why Can’t We Be Friends”, and “Low Rider”, “Slippin’ Into Darkness” is their masterpiece. Dave Marsh writes that the lyrics “evoke the dissolution of the civil rights movement into the drug-laced daze of the frustrated early seventies.” I’m not sure how much of that was intentional – the lyrics are certainly opaque in places – but “You’ve been slippin’ into darkness / Pretty soon you’re gonna pay” definitely does hit home.
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2 comments:

  1. JFDecember 17, 2014 at 8:40 PM

    Well, way better than the Average White Band, whose album, if you recall, you could start at any point and it would all sound the same.

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    1. Mike RhoadsDecember 18, 2014 at 9:54 AM

      Shoemaker had that LP, right?

      I actually like most of AWB's stuff (never could stand "Cut The Cake"), although I certainly wouldn't argue that they were in the same league as War. Maybe not great, but at least well above average.

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