ERIC BURDON & WAR BLACK MANS BURDON RARE ORIG'70 MGM 2LP SET w/WAR BOND +STICKER

$

80

WE CURRENTLY HAVE  MORE THAN 300  LISTED ITEMS

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·       ERIC BURDON AND WAR - BLACK MAN'S BURDON - ORIGINAL 1970 MGM RECORDS STEREO DOUBLE ALBUM SE-4710-2

·       ORIGINAL U.S. PRESSING

*** STILL SEALED GUARANTEED ORIGINAL FIRST PRESSING ***

·       GUARANTEEED ORIGINAL AQUA-BLUE AND GOLD MGM LABEL , SUCH AS THE ONE SHOWN BELOW, FROM OUR PREVIOUS AUCTION  (NO OTHER PRESSINGS OR LABELS EXIST )

·       THE THICKNESS OF THE VINYL, THE APPEARANCE AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE COVER, LABEL’S LOGO AND OTHER PERIPHERAL ELEMENTS OF THE COVER, ARE ALL PERFECTLY CONSISTENT WITH THE ORIGINAL, FIRST PRESSING OF THIS TITLE.

·       TWO “BREATHE” (AIR) HOLES NOTED ON THE SHRINK WRAP

·       THE ALBUM IS GUARANTEED TO INCLUDE THE ORIGINAL "WAR BOND" INSERT , SUCH AS THE ONE SHOWN BELOW, FROM OUR PREVIOUS AUCTION

·       THIS IS THE ORIGINAL, AUTHENTIC, FIRST U.S. PRESSING; THIS IS NOT A REISSUE, AN IMPORT, OR A COUNTERFEIT PRESSING.

·       ORIGINAL GATEFOLD COVER, MADE OF THICK CARDBOARD (AMERICAN STYLE) 

·       COVER HAS A NIFTY 'HYPE' (ADVERTISEMENT) STICKER STILL AFFIXED TO THE SHRINK WRAP.

·       VERY THICK, HEAVY VINYL PRESSING

(►PLEASE SEE THE IMAGE OF THE COVER, LABEL OR BOTH, SHOWN BELOW)

(Note: this is a REAL image of the ACTUAL item you are bidding on. This is NOT a "recycled" image from our previous auction. What you see is what you'll get.  GUARANTEED!)

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Wow! What a goshdarn improvement! Now wait, I'm not going to disagree with most critics on that one when they say that Black Man's Burdon suffers from excessive length - a double LP which doesn't even fit onto one disc , making it a real pain in the butt for Burdon completists. On the other side, though, the length also helps this album. It is Eric Burdon and War's magnum opus, a record you'll either love or hate but will be forced to pay some respect to in any case, unless you're one of those types that equal respect with love. Basically, the double album format helps the guys make their entire schtick a bit more interesting. Put it this way: Burdon and friends just cannot make short songs. There are a couple four-minute tracks on the second LP, and some of the tracks on the first LP seem to be under three minutes long, but they actually just form a part of a long improvised jam, so it's a false shortness. The whole point, as we know it, is to find the Ultimate Musical Truth by means of lengthy, sensational improvised sessions, and the more sessions there are, the more the chance that some of them will be good. After all, the band's first album was just five songs, want it or not. Here, there are not less than ten or eleven songs, and while there is filler, it's not the point. I mean, it's not the point if there are or there aren't any particularly impressive melodies on the album. Frankly speaking, there are none. It all depends on the level of energy the band and Eric put in their performance, on the instrumentation, on the relative length and subtlety of the dynamics.

In general, this album rocks. It's not a hard rock album, of course - actually, the guitars are quite low-key throughout, with the main emphasis traditionally placed on organ, bass, drums, flute and sax, but there's very little of that lethargic sludge that plagued Declares WAR in the first place. Much too often, it's just an extremely cool listening experience - to hear WAR in all of their witty and subtle power and that jerky white guy with his universalist fantasies who's finally found a more than decent musical background to set them to. Describing the songs and jams themselves is a very hard work, because, as I said, they aren't actually based on melodies; they're based on spontaneous inspiration, and sometimes the band falls into a classy groove only to fall out of it after a minute's time. Yet most of the actual grooves are able to take your breath away, if you only take that actual chance.

Not that there aren't any stinkers. I was a bit wrong when I said there's no "lethargic sludge" on here - at least one of the tracks, the snail-paced 'Sun/Moon' goes on for ten minutes which is almost ten minutes too long, a basic slow blues number that revels in minimalism but doesn't achieve much with that reveling. Had it been in my power, I'd have cut it off and fit the double album onto one disc  (ah well, had it been in my power, Lord knows what other crazy things I could have done!). As for the "potentially offensive" material, I'd have to namecheck the band's cover of 'Nights In White Satin'. Knowing Eric's wild antics, I was a bit prepared for the, ahem, 'slight psycho modification' of the original, but I really wasn't expecting Eric to turn the song into a mocking, almost disrespectful parody. He just brutally rapes the song, annihilating its emotional power through his exaggerated vocal delivery... imagine the Justin Hayward-sung original slowed down fifty times and then re-sped up to its original speed using Windows Media Player or something, and you get the picture. But on second listen, I wasn't that much offended already, and on third listen, I actually was able to have a good laugh. Eric, you old hoot! Tee hee. Whoever said 'Nights In White Satin' was the cornerstone of Pop Sacrality anyway? And you know, I wouldn't be surprised to learn that Justin himself could have dug this version.

But wait! What's that I hear? 'Nights In White Satin' actually gets interrupted, and in the middle come several superb jams - including a groovy, ominous bass/drums jam on 'Nuts, Seeds & Life' that steals a bit from the bass melody of Led Zep's 'Dazed And Confused' but is otherwise quite independent, and an angry, blazing piece of social mission statement in 'Out Of Nowhere' that beats the shit out of all the similar stuff on Winds Of Change. And then 'Nights' get reprised once again, but who cares? For all I know, I could just shut off that first disc ...

The primary highlight, of course, is the infamous 'Paint It Black' medley, where 'Paint It Black' itself only occupies about two or three minutes in total, while the rest is... well, the rest is the rest. First, a furious guitar/organ jam. Then 'Paint It Black', punctuated by sharp-hitting saxes. Then a driving, fast, flute/sax-dominated run through 'Laurel & Hardy'. A short, maybe not very interesting, but not offensive, drum solo. A short, catchy, flute-based shuffle that is based on the melody of 'Paint It Black', but presents it in a - howdya say that? - slightly more folkish light. A hilarious spoken dialog (musically backed! musically backed!). More flute jamming, drunken banter and Latin-influenced chanting. A quiet, but energetic blues-rocky rockin' part. A reprise of 'Paint It Black'. And a furious rush-to-the-end climax. Tons of musical ideas and thirteen minutes of unwasted time. Good deal for Mr Burdon.

Elsewhere, you get goodies like (in no particular order) the ominous blues-rock masterpiece 'Bare Back Ride', the glorious psychedelic ditty 'Pretty Colors', the gloomy soulful 'Spirit', the party-spirit-like anthemic roll of 'Beautiful New Born Child', the relative catchiness of 'Homecookin', and it is all wrapped up with the best known song off this album, the band's pompous epic 'They Can't Take Away Our Music' whose lyrical matter corresponds to the song title exactly. As much as I usually dislike that kind of epic, it's delivered rather powerfully and in a non-cliched way, plus, it gives some of the actual WAR members the opportunity to take the vocal spotlight - something they'd be doing pretty often from now on, for obvious reasons (see below). Despite the positive, if superficial, descriptions, none of these songs are flawless: some are overlong, some could use a bit more inspiration or creativity, but each and every one of them has at least something going for it, and that's more than I could say about the basics of the New Animals, for instance.

In short, energy is still the key word here. If you're looking for energy, baby, this is the place. Forget about the bunnies - Eric Burdon's da man to get you all set up for optimum performance! Don't forget to play this record really really loud, too. The songs themselves aren't heavy, but they presuppose loud playing, and not just because sometimes the sound is so quiet you can't hear anything until you turn the volume all the way up (like at the end of the fascinating 'Jimbo' - sheez, that ending nearly gives me the creeps). You're supposed to have fun to this record. I don't know if anybody ever tried propagating it as a party album, but why not give it a try? It might work. As far as improvisatory masterpieces go (and I'm not that big a fan of improvisation on a studio record, you gotta understand), this one should definitely hold one of the top spots.

Unfortunately, its recording and subsequent touring exhausted Eric - in the beginning of 1971 he even collapsed onstage during one of the performances, which eventually led to his quitting the band soon afterwards. WAR went on to sell lots of records and boast international fame for a long time... but that's a different story; Eric, in the meantime, jumped off that bandwagon in a good state of artistic health (having finally understood that excellent musicianship is the key to success), but in a poor state of commercial health - a state that never really improved after that. Too bad

 (EXCERPT FROM AN ONLINE REVIEW BY GEORGE STAROSTIN)

For additional historical or discography information on this album, including track listing ►click here

TO SEE IF WE HAVE OTHER LISTED ITEMS BY THIS GROUP OR ARTIST ►  CLICK HERE

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·       CONDITION:

·       THE RECORDS

(IMPORTANT NOTE: unless otherwise noted, ALL records are graded visually, and NOT play-graded!; we  grade records under the strong, diffuse room light or discrete sunlight)

(a)          THE ALBUM IS STILL FACTORY SEALED AND IS BELIEVED TO BE PERFECTLY MINT. Please note: sealed items are assumed to be mint and are sold as-is, as we have no way of inspecting them. For our policy on still sealed records ►click here (PLEASE READ BEFORE PLACING A BID).

(b)          The album comes with its original 'war bond' insert  , SUCH AS THE ONE SHOWN BELOW, FROM OUR PREVIOUS AUCTION (we know for sure)

(c)           The records are apparently pressed on a beautiful, thick, inflexible vinyl, which was usually used for the first or very early pressings. Usually, the sound on such thick vinyl pressings is full-bodied, vivid, and even dramatic. Do not expect to obtain such a majestic analog sound from a digital recording!

(d)          Of course, this is a full-bodied ANALOG recording, and not an inferior, digital recording!!!

·                               THE COVER

COVER IS NEAR MINT, STILL SEALED AND COVERED IN ITS ORIGINAL ►SHRINK WRAP   (A SMALL PIECE OF SHRINK WRAP IS MISSING; THE SHRINK WRAP HAS SEPARATED ALONG ABOUT 30% OF THE TOP SEAM, BUT THE ALBUM IS STILL VISIBLY SEALED)

The following flaws or imperfections are noted on the cover:

-        Cover has JUST A HINT of ring wear (nothing significant); On the scale from 1 to 10 (1 being the least, and  10 being the most severe), we assess the severity of ring wear as 1  (front side) and 2 (back side).

-        Back cover has (BARELY VISIBLE) circular tarnish (grayish, dust-covered sections, which closely follow the contour of the record),  probably caused by friction or by rubbing against other covers during the storage. The tarnish is similar in appearance to a common ring wear, but, UNLIKE ring wear, these grayish areas may be possible to clean up with a minor effort and with a right cleansing solution.

-        Cover has two corners slightly worn (BARELY VISIBLE)

NO OTHER VISIBLE FLAWS OR IMPERFECTIONS ON THE  COVER

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POSTAGE & SHIPPING:

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WE OFFER UNCONDITIONAL MONEY-BACK GUARANTEE WITHIN 30 DAYS FROM THE RECEIPT OF THE MERCHANDISE, NO QUESTIONS ASKED (THE BUYER PAYS FOR THE RETURN POSTAGE); Still sealed items MUST be returned sealed in order to be eligible for a refund Some restrictions apply. Please read our complete refund policy before placing a bid. ►Click here  for the full text of our policy

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