Absolute Classic !!!

Having been familiar with War from some of their commercial hits(Lowrider,etc.), I was curious when I came across this album on vinyl at a used record shop about ten years ago. Being a lover of live music I bought the album and hastily went home and dropped it on my turntable. This one of the most powerfully played live sets ever made. "Cisco Kid" and "Slipping Into Darkness" give listeners a dose of thick basslines and excellent instrumentation, purely high intensity funk/rock at its best. These two songs both exceed ten minutes in length and are worth the price of purchasing the CD alone. That being said, the shorter songs can't quite measure up, but they make for good listening none the less(check out "All Day Music"). The decade of the 70's brought us some great live albums by artists like Donny Hathaway, Aretha Franklin, and B.B. King. This album easily ranks among them.

Excellent jamming

This is an excellent jam album. The tracks run from 6 to 20 minutes long. It is just under 80 minutes long (wonder why they didn't put it on one disc).

Each song is done in long and lazy manner. There is some energetic jamming here and there, but it is mostly a laid back album. Each of the musicians gets a chance to stretch out and the album is filled with one great jam after another on all sorts of instruments.

If you like the tight radio hits, like Cisco Kid, you might not like this album. Here, Cisco Kid is played in a much looser style. A similar album in style to this would be Chicago Live at Carnagie Hall (only without the soul and Latin influences).

It Just Doesn't Get Much Better!

This by far is one of the best live sets to listen to. Just hearing the band feed off the crowd is tremendous. Recorded when War was just beginning to achieve cross-over success this set combines Top-40 hits with a grittier, down and dirty sound. Each member gets a turn to shine in the soptlight. Although I originally bought this because I liked "Cisco Kid" I found out that Cisco was by far not the best song here. In my opinion "Slipping into Darkness" is one of the best live songs ever recorded. Broken into 2 parts it ends up being about 17 minutes of pure joy. Another great surprise is "Get Down" a funk-driven, semi-protest song about race relations and police brutality.

I would HIGHly recommend this to any War Fan (unless you think Low Rider was their best), any funk fan, or just about any live music fan.