Music reviews. CD reviews. Critically hip!

Lonnie Jordan was one of the founding members of War, a fondly remembered late 1960s - early 1970s funk and soul group from Southern California. Jordan, when the dust settled and the smoke cleared, retained rights to the name and continues to tour with that aggregation as the only original member (and not without some bitterness on the part of the other founding members, but that is another story!). WAR STORIES, Jordan’s solo project, is a mix of re-recorded War hits and some new compositions. While there is nothing on WAR STORIES that will make you give up your War LPs, WAR STORIES most certainly stands on its own.

As is noted in the liner notes, WAR STORIES was wisely recorded on analog tape; the recording process for the most part eschews overdub and the tinny polish that informs so many contemporary r & b projects. The result is a fatter, funkier sound, just like the War release of days gone by and just as God intended. “Out Of Sight,” one of the original tracks on WAR STORIES, sounds like an outtake from War’s THE WORLD IS A GHETTO release, in other words, damn near perfect, a fat ballad recorded with the understanding that the momentary silences are as important as what is played, are in fact an integral part of what is played. The arrangements are almost all keyboard-driven, fairly straightforward with some funky, understated flourishes, with the result that the attention is primarily on Jordan, where it should be. If there is a shortcoming here, it is that there are probably a few too many covers on WAR STORIES, half of the set, actually, consisting of five from the War discography --- “Don‘t Let No One Get You Down,” “Baby Brother,” “The World Is A Ghetto,” “Get Down,” and “Deliver The Word,” as well as the Rolling Stones’ classic “Paint It Black” and the Jimi Hendrix psychedelic standard “Third Stone From The Sun.” Jordan’s compositions, such as “Teresa” have a bit of a slower tempo but it would be, I think, worthwhile to hear more of them, rather than a funk version of “Paint It Black” or reworkings of War tunes that arguably cannot be improved upon. As a whole, however, covers and all, it is nice to have Jordan back, so prominently and sounding so good.