There really are more War best-of packages than the situation warrants, and while the double-CD The Very Best of War is a fine compilation if you don't already have one in your collection, it's questionable whether it was a necessary addition to the band's discography. For one thing, it doesn't differ all that much from the previous two-CD War best-of on Rhino, Anthology (1970-1994). Sure, each has a few tracks not on the other, but both are built around their lengthy string of big hits. Even Barry Alfonso's accompanying essay was adapted from the liner notes to Anthology (1970-1994). Still, this does have all of the big chart hits and a few minor ones, as well as standout album tracks from throughout the 1970s and early '80s that illustrate the band's versatility. Reading the small print on the track listings, it's revealed that half a dozen of these cuts are edits that either appear here for the first time or were only available on previous anthologies or imports.

One of the most popular funk groups of the 1970s, War were also one of the most eclectic, freely melding soul, Latin, jazz, blues, reggae, and rock influences into an effortlessly funky whole. Although War's lyrics were sometimes political in nature (in keeping with their racially integrated lineup), their music almost always had a sunny, laid-back vibe emblematic of their Southern California roots. The band kept the groove loose, and they were given over to extended jamming; in fact, many of their studio songs were edited together out of longer improvisations. Even if the jams sometimes got indulgent, they demonstrated War's truly group-minded approach: no one soloist or vocalist really stood above the others (even though all were clearly talented), and their grooving interplay placed them in the top echelon of funk ensembles.

On last November's Record Store Day Black Friday event, Rhino revisited WAR's 1972 classic The World Is a Ghetto for its 50th anniversary on five newly-remastered 140-gram LPs; a four-channel surround Quadio release followed on Blu-ray. The hard-hitting, socially-conscious soul-jazz-funk-blues-rock-psychedelia best-seller was the California band's fifth album and third following the departure of vocalist Eric Burdon of The Animals. On July 19, the landmark 5LP box featuring previously unreleased session tracks and "making of" montages will be released on 4 CDs and digitally.

War got decent mileage from the soundtrack for this B-movie, which premiered near the end of the first blaxploitation era. They ended with two R&B hits, and while they were perturbed that United Artists, the label they had left, reaped the benefits, it at least kept them active and in the R&B hunt.

An often overlooked and underrated part of War’s legacy was their instrumentals, many of which were quite imaginative. War’s members loved jazz, and they expressed that passion not because they had any illusions of trying to compete with Miles Davis or Joe Henderson, but simply for the enjoyment of it. Released as a two-LP set, Platinum Jazz gathered War’s previously released instrumentals (plus one vocal, “Deliver the Word”) with fine results. Jazz fusion material ranging from the unpredictable “City, Country, City” (arguably the band’s best instrumental ever, and certainly their best known) and the salsa-influenced “Nappy Head” to the mellow “H2Overture” and the congenial “Smile Happy” show just how effective War’s members could be without vocals. And when saxman Charles Miller and keyboardist Lonnie Jordan stretch out, it’s clear that as improvisers, they weren’t half bad.

Cut from the same cloth as the band's 1973 Deliver the Word LP, War's 1975 Why Can't We Be Friends? is a masterpiece in its scope and breadth. And, emerging as the last work the band would do for its longtime label, United Artists, it became a fitting swansong, powering up the charts and giving War its fourth and final number one hit…

The debut effort by Eric Burdon and War was an erratic effort that hinted at more potential than it actually delivered. Three of the five tunes are meandering blues-jazz-psychedelic jams, two of which, "Tobacco Road" and "Blues for Memphis Slim," chug along for nearly 15 minutes…