The World Is a Ghetto

The World Is a Ghetto
Studio album by War
Released	November 1972
Recorded	1972 at Crystal Industries Los Angeles, California
Genre	Soul, Funk
Length	43:49
Label	United Artists Records
Producer	Jerry Goldstein with Lonnie Jordan and Howard Scott
War chronology
All Day Music (1971) The World Is a Ghetto (1972) Deliver the Word (1973)

The World Is a Ghetto is the fifth album by the band War, released in late 1972 on United Artists Records.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
Rolling Stone	(favorable)[2]

The album attained the number one spot on Billboard, and was Billboard magazine's Album of the Year as the best-selling album of 1973.^[3] In 2003, the album was ranked number 449 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

The album was also made available in a 4-channel surround sound (quadraphonic) mix in the 8-track tape format (United Artists UA-DA178-H).^[4]

Singles from the album include "The World Is a Ghetto" backed with "Four Cornered Room", and "The Cisco Kid" backed with "Beetles in the Bog".

The cover illustration was drawn by Howard Miller, with Lee Oskar credited with album concept.

Track listing

All tracks composed by War (Papa Dee Allen, Harold Brown, B.B. Dickerson, Lonnie Jordan, Charles Miller, Lee Oskar, Howard E. Scott).

Side one

1. "The Cisco Kid" – 4:35
2. "Where Was You At" – 3:25
3. "City, Country, City" – 13:18
4. "Four Cornered Room" – 8:30
5. "The World Is a Ghetto" – 10:10
6. "Beetles in the Bog" – 3:51

Personnel

• Howard Scott – guitar, percussion, vocals
• B.B. Dickerson – bass, percussion, vocals
• Lonnie Jordan – organ, piano, timbolies, percussion, vocals
• Harold Brown – drums, percussion, vocals
• Papa Dee Allen – conga, bongos, percussion, vocals
• Charles Miller – clarinet, alto, tenor and baritone saxes, percussion, vocals
• Lee Oskar – harmonica, percussion, vocals

Charts

Year	Album	Chart positions[5]
		US	US R&B
1972	The World Is a Ghetto	1	1

Singles

Year	Single	Chart positions[6]
		US	US R&B	US Dance
1973	"The Cisco Kid"	2	5	—
	"The World Is a Ghetto"	7	3	—

Preceded by No Secrets by Carly Simon

Billboard 200 number-one album February 17 - March 2, 1973

Succeeded by Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player by Elton John

See also

• List of number-one albums of 1973 (U.S.)
• List of number-one R&B albums of 1973 (U.S.)
• Billboard Year-End

External links

• War-The World Is A Ghetto at Discogs

References

1. ^ Allmusic review
2. ^ Rolling Stone Magazine Review
3. ^ "Year End Charts - Year-end Albums - The Billboard 200". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. Archived from the original on May 13, 2011. http://web.archive.org/web/20080214165824/http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/charts/yearend_chart_display.jsp?f=The+Billboard+200&g=Year-end+Albums&year=1973. Retrieved May 13, 2011. 
4. ^ Anderson, Mark. "Quadraphonic Popular Recordings (W)". http://members.cox.net/surround/quaddisc/quadpw.htm. 
5. ^ "War US albums chart history". allmusic.com. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p5788/charts-awards/billboard-albums. Retrieved 2011-07-13. 
6. ^ "War US singles chart history". allmusic.com. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p5788/charts-awards/billboard-singles. Retrieved 2011-07-13.