War: The World is a Ghetto Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		0.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		4.0

War: The World is a Ghetto Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 26, 2024

If you want a good example of the vagaries of fate and fortune and how transitory it can all be, could you possibly name the best selling album of 1973? Well, it probably should come as no big surprise to find out it was this rambunctiously powerful album from War, though the fact that the album seems to have faded at least somewhat from general consciousness may be a supporting piece of evidence in that whole "vagaries of fate and fortune and how transitory it can all be" situation. A kind of interesting sidebar to that "situation", and one more contemporaneous with the album's release, is that it only spent a couple of weeks atop Billboard's album chart and still managed to come out as the year's big winner, which in its own way may at least hint that there's longevity to be experienced here. The album provides some raucous moments that take full advantage of a four channel format, and the album sparked two pretty sizable hit singles in "Cisco Kid" and the title track.

The album's track list can be seen in the screenshots of the disc menu I've uploaded to accompany this review.

War: The World is a Ghetto Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

This is another Rhino Quadio offering with a static menu, and one that has been authored as I personally prefer so that you can toggle between the audio codecs by using the colored buttons on your remote. That means you don't really need to have a monitor or display on to listen to the disc.

War: The World is a Ghetto Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

War: The World Is a Ghetto features DTS-HD Master Audio 4.0 and DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 options. This is another quadraphonic version that really significantly opens up the soundstage, especially with regard to some of the really nicely layered, and at times just slightly strange, instrumentation, especially the percussion elements. Interestingly, while vocals frequently emanate from all four channels more or less equally, in some songs, as in the album starter "Cisco Kid", they're imaged slightly toward the rear. That opening tune is also a good example of how discrete channelization can be utilized, with that strange scratchy, metallic instrument (banjo? synth?) emanating from the left rear channel. The shouts in the song are also completely immersive. More really beautifully layered percussion can be heard in songs like "City, Country City" where you can hear individual instruments like shakers or congas from different channels. Fidelity is top notch throughout.

War: The World is a Ghetto Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

There are no supplements on the disc. The insert booklet reproduces the original credits and has the Quadio standard photo of the master tape boxes with labels. Rhino's standard verbiage on bass management setup is also included. The disc is silkscreened with the original Avenue Records label.

War: The World is a Ghetto Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

There's a really appealing difference in approaches throughout this album, with a kind of loose, occasionally off key, "party hearty" aspect to tunes like "Cisco Kid", and a more polished, nuance approach to a number of the other tunes like the title song or some of the instrumentals. The quadraphonic version provides some enjoyable immersion throughout every song. Recommended.