Day 346: Galaxy – War

I was driving over to the west coast today to see what was advertised as a once in a lifetime solar eclipse, and reader, I did not see a solar eclipse. I had my little pinhole camera and everything, unfortunately it was too cloudy. But I had a great time nonetheless and played some space-themed albums on the drive, one of them being Galaxy by War.

Album cover courtesy of MCA Records

War is a funk rock band from Long Beach, California that was formed in 1969 and is still going, but with a different line-up, with Leroy “Lonnie” Jordan being the only remaining original member. The other original members went on to form the Lowrider Band, named after the group’s biggest single. They were known for the mixture of different genres and influences that the band had, coming from the different backgrounds of the members of the group.

Galaxy was released in 1977 as the group’s tenth studio album. It’s not fully space-themed, and the only space song is the titular track, and the rest of the songs are mainly about women, but it’s still a somewhat suitable choice for today’s drive.

Occasionally, though, it’s hard to remember that War had bangers, the aforementioned “Low Rider” being one of them. But there’s not really anything like that on Galaxy. It’s not a particularly memorable album by any means, it starts with a bang with “Galaxy” and then mainly meanders a bit unremarkably and fades into the background — it’s not bad, but it’s just not particularly good either. I liked the final instrumental song, “The Seven Tin Soldiers” probably the most of the bunch.

War. What is it good for? Having a nice drive in the countryside. It’s not a good enough album that I’ll reach for it any time in the future, but it’s perfectly enjoyable, despite it being a bit of a snoozer. I’m giving it a slightly harsh score of 6.5/10.