Win a copy of War's Greatest Hits 2.0!

One copy of the 2021 double-vinyl LP will be given away to a paid subscriber.

The funk/soul/Latin band War came out of Long Beach, California, in the late ’60s, first as backing group to the Animals’ Eric Burdon and then as a force in their own right. A rare multiracial group for their day, War quickly became one of the most successful bands in the 1970s, with their 1973 album The World Is a Ghetto becoming Billboard’s best-selling album of the year. The first chunk of their post-Burdon era was summed up in the essential 1976 compilation Greatest Hits, and 45 years later, that collection was appended to, with a second disc of hits continuing the story up through 1982’s Outlaw album. This updated Greatest Hits 2.0 also reaches backwards with two songs from the Eric Burdon era and additional album tracks from their commercial peak in the early to mid-’70s.

In short, this 2021 release is the definitive vinyl anthology of a wholly unique band that combined virtually every type of American music under the sun—jazz, rock, funk, Latin, R&B, and more—and came away with songs that not only defined their era (“Low Rider,” “The Cisco Kid”) but became enduring standards, presaging some of the trends of hip-hop, Latin, and rock that would come decades later.

I’ve got a new, sealed copy of War’s Greatest Hits 2.0 to give away to one lucky paid subscriber. (Note that this is not the recently reissued one-disc Greatest Hits LP that was cut by Kevin Gray but is the two-disc version with all of the additional tracks.) It marks the perfect entry point into War’s extensive catalog and instantly places classics like “Spill the Wine” and “Why Can’t We Be Friends?” on your record shelf.

If you’re not a paid subscriber, today’s a wonderful day to fix that. Simply click here:

By upgrading, you get more than eligibility in The Vinyl Cut’s monthly record giveaways. You also get full access to the complete site archives, with the ability to read every article published there. (Free subscribers only get six months of back access, while non-subscribing site visitors only get a paltry three.) Not only can you read each and every article, you can comment on them as well. Plus, you’ll receive the weekly playlists that I include in each week’s New vinyl reissues newsletter, so you can sample all the exciting stuff that has been newly re-released on our favorite format.

But perhaps most importantly, becoming a paid subscriber means you get to support the work here directly. This site is entirely funded by paid subscribers—no ad revenue, no affiliate links, no invisible handshake deals going on behind the scenes. It’s just you. For the low cost of $5 a month or $50 a year, you can hold your head high knowing that you are supporting a small independent publication that covers the things you’re most interested in. (Records!) Think of it like public television, but instead of sending you a tote bag, we’re giving away vinyl.

With all that rigamarole out of the way, here’s how to enter to win War’s Greatest Hits 2.0. This contest will remain open until 11:59 pm Pacific time on Wednesday, September 23.