''The Music Band 2'' is an album by

War War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

, the second in their "Music Band" series, released on

MCA Records MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc., which later became part of Universal Music Group. Pre-history MCA Inc., a powerful talent agency and a television production company, entered the recorded music business in 1962 wit ...

in November 1979. War had more personnel changes since the previous album in the series, earlier in 1979. Charles Miller (saxophone) left after recording one song, replaced by

Pat Rizzo Pat Rizzo (November 30, 1941 – April 15, 2021) was an American saxophonist and flautist, best known for his work with funk band Sly and the Family Stone. Career Rizzo started performing in the sixties with The Cuff Links. He is best known f ...

(ex

Sly and the Family Stone Sly and the Family Stone was an American band from San Francisco. Active from 1966 to 1983, it was pivotal in the development of funk, soul, rock, and psychedelic music. Its core line-up was led by singer-songwriter, record producer, and multi-i ...

) who is credited with playing "horns". The following year, Miller became the victim of an unsolved murder. Another new member was Ron Hammon on drums; the group now had three drummers, the others being Harold Brown and

Papa Dee Allen War (originally called Eric Burdon and War) is an American funk/rock music, rock/soul music, soul band from Long Beach, California, known for several hit songs (including "Spill the Wine", "The World Is a Ghetto (War song), The World Is a Ghett ...

(on congas). Alice Tweed Smith, who was credited as Tweed Smith on the previous album, is Alice Tweed Smyth on this one; she is included in the composer credits for the first time (with spelling of Smith), but only on one track. Songwriter credits can be used to determine who played on which tracks (producer Jerry Goldstein is often credited as well), although Smith may be singing background vocals on tracks for which she is not credited, Rizzo and

Luther Rabb Luther James Rabb (September 7, 1942 – January 22, 2006) was an American singer, musician, and songwriter, from Seattle, Washington, who gained notoriety as the lead vocalist of the jazz rock group Ballin' Jack and in later years as a member ...

are not included in the credits for one song (and possibly doesn't play on it), and one track is a new version of an old song with its original songwriting credits. The song "I'll take care of you" is used in film ''Youngblood'' as an instrumental and isn't on the soundtrack. The cover was printed using elaborate methods as used on the previous album in the series: a background painted solid green (instead of using a four-colour printing press), with metallic gold print (plus black print on the back), and embossing. An innersleeve has colour photos of the group, two from the same photo shoot session, each with eight of nine group members: Papa Dee Allen is absent from one, and Alice Tweed Smith from the other. As was the case in the previous album, the back cover shows songs in a different order from their actual appearance. The plain but elaborate cover art concept continued with the next album in the series, '' The Music Band Live'' (1980) which has a black cover. Two singles were issued from the album: "Don't Take It Away" in 1979, and "I'll Be Around" in 1980. Both have the same B-side, "The Music Band 2 (We are the Music Band)".

Track listing

Side one

#"Don't Take It Away" (

, Harold Brown, Jerry Goldstein, Ron Hammon,

Lonnie Jordan Leroy Jordan (born November 21, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter. He is a founding member of the American funk band War. Jordan had a number of roles over the years, acting as vocalist and playing guitar, piano, synthesizer, and percussion ...

Lee Oskar Lee Oskar (born 24 March 1948) is a Danish harmonica player, notable for his contributions to the sound of the rock-funk fusion group War, which was formed by Howard E. Scott and Harold Brown, his solo work, and as a harmonica manufacturer. H ...

, Luther Rabb,

Howard E. Scott Howard E. Scott (born March 15, 1946) is an American funk/rock guitarist and founding member of the successful 1970s funk band War. Biography Scott grew up in Compton, California. He began playing bass at a very young age under the guidance of ...

, Alice Tweed Smith) – 6:45 #"I'll Be Around" (Allen, Brown, Hammon, Jordan, Oskar, Rabb, Rizzo, Scott) – 6:34 #"I'll Take Care of You" (Allen, Brown, Jordan, Charles Miller, Oskar, Scott) – 8:48

Side two

#"Night People" (Allen, Brown, Goldstein, Hammon, Jordan, Oskar, Rabb, Rizzo, Scott) – 6:30 #"The World is a Ghetto (special all new instrumental version)" (Allen, Brown,

B.B. Dickerson BB, Bb, or similar, may refer to: In arts and entertainment *BB, abbreviation for a catalogue of works by Béla Bartók * ''BB'' (album), by Mod Sun (2017) *"BB Talk", 2015 song by Miley Cyrus * BB (Transformers), a character in the franchi ...

, Jordan, Miller, Oskar, Scott) – 13:47 #"The Music Band 2 (We are the Music Band)" (Allen, Brown, Hammon, Jordan, Oskar, Rabb, Rizzo, Scott) – 3:10

Personnel

;War *

– percussion, vocals * Harold Brown – drums, percussion, vocals *Ron Hammon – drums, vocals *

– organ, piano, synthesizer, guitar, percussion, vocals *

– harmonicas, vocals *Luther Rabb – bass, vocals *

– horns, vocals *

Howard Scott Howard Scott (April 1, 1890 – January 1, 1970) was an American engineer and founder of the Technocracy movement. He formed the Technical Alliance and Technocracy Incorporated. Early life Little is known about Scott's background or his early lif ...

– guitar, vocals *Alice Tweed Smyth – percussion, vocals * Charles Miller – saxophone on "I'll Take Care of You"

Technical personnel

*Jerry Goldstein with Lonnie Jordon in association with Howard Scott – producers *Chris Huston – recording and remix engineer *Jeff Eccles, Russell Schmitt, Doug Pakes, Don Smith – second engineers *Wally Traugett – mastering *Richard Gibbs – synthesizer programs *George Osaki, Lee Oskar – art direction *Alan Bergman – photography {{DEFAULTSORT:Music Band 2 1979 albums War (American band) albums MCA Records albums Albums produced by Jerry Goldstein (producer)