Lonnie Jordan What's more annoying than a group from the '60s or '70s trying to foist new material on old fans?

Hits only, please.

That's what audiences want to hear.

Lonnie Jordan wrote so many memorable songs for the funk- rock group War that he can play an almost two-hour show and keep the fans involved at every turn. No experimental stuff for this vintage act, just pure musical bliss, an orgasmic rush into the times and places of a youth misspent.

On Sat., Dec 27 Jordan returns to The Canyon club in Agoura Hills for the third time in as many years. The 60yearold Whittier resident is a founding member of War, whose hits included "Cisco Kid," "The World Is a Ghetto," "All Day Music," "Why Can't We Be Friends" and "Slippin' Into Darkness."

To hear those songs alone is worth the price of admission, but in his show Jordan also initiates a lively, betweenthesongs repartee about the '60s music scene, which entertains knowledgeable fans thoroughly.

Jordan says the hit "Spill the Wine" came about during a recording session back in the day. He spilled some wine on an expensive mixing console and burned it out. The funky Latin groove "Low Rider" brings into play Jordan's calypso-jazz influences. ("Take a little trip . . . take a little trip with me.") His musical roots also trace back to the great Tito Puente, Harry Belafonte and Ray Charles, even Mexican cowboys.

"I listened to all genres of music," Jordan says. "I was just into music, period. I thought there was no other life."

History lesson: In the mid1990s, Jordan's producer and good friend, Jerry Goldstein, went to court and won the rights to the name War. Former member and celebrated harpist Lee Oskar branched off and now tours with his own group called The Lowrider Band.

Jordan also collaborated with The Animals' Eric Burdon ("Eric Burdon Declares War," 1970), and jammed with Jim Hendrix on the night he died.

Does he get tired of dutifully playing the same hits every time out?

"I don't mind playing the same songs," Jordan said. "We play it differently each time and put a new vibe on it. . . . I don't bore people with songs they never heard of. I don't care how good the song may be."

Like Jerry Garcia's Deadheads, the followers of War come prepared to hear every memorable last riff.

The show at The Canyon brings out some of Jordan's biggest fans.

"I love that audience," he said. "They're louder than our music is. I love that. We just bounce off each other and have a good time."

Sadly, War's impact on the music scene waned with the advent of '70s disco. Unlike the Bee Gees and others, War was unwilling to compromise their sound.

"Our music was a movement, not disco," Jordan says. "Had (the industry) looked a little deeper they would have seen songs like 'Me and Baby Brother' had a disco beat, but they couldn't see that far."

What goes around comes around. Today Jordan and his mates are doing better than ever.

Now in its 40th year, the band has just released "War's Greatest Hits Live" on CD and DVD. They've also been nominated for a 2009 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

"Staying power," says Lonnie Jordan. "We stayed true to our roots."

Check them out at www .wartheband.com and at The Canyon club on Dec. 27.