Savor (Santana) (LP 3686 - 3691)

Santana  Santana '68 (CD, Prism Records, 1997) ***  

Santana  Live at the Fillmore '68 (CD, Columbia Records, 1997) ***  

Santana  Santana (CD, Wisepack Records, 1994) ***

Santana  Spiritual Ascension (The Very Best of) (CD, Musicbrokers Records, 2007) ***   

Santana  The Woodstock Experience (CD, Sony Music, 2009) *****  

Santana  Santana (3 versions on CD*/ Vinyl, CBS Records, 1969) ***** 

* 1) 1998 three bonus tracks from Woodstock 2) 2004 two CD 'Legacy Edition' from China 3) 2009 version came with The Woodstock Experience.

Genre: San Francisco rock

Places I remember: First 4 - the Warehouse, JB Hi Fi, Shona Walding collection; RCA Record Club/HMV for Santana; Fopp

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Soul Sacrifice (Woodstock - YouTube); Soul Sacrifice (Santana)

Gear costume: Jingo (Santana)

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6

Active compensatory factors: I will need to divide my Santana collection into multiple posts as there are roughly 40 albums in it (30 CDs and 11 records). My approach will be chronological until the last post which will feature a couple of compilations. 

So, first up are the albums from the sixties where they started out life as the Santana Blues Band in 1967. That quickly became shortened to Santana with the classic line-up stabilised by 1969: Gregg Rolie, Mike Carabello, David Brown (bass), Michael Shrieve (drums), Jose 'Chepito' Areas and Carlos, of course, on visionary guitar.

Their debut studio album, Santana, would emerge in 1969, but our story starts with live Santana albums pre their debut album, and I have five. They sometimes cover the same ground but they all provide a fascinating glimpse into the band's evolution towards Santana - the first studio album.

Santana '68 has six tracks and comes in a variety of covers. Jingo is a long rambling version (over nine minutes), Soul Sacrifice is short with no drum solo - under 5 minutes, Persuasion is also there, as well as three other jams - Jam in E, Latin Tropical (a.k.a. Fried Neckbones), and La Puesta Del Sol. It's of great historical value, reasonably well recorded and definitely listenable.

Still in 1968 and Live at the Fillmore '68 is fitting because the band was championed by Bill Graham, to the extent that he only agreed to help out at Woodstock if they signed Santana to appear. This is before they'd released any albums! The deal was agreed, Santana played a 45 minute set at Woodstock and the future was set!

But I digress. Back to Live at the Fillmore '68 double set. It's great to have Bill's introduction and a full set by the nascent band on their pre-Woodstock set (which was essentially the debut studio album). 

These live versions in 1968 are all long workouts. Fried Neckbones is 10 minutes long (and it doesn't go anywhere especially) while the still evolving Soul Sacrifice has ballooned out to 14 plus minutes (it meanders around and still has no drum solo). 

These are both short sprints though compared to closer Freeway which is over 30 minutes long! It's a pretty rocky number but the drum solo is not great.

Santana is an el cheapo version of these live '68 tapes that I kept from Shona Walding's collection. There is no information on where the tracks come from and some of it sounds un Santana-like.

Spiritual Ascension is a double CD, hilariously subtitled 'The Very Best of'. Again, there is no information about where the tracks come from so it's not helpful. The vocals are still developing, while the music sounds tighter, so I'm thinking it's early 1969. If I'm right it's good to hear the process towards Woodstock. Even Fried Neckbones sounds as if it's developed a bit more purpose (it still plods though).

As mentioned elsewhere on this blog, I am obsessed with Woodstock (indeed - rock festivals generally, but specifically Woodstock). Santana provides a real highlight to the film via the now ready to go Soul Sacrifice with Michael Shrieve absolutely killing his drum solo. Gregg Rolie's organ is now a perfect counter to Carlos on more economical guitar. Yes, he was stoned - how he played anything this great is a mystery of the cosmos. After playing the songs for a year, the arrangements were punchier, more succinct and the vocals had improved a lot!

And so, finally - the studio and the debut - Santana. A five-star glorious triumph of an album. In 1969. my dad received a copy as a member of the World Record mail order club (cunning - they'd send an album out a month and if you didn't like it - you had to mail it back). He didn't like it. But I did!

In fact, I loved everything about it. That cover!! Iconic. The music - like nothing I'd ever heard on the radio in the sixties. It grabbed me and pulled me in and has never let me go.

Every song on the album is perfect. Gone were any lengthy noodling passages; the arrangements were tighter; the strengths of each band member enhanced. It was if these guys were deep into their career so all of those live shows and studio work outs before Santana arrived were crucial to the success of the album.

What emerges are definitive versions of each song and all are songs of joy!

Where do they all belong? The early seventies albums are next up. Could they sustain this high level? If so, for how long?