Waves within (Santana) (LP 3692 - 3700)

 

Santana  Abraxis (CD/ Vinyl, CBS Records, 1970) ***** 

Santana  Santana (CD, CBS Records, 1971) ***** 

Carlos  Santana & Buddy Miles  Carlos Santana & Buddy Miles! Live! (Vinyl, Columbia Records, 1972) ****

Santana  Caravanserai (Vinyl/CD, CBS Records, 1972) ***** 

Carlos Santana & Mahavishnu John McLaughlin  Love Devotion Surrender (Vinyl/CD, CBS Records, 1973) ***** 

Santana  Welcome (CD, CBS Records, 1973) **** 

Santana  Lotus (Vinyl, CBS Records, 1973-75*) **** 

* My copy is the European version released in 1975

Santana  Borboletta (CD, CBS Records, 1974) ***** 

Turiya Alice Coltrane & Devadip Carlos Santana  Illuminations (CD, CBS Records, 1974) **** 

Genre: San Francisco Rock, Latin American rock, jazz fusion, rock

Places I remember: Real Groovy Records,  Marbecks Records for Abraxis; Taupo music shop; Monterey music shop (Carlos Santana & Buddy Miles Live!); Chaldon Books and Records (Love Devotion Surrender); Slow Boat Records (Lotus);

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Oye Como Va (Abraxis)

Gear costume: Para los Rumberos (Santana III), When I look Into Your Eyes (Welcome)

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: After 1969's Santana, the question was - could they sustain that success/ intensity/ quality. The answer with Abraxis was unequivocably - oh hell yes! And then some!

No difficult second album syndrome for Santana. Instead, a vibrant eclectic album of ideas that all pay off handsomely. No surprise that the second album would contain a lot of covers but these now all sound like Santana songs - yes even Black Magic Woman.

Abraxas covers a lot of stylistic territory - rock, jazz, salsa and blues, but all of the album works as a whole. Therefore, it's hard to pick out highlights but Oye Como Va, Incident at Neshabur, Samba Pa Ti, and Black Magic Woman are all standouts.

Their third studio album is called Santana but it's often referred to as Santana III to avoid confusion with the 1969 debut. It keeps the same classic band personnel as that album (but would be the last to do so until they reunited for Santana IV in 2016). 

The sound is a tad harder hitting and that's possibly down to the introduction of a certain 17 year old guitarist, named Neal Schon, to the band. 

Again, it's hard to single out any one song on what is a superb album, but the final track is especially special - a frantic, insanely fast version of Tito Puente's Para los Rumberos. It has to be heard to be believed. It's a third five-star classic album in a row - hence why the 'classic' 1968 to 1971 Santana is held in such regard.

From December 1971 to April 1972, Carlos and several other members of Santana toured with drummer/vocalist Buddy Miles. The live album contains both Santana songs and Buddy Miles' evergreen song - Changes. 

Side two has a 25 minute jam called Free Form Funkafide Filth, that I can probably live without it. Still - its intensity and experimental approach prefigures to some extent where Carlos was heading next with Santana.

We are still in 1972 and the fourth Santana studio album - Caravanserai. This album bewitches me. I NEVER get tired of listening to it. It holds a definite spell over me.

Some of the classic band remain (Shrieve, José 'Chepito' Areas, Gregg Rolie) and Neal Schon from Santana III returns, but there are many new additions - some of whom would be featured on future albums, like James Mingo Lewis, Doug Rauch and Tom Coster.

The jazz fusion sound on Caravanserai is beguiling. I'd give this album 6 stars if I could, because somehow the magic was captured! And it repays multiple plays. Actually, the same goes for Carlos' next collaboration. This time with Mahavishnu John McLaughlin. 

Backed by members of their own bands, the intensity levels shoot into the red on Love Devotion Surrender. Larry Young on organ is a pivotal player for both guitarists as they peak, and peak again and again throughout this extraordinary album. It has to be experienced to be believed, and while not for the faint-hearted, it's also weirdly accessible. AllMusic sums up the album's lasting effect: After three decades, Love Devotion Surrender still sounds completely radical and stunningly, movingly beautiful.

Welcome continued along the jazz fusion route but with some key personnel changes. Although Michael Shrieve and Chepito Areas remained, Neal Schon and Gregg Rolie had left to start Journey and were replaced by a variety of new musicians and guests (John McLaughlin is on one track). I'm not a great fan of Flora Purim's vocal style though, so not every track is a masterpiece for me.

The lavishly presented and expansive live in Japan set (a triple album) called Lotus was recorded in July 1973. I had a CD copy of it many years ago but the vinyl is much better - you can't beat vinyl!

Side one's 11 minute Every Step of the Way is an early peak (Carlos is in ferocious form), then it's into Black Magic Woman, Oye Como Va and onwards through an extraordinary concert - recorded brilliantly in Japan too.

Borboletta ('butterfly' in Portuguese) was Santana's sixth studio album. It came out around the same time as Carlos' collaboration with Alice Coltrane. I'm not sure which one came out first. 

Whatever the case, the jazz funk fusion continued in brilliant fashion on Borboletta. There is a quiet tranquility about the album that is very appealing to me. 

Illuminations, which features John Coltrane's compositions, is an underappreciated album of free jazz exploration for the most part (side 2). I admit to enjoying side 1's more meditative, contemplative style but kudos to Carlos for trying something different in his musical quest for fresh challenges.

This now seems to be a good place to pause. In five years since the debut, Carlos Santana with/without Santana had created five essential albums, and collaborated along the way with Buddy Miles, John McLaughlin and Alice Coltrane.

Not bad for the kid from Autlán de Navarro in Jalisco, Mexico.

 

Where do they all belong? Next up - 1976 to 1979.