Changes (Santana) (LP 3706 - 3709)

Devadip Carlos Santana  The Swing of Delight (CD, Columbia Records, 1980) ****  

Santana  Zebop! (Vinyl, CBS Records, 1981) ***  

Santana  Shango (Vinyl, Columbia Records, 1982) **  

Carlos Santana  Blues for Salvador (Vinyl, Columbia Records, 1987) **** 

Genre: Jazz fusion, rock

Places I remember: Fopp, Marbecks Records

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: American Gypsy (Zebop!)

Gear costume: Hold On (Shango), 'Trane (Blues for Salvadore)

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: Deep breath y'all. Into the eighties we go. As a reference point on the right is what I looked like in the mid-eighties. Buckle up!

Carlos put the disappointing Marathon behind him and went full on jazz fusion for The Swing of Delight - before returning to the rock moves of Zebop! and Shango. Who knows what he was thinking.

First up - The Swing of Delight was the real deal, although, as a double album, it's hard to sustain the high intensity throughout. 

Carlos again uses musicians from Santana as well as iconic members of Miles Davis' 1960s quintet: saxophonist Wayne Shorter, pianist Herbie Hancock, bassist Ron Carter, and drummer Tony Williams.  Guys that Santana described as 'the best musicians on the planet'. He's not wrong. They perform as such on this album too, in case you had any doubt. 

It's a well named album - the music swings over the expansive, mostly instrumental double album. If you are a Santana fan, you need this one - ignore the reviews from critics.

Zebop! was the first Santana album of the decade. It's way better than Marathon. The rock songs are delivered better (Winning, Changes, The Sensitive Kind, Searchin for instance) and the Latin rhythms are retained for a couple of the tracks. Alex Ligertwood's vocals are a bit more convincing as well.

In many ways, Shango was a carbon copy of Zebop! Both are lively rock albums that enjoyed success with singles lifted from them. Hold On (Shango) is a catchy song, and probably my pick amongst them. 

The album is notable for Gregg Rolie's return on organ for one track and a co-producing/ co-writing role. 

It's just not the sort of Santana I really enjoy - a couple of the songs are even done in a cod reggae style and they don't work for me - hence the meh rating. 

Book-ending my eighties Santana collection is another solo Carlos album. Blues for Salvador was named for his son. The album is another where the lines between the solo Carlos and band merge as a number of Santana members play on Blues for Salvador.

The guest star list is also impressive: Greg Walker returns on vocals; Alphonso Johnson – bass; Tony Williams – drums
Buddy Miles – backing vocals.

Although the songs come from a variety of sources (soundchecks, outtakes from other albums), the whole album hangs together remarkably well. It's a much more rewarding album that Zebop! or Shango.

Where do they all belong? There are a couple of other albums released in the eighties I didn't buy: solo one - Havana Moon (1983); Santana - Beyond Appearances.

The nineties onwards is next in this Santana-a-thon.