Santana

The two CD set of SANTANA: THE WOODSTOCK EXPERIENCE is truly evidence of a super group being launched into stardom. It includes the live Woodstock CD that runs almost 46-minutes and a replica CD of their debut album Santana--minus the bonus tracks which are on the live CD.

Although Santana was relatively unknown when they took the stage in the daytime at Woodstock, they soon won the crowd over with their blistering instrumentals like "Waiting," "Savor," "Jingo," "Fried Neck Bones And Some Home Fries," and the astronomical "Soul Sacrifice" (seen on Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace & Music Director's Cut (40th Anniversary Ultimate Collector's Edition with Amazon Exclusive Bonus Disc), which blew me away and that's why I bought this set).

Unless you have no pulse (or no rhythm), you can't help but move your feet and/or bob your head to Santana's incredible live set at Woodstock. The songs "Evil Ways," "You Just Don't Care," and "Persuasion" feature vocals, and I like those songs a lot, but they don't compare to the music itself. Infectious beats that are driving and full of life; a perfect blend of Latin, Rhythm & Blues, Rock, Soul and even a little Gospel that's what Santana's music sounds like to me.

You can hear the audience go from polite applause to raucous, absolute cheering screams of appreciation and acknowledgment as the group continues on with their songs. By the end of their set, Santana blew the audience away and this CD is a testament to it.

Like the other CD sets of in the Woodstock Experience (Sly & The Family Stone: The Woodstock Experience (2CD) and Janis Joplin:The Woodstock Experience (2 CD))--I own and recommend both--Santana's comes with two CDs--live Woodstock set and Santana--which come in cardboard jackets and sleeves with liner notes, and housed inside a larger cardboard package. It also comes with a mini-fold out poster featuring the band onstage on one-side and the audience on the other.

Get this CD set and you'll see why Santana's Woodstock performance is legendary. I love it and I'm not even a Santana fan.

When I first picked up the 40th anniversary directors cut edition of the Woodstock film I was once again excited to hear some truly great music. Then a few days later I found out they were releasing double disc sets from Woodstock I was very excited.

Dubbed The Woodstock Experience, the double-CD set from Santana comes with their classic 1969 debut album along side their full length set from August 16th, 1969

It may be hard to believe now, but Santana was pretty much unknown outside of the San Francisco area when they performed at the 1969 Woodstock Festival.

With only a single album released at the time, Santana was one of a handful of promising, but lesser-known acts chosen by promoters to perform at the three-day rock festival alongside such well known acts as The Who, Jimi Hendrix, Jefferson Airplane and Janis Joplin.

Santana's didn't stay unknown for long and it seemed to change overnight with the band's historic performance. Along with bands like Sly And The Family Stone and Ten Years After, Santana in fact proved to be one of the true breakout acts of the festival.

Their roughly forty five-minute set proved to be a career changer, particularly once the Woodstock film captured their electrifying version of "Soul Sacrifice" a year later.

Santana's historic Woodstock performance is captured in its entirety for the very first time.

The most striking thing about hearing these two discs together is how close they actually played it. Make no mistake, this is a great performance. It's every bit as electrifying as the version of "Soul Sacrifice" that's become permanently etched into the memories of anyone who has seen the film. It's also has just the right touch of a bit more raw sounding.

The fact is, outside of a few sound glitches in the vocal mix, in hearing the two discs back to back, there just isn't that much difference between them. Well, at least outside of the occasional onstage banter ("we're in New York, right?").

Every band seems to have the one album or concert that puts a stamp and says we have arrived. This is the one for Santana.

With that said, the band scorches its way through their allotted forty five minutes here. The percussion unit, led by drummer Michael Shrieve and also featuring the congas and timbales of Jose Chepito Areas and Micheal Carabello, in particular is quite remarkable.

There really has never been anything quite like these guys either before or since, a fact all the more amazing when you consider Shrieve was just a teenager at the time.

As on the original album, the song "Evil Ways" merely serves as a sort of pop tune bridge between the furious sounding stew of percolating Latin rhythms heard here. Above all of this, keyboardist Gregg Rolie and bassist Dave Brown, get in their share of tasty licks. But for the most part this is pretty much Carlos Santana's show, and the great guitarist proves why he is and always will be considered one of the best ever.
Michaels Shrieve's drum solo on "Soul Sacrifice," however, remains the real show stopper.

I was amazed to find out that he was just 20yrs old at the time. He is just amazing and should be considered one the great drummers of all time.

Carlos aside, that one solo probably did as much as anything else they did at Woodstock to put Santana on the map for good. To this day, it's a defining moment of the Woodstock Experience, and of its time.

If you're a fan of the Woodstock era of music then this is for you, but if you're a fan of Santana then this is the release you've been waiting for.

This was a gift for my stepson and he plays it often. Santana is fabulous and it's one of our favorites - a must have for Santana fans.

Awesome disk with good variety of tracks/guest artists. Santana is truly a multi-dimensional warrior! Everyone should listen to "Put Your Lights On".

The Santana CD is great. However, Amazon needs to do something about their shipping methods and how they handle it when there's an issue pertaining to it. I received the CD early, but the case had been completely crushed - COMPLETELY! I called Amazon right away, but they told me that they couldn't help me because that item had not yet shipped - yet I was holding it in my hand! It's such a pain to buy something, have to wait for it, receive it and it be broken and have to send it back yourself - but I couldn't even send it back because as far as Amazon was concerned, they hadn't yet shipped it. Bad, bad Amazon!

Just what we need. Another essential, ultimate, best of Santana album featuring, you guessed it, Black Magic Woman and Evil Ways. You're better off buying a few well-chosen Santana albums based on your musical preference. If you like the popular hit songs, buy the first self-titled album, Abraxas, Moonflower and Zebop. If you like the more ambitious instrumental stuff, pick up Caravanserai, Welcome, Love, Devotion and Surrender and the live album Lotus, all from the '70s, arguably Carlos' most creative period.

All the selections are very good especially the alternate version of the song, "The Game of Love" by Tina Turner which is really special.

i like this one very much. it has a good song selection. also it covers quite alot of his career. its excellent, im very happy i have this cd,to add to my santana collection. the sound came out great on this one.

I'm not a super huge Santana fan but I love this CD. It captures all the radio hits plus some other great tunes. I would recommend this for the casual Santana fan like me!

I bought the compilation for"No One to Depend On" snd found every cut worth while. The drumming is awesome and Greg Rolle(later of Journey) is great on the early tracks keyboards. This is the best of an iconic classic rock artist.

Great collection of Santana classics. My one quibble is that I would have preferred the live version of "Soul Sacrifice" from Woodstock. That was an absolutely electric performance!

carlos santana is the king of latin rock and has been for 40 years now and this is his best,leaning heavely on his early years (as it should) you get all his best tracks from black magic woman to the searing souls sacrifice. this is great rock from start to finish,it does have a few great tracks missing like Toussaint L'Overture and Guajira but these can be found on vol 2. so if your looking for some santana this is what your looking for.highly reccomended

Like so many other classic rock albums, Santana's 1970 sophomore set ABRAXAS is celebrated for what are arguably the wrong reasons, with the curious result that the collection as a whole remains underappreciated. Sure, ABRAXAS yielded Santana's two biggest hits - the ageless and definitive covers of Fleetwood Mac's "Black Magic Woman" and Tito Puente's "Oye Como Va" - but there's a lot more here than a couple of radio staples. Running the gamut from the ethereal to the earthbound several times over, this is about as eclectic a package as one could ask for, and a major step forward from the fine debut disc the band had released just over a year earlier.
"Singing Winds, Crying Beasts" is an airy instrumental, and opens the album on its subtlest note. Many listeners might view it as little more than an extended intro to "Black Magic Woman," but I'd counter that Santana's most famous tune strikes me in turn as an intro to "Gypsy Queen," the Gabor Szabo piece into which it segues so beautifully. "Oye Como Va" certainly makes a statement, but "Incident at Neshabur" makes an even bigger one, proving conclusively that this band played covers out of choice rather than necessity. Lest anyone still harbor doubts, percussionist Chepito Areas' swinging "Se a Cabo" should help you to dance them away.
Keyboardist and lead singer Gregg Rolie wrote several fine straight rock and blues numbers during his tenure in Santana, the two finest of which appear on this album. "Mother's Daughter" is a darkly humorous, passionately performed tale of love gone wrong, while the steamshoveling "Hope You're Feeling Better" is, for my money, Santana's greatest rocker and more deserving than either "Black Magic Woman" or "Oye Como Va" of ABRAXAS' top honors. "Samba pa Ti" is a stately, spiritual guitar showcase for Carlos Santana, still one of his best, and the percussion feature "El Nicoya" closes the proceedings in a very similar vein to that on which they opened, its heavily reverbed production evoking windy mountain redoubts south of the border and west of the setting sun.
The reissue of ABRAXAS adds three live tracks from a 1970 London show - "Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen," "Se a Cabo" and an early version of "Toussaint L'Overture" - which provide a nice taste of what the band was doing on stage while creating this album in the studio. No one really needs any additional reason to buy such a recording, of course, but they're here, and they're good.
Perhaps no Santana studio release better displays the band's singular ability to pair market-friendly pop and rock sensibilities with esoteric musical exploration than ABRAXAS. It's a solidly excellent set, not an alternative greatest hits package, and a must for ears everywhere.

I got this album when it first came out on vinyl and it's as fresh today as it was when it was released. This in my humble opinion was the best of all the Santana albums released. I consider this one as well as the 1st and 3rd albums Santana's best albums. The bonus tracks though to me are nothing important, it's the album that is the main release this CD is a classic. I don't collect Santana but have all their best albums in my opinion. I saw some reviews giving this a low rating, geeze, what were you listening to! I am sure they will soon put this one out in a two CD version like their 1st/2rd albums. So what are you waiting for? buy this this one, take a sample listen, no matter if your white guy like me or some other race, this one crosses any racial boundary.
Check out my mini-web site, Google it "Judemac Forever"

Key Tracks:
Black Magic Woman (Album version is far superior to the 45 RPM mix)
Gypsy Queen (great track to segue to Black Magic Woman)
Oye Como Va
Hope Your Feeling Better (A "B" Side to Black Magic Woman on 45RPM) & could have been a "A" side very easy.

For anyone who enjoys Carlos Santana in concert, this collection is a must. I have seen Carlos Santana over the years since 1969. Each time that I play any of his songs, it is a musical journey that I truly enjoy.

A quintessential classic Latin guitar rock album, with a small percentage of Caucasian catering, makes Abraxas elude the almighty full-tilt masterstroke record but contains enough side-by-side memorabilia to warrant historical preservation.

Although I own most of the Santana catalog, I still feel this is his shining moment. Greg Rollie's organ playing, percussion section and singing all mesh perfectly, and Santana and Neal Schon are great together. Wonderful mood changes blend a complex tapestry of Latin, pop, and Afro influences into a joyous romp. They do a great job on "Black Magic Woman", to the point where few folks realize that this is a Peter Green composition from early Fleetwood Mac days.

This is an album I had been looking for at the stores, we used to own it, my husband loves it and couldn't find it. I purchased it for Father's Day! It came quickly and in great condition (new!).

Supernaturual is more of a Carlos Santana then a Santana album since it includes none of the orignial members of Santana except for Carlos Sanatana. The music on here is pretty good but it just doesent have the same sound as from there first three albums, plus why the heck does it include guest vocals from Dave Matthews and Everlast?, What was Carlos Santana thinking because there vocals bassicly ruined the songs they sung on. The albums moods range from jazzy, latin rock, and latin pop. Songs like, "Maria Maria", are horrible and dont even sound like Santana also songs like, "Do You Like The Way", "African Bamba", and "Smooth", just are latin pop songs that do not deserve a place on a Santana album. I still dont get why so many people say this one of the best Santana albums whereas in my opinion its not really that good at all. Yet this album does hold up some gems like, "(Da Le) Yaleo" but thats about it. So if you want to pick up some real Santana pick up there first three albums.

The Trilogy of Guitar is Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, and Carlos Santana.

These three geniuses have given us an amazing quantity and quality of music that will be loved forever.

All three have experienced spectacular critical acclaim and commercial success.

But the commercial success of Supernatural is so far beyond anything else produced by the Trilogy that it deserves to be thought about more seriously than to merely say it's fun to dance to.

I've played guitar 35 years, played over 3,000 paid gigs in nightclub bands from 1980 to 1993, play dozens of Santana tunes, and continue to play guitar every day. I have listened hundreds, if not thousands, of times to everything Carlos Santana has recorded. I have been to six Santana concerts.

I have four points. 1. Supernatural is a commercial masterpiece. 2. Abraxas is a musical masterpiece. 3. If you love Supernatural, you'll probably love Abraxas even more. 4. Adding together points 1-3, what I'm saying is that Abraxas is the greatest rock album ever recorded.

Supernatural is Santana's most commercial album by a long distance. Before Supernatural, Abraxas (1970) was by far the most commercial Santana album. Although Supernatural is easier to listen to, especially for younger listeners, Abraxas is much better from the perspective of artistry and rock history importance.

I'm not knocking Supernatural. It's fantastic. It's the only album our whole family, from mom and dad to my ten-year-old twin daughters, can listen to together from the first song to the last. The contributions by the various younger artists are fantastic, and they blend remarkably with the Santana traditions of strong rhythm, danceability, and intensity. Of course Carlos plays the guitar like a demon on every song. And having the one and only Eric Clapton playing straight blues with Carlos at the end is so good I was speechless when I first heard it. Did I just hear a straight blues song by the two greatest living guitarists on the most commercial Album in a decade? Pinch me. On every song, whether he's just strumming a simple chord or playing a shredding solo, Carlos's beautiful tone and expressiveness are as magnificent as ever. So all in all, Supernatural deserved all the Grammys it received.

Nevertheless, Abraxas is a MUCH more powerful, beautiful, and groundbreaking album than Supernatural.

For one, each musician playing with Carlos on Abraxas was a virtuoso in his own right. Gregg Rolie (vocals & keys), Michael Shrieve (drums), David Brown (bass), Michael Carabello (percussion), and Chepito Areas (percussion) were on Abraxas, which was by far the best lineup the band ever had. Each of these musicians has many great recording credits, but each of them reached his peak on Abraxas. Just watch the Woodstock DVD and see for yourself. The Woodstock concert occured before Abraxas was recorded, but the amazing power of this band explodes off the screen. They absolutely destroyed the audience with their power and virtuosity.

Then there is Carlos Santana himself on Abraxas. Santana music has large arrangements with a big percussion section, powerful drumming, thumping bass, and big keyboard parts. And as I say, Carlos was surrounded on Abraxas by true giants of each of these instruments. Any normal guitar player would have struggled to be heard surrounded by such virtuosity. But Carlos Santana's guitar playing on Abraxas is so clear, so confident, so beautiful, so powerful, and has such an identifiable signature to it that it is transcendence itself. When the band finishes a song, you wonder how the other guys kept up with him!

Abraxas has two of the most recognizeable songs in rock history, Black Magic Woman and Oye Como Va. Black Magic combines blues and Latin like no other song before or since, and has the most powerful ending of any rock song ever recorded. Oye Como Va is the most-danced-to song in history. Abraxas also contains Carlos's first of many guitar-solo-love songs, Samba Pa Ti. No other guitarists but Eric and Jimi have played the guitar with such depth and sensibility. The song Incident at Neshabur is as sophisticated as any jazz fusion by Miles Davis or John Coltrane. And there's Se A Cabo, a rhythmic kaleidescope combining Hendrix power chords with the meanest percussion solos I've ever heard.

So if you love to have fun dancing, buy Supernatural. And if you want to get in touch with your most primitive, powerful self and dance like you're in the jungle, buy Abraxas.

You can watch my Black Magic and other covers and originals at:

youtube.com/ajmora.

You can listen to more Santana covers, other covers, and originals as well as read our history and see photos at:

freeverseband.com

Rock on! Dance on!

Albert Mora

I ordered this CD for a road trip. It is great music. There is one hip hop type song on it I am not overly thrilled with as I do not like that genre, therefore I skip to the next song when it comes on. But otherwise it is a very enjoyable CD to listen to.

I bought this one along with The Beatles DVD-Audio. The beatles disc is 50 times better in quality but this one was okay too. If you have an expensive receiver, dont get this DVD-Audio.

Carlos Santana is probably in my top three favorite guitarists ever. The guy simply knows how to play a guitar solo where *every single sequence of notes* is absolutely spectacular. I just sit there on my chair and absorb every part of his guitar playing, and I sure hope I'm not the only one out there who does so. It's so easy to get caught up in what he's doing.

That's why the more guitar solos I hear on any given Santana album, the more likely I'll end up loving the album. THIS album has its fair share of guitar playing, but another highlight to me is the way the album sounds so beautiful, fresh, and exciting from beginning to end. This might not seem like a big deal to many people seeing as how Santana has MANY albums that are enjoyable from beginning to end, but you see, this album came out in 1969, when most bands weren't able to come up with something THIS fresh and THIS original.

For that, I truly admire and love this album. "Soul Sacrifice" is the highlight for me, but I also LOVE the piano playing on "Treat" and the guitar playing that I mention above is brilliant the entire time. I seriously have a hard time NOT drooling over Santana's guitar playing because it really feels like I was put on this planet to absorb every note he plays. I wonder how many people out there can relate to what I'm saying? This is NO ordinary guitarist.

The band may not be putting out as many songwriting-perfect albums nowadays compared to the early 70's, but the guitar playing has always remained incredible to me. Pick up THIS album first (or Caravanserai, another masterpiece).

The purchase was as expected and received in a timely manner which was most appreciated. Thank you.

In 1969 lots of things were being changed in rock music, you had Black Sabbath that were about to explode on the scene in 1970 that defined heavy metal and you also had Santana who combined latin music with rock and came up with something special, and there first album proves it. An essential album for anyone to own who calls themselves a music lover, an amazing album.

This one is for all Carlos Santana fans who enjoy his blues, jazz, and latin sounds. A gifted musician for the past 40 years, I have seen Carlos perform these songs since 1969. His vision is timeless and focused. Enjoy!

It was 1969, Hawaii. We were a bunch of 16 year olds with one total fixation: SURFING! This music was the soundtrack for our self concept as surf-warrior's. We all swore that this music was specifically written and played for us... and we actually believed it. The aggressive parts, the smooth flowing parts, the slow build-up to an explosive part...all meshed perfectly with our surfing styles. My friend Tom and I saw them on their first trip to Hawaii. It was at the Waikiki Shell. Tickets were $3.50. It was like being emmersed in a dream. They rocked, but also had soul. The congas added a jungle-animal sensation. Love this album, it is perfect.

Released in 1972, CARAVANSERAI was Santana's fourth album and first overt stab at the then-ascendant jazz fusion market. It was also, according to the liner notes in this attractively packaged reissue, an attempt to convey in musical terms the spiritual awakening which leader/guitarist Carlos Santana had undergone through his involvement with guru Sri Chinmoy. If so, it's rather ironic that his newfound mysticism led Carlos to craft what anyone might have expected of him at the time: a percussion-driven package which slicked up the trademark Santana sound while dispensing with its more radio-friendly elements and any sort of clear song cycle. In the era of Return to Forever, Weather Report and the Mahavishnu Orchestra, CARAVANSERAI was hardly revolutionary, even if its progeny might have raised a few eyebrows.
While all of the members of the classic Santana lineup appear on this album, they are never all together and only Carlos and drummer Mike Shrieve are on hand throughout. Of the numerous unfamiliar musicians present, some would remain in the band for years while others would never play with Santana again. Thus the start of the revolving-door personnel changes which remain one of Carlos' trademarks to this day. To some extent this is reflected in the music, which is admirably played and suitably spacey but lacks the strong stamp of collective personality so evident on CARAVANSERAI's three predecessors - not to mention anything which might qualify as a likely single. This is basically an instrumental suite in the jazz-lite vein so popular at the time, with more and tastier percussion and (thanks to Carlos) worse vocals than the average. A solid piece of work, certainly, but one understandably left out of most compilations and little known among the uninitiate.
If the jammier selections on the first few Santana LPs are your thing, CARAVANSERAI makes sense as a follow-up purchase. If you're into the early efforts of Chick Corea and John McLaughlin, it could almost qualify as a must. If you consider "Black Magic Woman" to be the apex of this band's career, it's surprising that you're even reading this, but you can rest assured you'll have little interest in the collection in question. To put it another way, for headphone people only.

On this one Santana is starting to(if he hasnt already) forget his roots.
That which made his music unique, stand out, something fresh that shook the rock world as on his first 3 classic albums... that which defines the word SANTANA!

Come on folks, if I want to hear jazz or fusion I will go that section at the music store, Santana is in the rock or Latin section FYI.
I didnt like Welcome as it was all jazz-fusion jamming with some nonsensible lyrics. I am getting a Santana album to hear what he is known for, not some subjective, artistic experiment.

Caravanserai is my favourite Santana album. Released in 1972, it's Santana's fourth. The album broke new ground and it is a truthful journey into music and spirit. Carlos plays his soul out on Song of the Wind and Future Primitive has masterful percussion with an eerie background. Also, the remastered edition has done a very good job making Caravanserai sound as it should. Shame albums don't come like this anymore.

First bought this album early 70's when first release on cassette, then had my car stolen and lost forever....now why I decide to buy again..maybe living in Spain and chillin I dont know but WHAT A CLASS ALBUM..its over 30 years old but absolutely magnificent...we've all heard the usual quality songs from Carlos but all these tracks aren't on his "best of" which makes it even better for me.....jazz blues awesome licks...truly memorable.....

Jazz ideas had already been creeping into Santana's music on tracks like "Incident at Neshabur" and "Toussaint L'Overture", but Caravanserai boldly moved deep into jazz-rock territory. The upbeat and catchy Latin rock of the band's first 3 albums was replaced by a more meditative, abstract and instrumentally-focused style influenced by Miles Davis's early electric bands and Chick Corea's Return to Forever.

Most of the band's original members are still here (Gregg Rolie, Mike Shrieve, Chepito Areas) but their roles have changed dramatically. Mike Shrieve suddenly steps up in the compositional department and his drumming really improves. Check out his Elvin Jones-isms on "Waves Within". Gregg Rolie sticks to keyboards (lots of electric piano) and the remaining vocals are pleasantly inconsequential. Guests make a big difference -- Tom Rutley's acoustic bass is a nice touch on many of the tunes, and future keyboardist Tom Coster makes his first appearance on a Santana album. Carlos and Neil Schon play off each other really well. The tunes range all over the map, from the epic "Every Step of the Way" (the guitar riff that ends the intro is awesome) to serious funk ("Look Up") to percussion duets ("Future Primitive").

The influence of Latin music is still here in a big way with the gentle Jobim cover "Stone Flower" and the grooving instrumental "La Fuente del Ritmo", but people expecting the Classic Santana will be disappointed. Nevertheless this is one of Santana's best albums, right up there with Abraxas; whereas their later jazz-rock efforts were often mixed bags, it works here in a big way.

[This review is based on the original CD version, which has an identical tracklist; I would assume the 2003 reissue has better sound.]

This is an excellent DVD audio - the surround sound is just fantastic and the music is just great - a real pleasure to listen to. I have played this DVD audio over and over again since the moment I got it almost a month ago. Recommended! PS - everyone compares it to Supernatural. I have that too on DVD audio but find it a bit more boring than Shaman! Shaman has a wide variety styles that I find very attractive. I am an old Santana fan too - have been listening to his albums for about 25 years now - and I can tell you older albums can be less interesting than Shaman, which, by comparison, I find very fresh and innovative.

I've always loved the sound of Santana's guitar. Moonflower is always on my ready-to-play stack. But this CD and Supernatural, while enjoyable confections, are not really inspiring. The most annoying aspect is the insertion of Santana's name in the lyrics of both albums. There's something sadly narcissistic about that, and annoyingly self-aggrandizing. There are nice hooks on this CD, and it's a convenient way to be introduced to artists with whom one is unfamiliar. It's not unpleasant to listen to in the background. That being said, there's little here that will outlast the playlists of corporate radio stations with ADHD.

I've only been a Santana fan since 2001, and my introduction started with Supernatural, which really set the bar high for my expectations of him. From what I've been able to see so far, Santana took a different direction with his music by incorporating more commercial American artists into his collaborations, which wasn't a bad idea in my opinion, as long as its done moderately. With Shaman, it seems that he takes the colabos to the extreme, with a guest on damn near every song on the CD. Now, some of the tracks were done very well and the chemistry between Santana and the gust produced a great product, but some of them weren't all that.

Good songs:
You Are My Kind - Seal made a great choice for vocals on this, and as usual Santana ripped up the guitar.

Nothing At All - Another good vocal choice, but Musiq tends to do good work period. The song is actually quite bangin, and coincidentally, my favorite on the CD.

Why Dont You & I - Don't know much about Chad Kroeger, but this ballad-esque is quite catchy. This is a good example of that chemistry i mentioned before.

Bad Songs:

Amore (Sexo) - Macy Gray has never really impressed me, and she continues to disappoint on this track. Sad thing is that the instrumental is hot and could have done well by itself, or at least with a more capable singer.

The Game Of Love - This is probably THE most pop-ish song I've ever heard Santana do, much to do with the fact that Michelle Branch is probably one of the most pop-ish singers in the genre. This song might work for some people, just not me personally. I actually tried to like it cuz it has potential, but really it all comes down to your tastes, and its just too sappy for me.

America - P.O.D. and Santana.. interesting colabo, but not enough to get me liking it. It was an OK, but its another song you gotta have the right taste for. This is more for a fan of P.O.D. then for a Santana lover.

The rest of the songs on here fall somewhere in between good and bad, but I say make your own distinctions. Overall, good album, worth the price you'd probably find it for in the used CD store.

This cd has a lot of good songs with the proffesional touch that santana knows perfectly. One review says that the latin song Foo Foo is too long. I can tell this person does not know anything about latin music because salsa's songs used to be really long in '70. Therefore, Foo Foo is an excellent production.

I have been a Santana fan for many years going back to the 60's and Carlos has never failed to come through on every album he has made, and Shaman is no exception. His Latin rhythms are evident in just about every song, no matter who the featured artist is. This is recommended for anybody who appreciates the greatest guitarist of all time.

This is an album I had been looking for at the stores, we used to own it, my husband loves it and couldn't find it. I purchased it for Father's Day! It came quickly and in great condition (new!).

Supernaturual is more of a Carlos Santana then a Santana album since it includes none of the orignial members of Santana except for Carlos Sanatana. The music on here is pretty good but it just doesent have the same sound as from there first three albums, plus why the heck does it include guest vocals from Dave Matthews and Everlast?, What was Carlos Santana thinking because there vocals bassicly ruined the songs they sung on. The albums moods range from jazzy, latin rock, and latin pop. Songs like, "Maria Maria", are horrible and dont even sound like Santana also songs like, "Do You Like The Way", "African Bamba", and "Smooth", just are latin pop songs that do not deserve a place on a Santana album. I still dont get why so many people say this one of the best Santana albums whereas in my opinion its not really that good at all. Yet this album does hold up some gems like, "(Da Le) Yaleo" but thats about it. So if you want to pick up some real Santana pick up there first three albums.

The Trilogy of Guitar is Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, and Carlos Santana.

These three geniuses have given us an amazing quantity and quality of music that will be loved forever.

All three have experienced spectacular critical acclaim and commercial success.

But the commercial success of Supernatural is so far beyond anything else produced by the Trilogy that it deserves to be thought about more seriously than to merely say it's fun to dance to.

I've played guitar 35 years, played over 3,000 paid gigs in nightclub bands from 1980 to 1993, play dozens of Santana tunes, and continue to play guitar every day. I have listened hundreds, if not thousands, of times to everything Carlos Santana has recorded. I have been to six Santana concerts.

I have four points. 1. Supernatural is a commercial masterpiece. 2. Abraxas is a musical masterpiece. 3. If you love Supernatural, you'll probably love Abraxas even more. 4. Adding together points 1-3, what I'm saying is that Abraxas is the greatest rock album ever recorded.

Supernatural is Santana's most commercial album by a long distance. Before Supernatural, Abraxas (1970) was by far the most commercial Santana album. Although Supernatural is easier to listen to, especially for younger listeners, Abraxas is much better from the perspective of artistry and rock history importance.

I'm not knocking Supernatural. It's fantastic. It's the only album our whole family, from mom and dad to my ten-year-old twin daughters, can listen to together from the first song to the last. The contributions by the various younger artists are fantastic, and they blend remarkably with the Santana traditions of strong rhythm, danceability, and intensity. Of course Carlos plays the guitar like a demon on every song. And having the one and only Eric Clapton playing straight blues with Carlos at the end is so good I was speechless when I first heard it. Did I just hear a straight blues song by the two greatest living guitarists on the most commercial Album in a decade? Pinch me. On every song, whether he's just strumming a simple chord or playing a shredding solo, Carlos's beautiful tone and expressiveness are as magnificent as ever. So all in all, Supernatural deserved all the Grammys it received.

Nevertheless, Abraxas is a MUCH more powerful, beautiful, and groundbreaking album than Supernatural.

For one, each musician playing with Carlos on Abraxas was a virtuoso in his own right. Gregg Rolie (vocals & keys), Michael Shrieve (drums), David Brown (bass), Michael Carabello (percussion), and Chepito Areas (percussion) were on Abraxas, which was by far the best lineup the band ever had. Each of these musicians has many great recording credits, but each of them reached his peak on Abraxas. Just watch the Woodstock DVD and see for yourself. The Woodstock concert occured before Abraxas was recorded, but the amazing power of this band explodes off the screen. They absolutely destroyed the audience with their power and virtuosity.

Then there is Carlos Santana himself on Abraxas. Santana music has large arrangements with a big percussion section, powerful drumming, thumping bass, and big keyboard parts. And as I say, Carlos was surrounded on Abraxas by true giants of each of these instruments. Any normal guitar player would have struggled to be heard surrounded by such virtuosity. But Carlos Santana's guitar playing on Abraxas is so clear, so confident, so beautiful, so powerful, and has such an identifiable signature to it that it is transcendence itself. When the band finishes a song, you wonder how the other guys kept up with him!

Abraxas has two of the most recognizeable songs in rock history, Black Magic Woman and Oye Como Va. Black Magic combines blues and Latin like no other song before or since, and has the most powerful ending of any rock song ever recorded. Oye Como Va is the most-danced-to song in history. Abraxas also contains Carlos's first of many guitar-solo-love songs, Samba Pa Ti. No other guitarists but Eric and Jimi have played the guitar with such depth and sensibility. The song Incident at Neshabur is as sophisticated as any jazz fusion by Miles Davis or John Coltrane. And there's Se A Cabo, a rhythmic kaleidescope combining Hendrix power chords with the meanest percussion solos I've ever heard.

So if you love to have fun dancing, buy Supernatural. And if you want to get in touch with your most primitive, powerful self and dance like you're in the jungle, buy Abraxas.

You can watch my Black Magic and other covers and originals at:

youtube.com/ajmora.

You can listen to more Santana covers, other covers, and originals as well as read our history and see photos at:

freeverseband.com

Rock on! Dance on!

Albert Mora

I ordered this CD for a road trip. It is great music. There is one hip hop type song on it I am not overly thrilled with as I do not like that genre, therefore I skip to the next song when it comes on. But otherwise it is a very enjoyable CD to listen to.

I bought this one along with The Beatles DVD-Audio. The beatles disc is 50 times better in quality but this one was okay too. If you have an expensive receiver, dont get this DVD-Audio.

My best Santana Album with Abraxas and One of the best music albums in history, clearly.
This is a fantastic Disc, great songs, great players and a fantastic latin-rock fusion. Amazing.

When I was in junior high school, Santana burst on the pop scene with a sound like nothing else then played on the radio. The eponymous album was excellent but somewhat commercial. But then came Woodstock and the musical storm that was Abraxas. Powered by a commercially successful electrifying cover of Peter Green's Black Magic Woman and chock full of other innovative sounds, Abraxas defined Santana and has overshadowed almost everything else Carlos Santana and his bands have done.
That's too bad, because the follow-up, commonly known as Santana III is at least as good if not better. I remember buying this in high school on the same day I bought Fleetwood Mac's Future Games. At the time, I was still under the spell of Abraxas and did not like this on first hearing nearly as well as I liked that. But there were a couple of cuts, notably Taboo and Guajira, that I thought superior and that kept this in frequent rotation for a long time.
Fast-forward thirty five years and Santana III was but a pleasant memory filed away with the rest of my vinyl. Then one day it appeared in my amazon recommendations remastered with bonus tracks at a price it was hard to decline, so I ordered it. And do you know what? It sounds better today than I remember it to have been.
Now, I still like Taboo and thrill to Guajira, but I have also developed an appreciation for the rest of the album. Add Batuka and Jungle Strut to the list of favorites. As for the bonus tracks, any bonus is welcome and all three here are worthwhile.
If you are an early Santana fan, then be sure to pick this up. If you came to like Carlos Santana after his more recent surge in popularity, pick this up and hear what his band sounded like when he was in his prime. Though I was tempted to give this five stars, I had to drop a star when I noticed a few minor problems with the remaster, most noticeable at the beginning of Jungle Strut.

I bought the first Santana and Abraxis albums back in the early 1970s and although I was aware of the third album, I never picked up on it. Here all this time later, hearing all of it in its entirety, I rank it one of the best of all his albums. This album sounds more like a jam, there's a lot of energy. It's not entirely different from the earlier albums but more loose and with wonderful guitar solos and interesting percussion. It is a classic album: a little dated-sounding but I love listening to it.

Ahem....

It was a long day.

Things seemed so hard, so solid, so impenetrable.

My center got moved.

Nothing grooved.

Everything seemed gray.

I came home to an empty dwelling.

I needed some de-spelling to break the hypnosis that fell over my christlightlike gnosis.

Santa III seems to ignite the soul from dreams of alienation/seperation/devastation
moves everything back into place...
aligns every whole atom
with holy inner space ...
helps me see clearly the spirit behind the face...
breaks off the fragile case cover of a cosmic lover...
and as I penetrate the goddess womb and free the seed
of wisdom creation from the tomb of procrastination

I remember in a infinite instant
why I go through such things...such pains...

To remember Thy Source.
To remember my Eternal Force
which this musical collaboration drives in deep
and awakens me from original sleep
so my innocence can take down defenses
that surround my flesh tree
and free the inner beginner me.

Grateful blessings to you, Santana III

Peace & Blessings, cats...
john

Santana's third album is pretty fantastic. Let me take that back- *consistently* fantastic. I really had no problem with any of the songs. I didn't think any of them were a few minutes overlong, and I certainly didn't think any of the tracks were filler-ish. After the album had ended, I felt like I had just gone through the biggest roller coaster ride of my life (and I'm afraid of roller coasters!)

Compared to Abraxas and Caravanserai, the latin percussion beats that made Santana so legendary and famous are *extremely* loud, heavy and nonstop on their third album. I wasn't expecting to hear an album with so much energy and a nonstop partying atmosphere but that's exactly what the album is. This is totally a hard rock/jam rock album with the volume turned up a few notches higher than usual. I wasn't bored at all. There's also a fairly frequent amount of vocal work, too. Always played with melody, and a feeling of total outdoor freedom. I can just picture myself dancing the night away to this wonderful music.

The guitar playing, the heavy amounts of percussion and latin rhythms, the sparkling production... this is one album all rock and roll fans must have in their collection!