Unfortunately for some of you, Santana is that guy who did that song with Rob Thomas. While this is true, it is not the Santana that I know. The three albums you will listen to this week are a combination of all things musical that I love. Santana incorporates salsa, jazz, rock, and blues into this sound that at times can be an other-worldly experience. Besides Carlos Santana's undeniable guitar prowess, the enormous percussion section that composed the rest of the band is the heart and soul of this sound. It is a vibrant and celebratory sound of a culture that is very religious and passionate about their music. Santana led the way, along with Jimi Hendrix, in the loud electrified sound of the late 60's/early 70's. At the time, Santana's unique Latin-rock distanced themselves from any other artist comparisons and put them in a class of their own. Modern acts like The Mars Volta also take pride in their Latin heritage and are direct descendants of the sound that Carlos and his friends cultivated over 40 years ago. I wanted to focus on their first three albums, which are undeniably their best, and give those of you who are only familiar with the recent commercial output of Carlos a chance to appreciate a sound that has a true spirituality. This music makes me feel alive, tell me how it makes you feel.
required listening:
Santana '69
Abraxas '70
Santana III '71
Prior to this week, my knowledge of Santana was really limited to the radio, Guitar Hero, and a few diddies with Rob Thomas, Michelle Branch, and Chad Kroeger. I have heard him referred to as a guitar legend, so much like Jimi Hendrix, I was looking forward to this week.
ReplyDeleteWaiting was a nice intro and I really liked the pace of things at the end of the track. I guess this was Carlos saying, let me show you how to pick these strings. Contrastly, there is just something about Shades of Time that seems amateur to me. The bassline in Jingo is in several movies and I guess this is where it got its start. This track is much more impressive than Shades of Time. I do not like the vocals at all on Persuasion. The music is still cool, but I can see why vocals do not show up very much on this album. The real treat in Treat was the piano. I could listen to this track forever. I can just picture myself watching him play this song live and being in a state of awe the entire concert. Finally, the album ends with 6 minutes of heaven in Soul Sacrafice. This was another great track to work to. Overall, a very solid album.
Although short, Abraxas is an all out excellent album. It starts out with Singing Winds, Crying Beasts, which is just that. A little calm, and then a little aggression. This leads nicely into Black Magic Woman which was one of my favorites to play on Guitar Hero. No matter how many songs I would play, that one would stick in my head and would be the one I would hum later in the day. I have heard Oye Como Va before but was not aware it was performed by Santana. Perhaps I should have guessed him, but either way, this is a just a flat out fun song. I know I have heard Mothers Daughter before somewhere, but this is my favorite on the whole album. Both the lyrics and guitar are an incredible force of emotion. After that rush, Samba Pa Ti is a very nice change of pace, but then Santana comes right back with Hope You’re Feeling Better. Another fast track with a lot of emotion that I feel like I’ve heard before but can’t quite pinpoint where. I am sure he appears in a lot of movies that I watch.
Santana III starts off with a really cool and jazzy intro in Batuka. There are a lot of cool familiar sounds within this track that I can tell inspired a lot of the artists that I enjoy today. No One to Depend On reminds me of Parliament week, in that this is the first track with that funk element. Taboo has the best guitar solo of the Santana tracks in this week’s suggested listening, however the vocalist reminds me of Annie Lennox. Toussant L’Overture paints a European scene in your mind and has a lot of different ethnicities installed throughout. I have heard Guajira somewhere as well, probably a Mexican restaurant. The piano in this track is a standout for me. The vocals on Everything’s Coming our Way were actually quite annoying for me and the last three tracks in general were pretty weak.
ReplyDeleteAfter listening to these three albums, I can see why Justin is concerned that today’s generation’s view of Santana is based on the Rob Thomas duets. Back to our N’Sync discussion, I wonder if his latest work is due to him losing that innocence or perhaps he just wanted to try something new since he already mastered these three albums. I am glad that I was able to be exposed to these to the work that dubbed Carlos as a guitar legend and I must say that I have to agree with that title.
Carlos Santana of the Cleveland Indians organization is one of the top prospects in all of baseball. He has a big-time power bat.....wait, I've definitely been thinking too much about baseball the last few nights. The guitar player Carlos Santana is one of the top guitar players in all of music history. I think it's interesting to contrast his style with that of another music legend who we discussed recently, Jimi Hendrix...in that Jimi's style was pretty earth-scorching, and Santana's abilities were just so smooth (no pun intended). Any time I hear the music of Carlos Santana and his band, I'm instantly transported into the middle of the hottest night of the summer....that's just what this music signifies to me.
ReplyDeleteThe major thing that gets lost in the shuffle to me when typically discussing Santana is that the other members of the band were just as instrumental in the sucess of the sound as Carlos was himself. Gregg Rolie was a virtuoso on the ever present organ, and the several percussion players were able to create some amazing polyrhythmic beats that make it impossible to sit still when Santana's being played. The band came out of the box strong on their self-titled debut album in 1969, showing a more latin-tinged look at the psychedelic guitar music that was prevalent in the San Francisco bay area around the time especially with bands such as the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane. "Waiting" is a very good introduction to the sound of the band, with it's heavy use of congas, organ and Santana's guitar playing. The hit single off of the album, "Evil Ways" is my favorite track. It has a really laid back, summertime groove that I love along with a fantastic guitar solo by Carlos. "Shades of Time" really reminds me of a funkier Grateful Dead, which as the years go by and my appreciation of the Dead continues to grow I like more and more. "Savor" is a blistering instrumental track with an absolutely amazing drum breakdown in the middle section, showing that early on in the band's history it was about way more than just the headline artist. I'm going to use this week to begin the new album grading system that I've created wherein I assign each song a score between 1 and 10, and grade it based on their album average. As I've been doing this (which I began in order to better organize my iTunes library), I've noticed that I am a rather tough judge, so anything above an 80% or so is very good, and if something gets above a 90% it's absolutely amazing, in my book. With that being said, my first official grade to Santana's first album is an 87%.
Well, I wrote two more very lengthy paragraphs about 'Abraxis' and 'Santana III', but this extremely buggy website once again lost everything that I'd written. I definitely won't have the time to write them up again, as they took me about an hour and a half to write in the first place, so I'm just going to summarize what I said.
ReplyDelete'Abraxis' is an amazing album, and is definitely my favorite release by Carlos Santana. It contains my two favorite tracks, "Black Magic Woman" and "Oye Como Va" (the latter of which is my favorite), along with several other great songs in "Mother's Daughter" and "Hope You're Feeling Better". The album as a whole is one of the touchstones of psychedelic rock, and is one that should definitely be heard by everyone. My final grade of this one is 92%, firmly cementing it's place as a classic in my mind.
'Santana III' was an album that I had heard good things about, but had never gotten around to listening to. Overall it's just a bit weaker than the first two albums, in my opinion, but is definitely still a very good album in it's own right. Santana continues his three album streak of crafting an excellent instrumental intro track, segueing perfectly into the lone song that I'd heard off of this album previously, "No One to Depend On". This album definitely seems to trend towards the latin side of things than the previous albums, and shows Carlos Santana delving deeper into the music of his Hispanic heritage. In all this is a pretty strong release (with the exception of "Everything's Coming Our Way", which was the only song this week that I couldn't really get in to), and ended up with an 83% in my gradebook.
While Carlos Santana was most definitely a top-of-the-list quality guitar player, what I think should be taken out of this week is that the members of his band were just as important to the success of the music as Carlos himself was. The percussion section was able to keep things loose and funky, allowing for the organist and Carlos to venture off into their own worlds at times, crafting some of the best warm weather party music ever made.
Sorry!!! I'm commenting today, and I'll make it good and thorough. I can say I really enjoyed this week, it's just been hella busy, and I won't do it again.
ReplyDeleteI'm a little offended if anyone thinks the first thing I think of when hearing the name Santana is Rob Thomas. This week was not entirely new to me, although I had never taken a really close look at this master guitarist until now.
ReplyDelete"Santana" is a great introduction to what this guy can do. This album sounds like a summer night to me - smooth sounds flowing like a cool breeze infused with some spicy hot Latin influence. He really shows off his guitar chops in "Shades of Time" and picks up the pace in "Savor." Throughout the album, I love the electric guitar, bongos and organ sounds, but the instrumentals stand out for me on "You Just Don't Care" which switches tempos from fast to slow in spots. This album was a good one, but for me was only shades of what was to come.
"I don't want Santana Abraxas! I've just been in a terrible auto accident!" - Larry Gopnik, "A Serious Man"
ReplyDeleteSorry Larry, but I DO want Santana "Abraxas." It's often considered his greatest album, and I do concur. Interesting album art, by the way. The intro, "Singing Winds, Crying Beasts" seems more put together than the previous album's, but the real magic begins with "Black Magic Woman." It's not only a great Guitar Hero song - this was my first experience with a guitar lick that can tell the story better than the actual song lyrics. For Greek Week - Airband 2006, a dance competition amongst the Greek organizations at EIU, one of the sororities did a compilation of songs with the theme of "magic." It was by far the most compelling of the competition - and this song was instrumental in what they were able to accomplish, the way they translated the music with their bodies. This song is such a complete work of art it's impossible not to feel every note.
Also a familiar tune, "Oye Como Va" continues the steady yet smooth vibe to this album. I was surprised to read it was a cover, as this is the version I've always heard. There seems to be more of a jazzy vibe on this album than the previous one. Although I typically am not a huge fan of jazz, there's so much else going on here, how can anyone not like it? "Mother's Daughter" had a different feel, I thought, and is one of my favorite tracks on the album for its sheer accessibility. "Samba Pa Ti" is a great song actually penned by Santana. This is just one of many examples that, although I've poo-pooed on lots of instrumental stuff we've focused on - some instrumentals can be compelling. This album is solid all the way through and actually has come pretty awesome high points.
"Santana III" takes it up a notch on the album art, but I'm not sure there's anywhere higher to go after "Abraxas." Still a strong effort, my favorite tracks on the album include "Everybody's Everything" for its high and positive energy - sounds like a great dance song - and "Everything's Coming Our Way," which I just like because it's... different. After an effort like "Abraxas" Santana might not have had much of a choice but to start reinventing himself.
ReplyDeleteIt's like our friend Andrew Garcia (who also happens to have Latin roots by some weird coincidence) who hit his high point in Hollywood Week with his remake of "Straight Up" and has been chasing that high ever since. For some reason I'm getting major, major deja vu that I've written something similar to this before, btw... Anyway, my point is not to compare Santana to some Idol contestant, but to say that if he kept doing exactly what he'd perfected on "Abraxas," it might have started to become disappointing. On the other hand, what do I know? "Para los Rumberos" is EXTRA Latin sounding, and an interesting way to end the album, I thought. It sounds a bit like something you might hear at El Mezcal, only more intense.
Anyway, thanks for a great week and again, I apologize for posting late. Where's Beth by the way?
I first have to apologize for being so late getting my comments in. I literally have not had the free time to do it over our crazy weekend. I was, however, very much looking forward to this we as I am very into the whole instrumental vibe.
ReplyDeleteSantana’s self titled album starts off with exactly what I was hoping to hear, a great instrumental piece, “Waiting.” I like how the bongo drums bring you in and the tempo slowly picks up. For me, this type of music needs no words; you can just let the instruments speak for themselves. When I am listening I can only think of some sort of background music used in the Ocean’s 11-13 movies. “Evil Ways” I have heard many times on the radio, and usually when it comes on I change the channel. I think that it is great in the fact that it is very low tempo and would be great music played at a barbeque or at a luau of some kind. For me the repetitive beat, and the actual singing is just not all that great. Now if the song was a little bit more like the end, with the great guitar solo it might hold my interest a little better. I really enjoyed “Jingo” it had an almost aboriginal sound to it. I am starting to see that I really prefer Santana with just the instrumentation. If the voices are going to be used they should be used in limited supply, and “Jingo” is the perfect song to showcase Santana at what it does best. I really enjoyed “Persuasion,” it started off with the piano, which was a nice touch and then led into that great guitar/bongo sound. Overall I am quite pleased with what I have heard, and am looking forward to the next 2 albums.
“Abraxas” starts off with an awesome intro, which is very atmospheric. It makes me think of sitting outside as the weather starts to change and the winds pick up. You just sit there and take it all in. It’s a very soothing, and groovy way to kick of the album. “Black Magic Woman” is of course my favorite Santana song to date, for the simple fact that it is one of the few songs of theirs that I know. Having said that, this song kicks ass. The way Carlo’s strums the guitar in this one is simply beautiful. This is one of the only instances that I actually don’t mind the singing. I think it may be the fact that it is only one voice I hear, and it really is important in showing the emotion of the song. The one word that comes to mind when I think of this song is sultry. “Oye Como Va” is another Santana song that I am familiar with, and although I think it has a very fun beat to it, I am once again wishing the voices were not there. “Se a Cabo” was another standout track for me. The organ and guitar really played well off one another. So far both albums have been great, Santana can definitely hold his place among the guitar gods.
I will have the rest of my write up tomorrow morning, I can't keep my eyes open any longer, due to having a long night with the child last night. My apologies... but I am enjoying Santana!
ReplyDeleteGoing into my third installment of Santana, I have to say that I am happy to see that they have not changed their sound. While most bands change things up Santana knows what works best for them and stick to it. I am loving, “ No one to depend on.” It’s a great mix of rock and jazz, that makes me want to get up and dance. “Taboo” takes on a slower, seductive tone, that really sets the mood for some latino lovemaking. I have to give props to Michael Shrieve on, “Toussaint L’Overture.” I can just picture him banging his brains out, on this track, as he goes from bongo to drum. This song reminds me most of some of the music being played at the Mexican restaurants Thomas and I usually go to, with its shouted lyrics, and fast pace. When listening to Santana, I can’t help but think of bands like Thievery Corporation, and how this music has had such a powerful influence on them. This could easily be sampled into any of the music they produce nowadays. My other favorites from the album are “Jungle Strut,” and “Everybody’s Everything,” which had a nice touch of soul to it.
ReplyDeleteOverall I really liked Santana. It was very much how I predicted it would be, with great instrumentation, and the vocals that I could really care less for. I can definitely see me pulling out one of these albums out if I am looking for a mood booster. These are some of the greatest artists using their God given talents to give a face to the Latino side of the music world.