Carlos Santana

[Stephen Morgan]

Well it's the Christmas season again, and all the top artists are releasing Greatest Hits albums. Santana have a new one out entitled Ultimate Santana, one of many with a similar title as Carlos Santana has been recording since the 1960s and has released quite a few Greatest Hits albums in his time.
Carlos has been a consistant and popular performer, his style of Salsa, Rock Blues and Jazz fusion set against Latin percussion always made for excellent listening and some classic albums, (with some great guitar work I'm sure even Wayne would appreciate) from the eponomously named first album to Abraxas and Caravanserai. Although singles success in the UK was a little harder to come by, he did hit the top 20 in 1974 with the sublime Samba Pa Ti, and a little later in 1977 with a cover of The Zombies, She's Not There from that year's album Moonflower.
A change of style in the 1990s marked a low spot for Santana, although the 1999 album Supernatural was a superb return to form and became a multi platinum album, the single Smooth, a dynamic cha cha cha number, became a huge hit.
Later albums like Shamen and All That I Am did not get the acclaim of Supernatural but are nonetheless good albums, with some extremely poppy tracks, and worth a listen.
The current Ultimate Santana collection revisits past glories, and offers four new tracks, Into The Night, with Nickelback's Chad Kroegar, This Boy's Fire with Jennifer Lopez, Interplanetary Party, and a new mix of Game of Love (originally from Shamen with Michelle Branch) with Tina Turner.
So, not sure if there's been a Santana thread on PS before, I'm intrigued to know if there are other fans of Santana's brand of music.

[Wayne]

(with some great guitar work I'm sure even Wayne would appreciate)

Absolutely!
I wouldn't call myself a fan as such, because i don't really have any of his stuff anymore, bar on old cassettes that i've not dragged out for years, But i definitely respect him as a guitarist, & quite like some of their stuff. I learned a lot from Carlos Santana, & definitely went through a 'Santana' phase during my own development as a player. His 1981 album 'Zebop' was a particular early influence on me. Great album! :wayne
'She's Not There' is great track, isn't it? Cracking solo! :wayne And i'm never sure who's version of 'Black Magic Woman' i like best - Carlos Santana or Peter Green.
I've not really kept up with Santana over the years. The last i heard by him was a guest appearance on John Lee Hooker's comeback album 'The Healer', in 1989, on which he sounded superb.
I'd rather listen to his playing than his talking though. I saw an interview with him on tv a few years ago, & the guy sounded off his rocker. Definitely an Acid casualty if ever i heard one. He has a guardian angel called Mettatron or something! Sounds like something from a Godzilla movie.

[Jeff]

'Black Magic Woman', along with 'Evil Ways' and 'Oye Como Va' are classic rock radio staples around here. The only album of his that I have is Supernatural, but I prefer the earlier radio stuff. Haven't listened to Supernatural in years...

And i'm never sure who's version of 'Black Magic Woman' i like best - Carlos Santana or Peter Green.

I'm not sure I have ever heard the Peter Green version even, such is rock radio in the US.

[Wayne]

'Black Magic Woman', along with 'Evil Ways' and 'Oye Como Va' are classic rock radio staples around here.

I'm not sure I have ever heard the Peter Green version even, such is rock radio in the US.

Well Fleetwood Mac did it first, & it's a bit bluesier. I like Peter Green's vocal better than the Santana version, but i like the guitar better on the Santana version.

[Jeff]

They play quite a few Fleetwood songs regularly on rock radio here, but not that one... to be honest I didn't even realize it was a cover before reading about it here.