Carlos Santana


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Santana (1969), 7/10
Abraxas (1970), 6.5/10
Santana III (1971), 6.5/10
Caravanserai (1972), 6.5/10
Love Devotion and Surrender (1973), 5.5/10
Welcome (1973), 5/10
Lotus (1974), 7/10 (live)
Borboletta (1974), 6/10
Amigos (1976), 6.5/10
Festival (1977), 5/10
Inner Secrets (1978), 4/10
Oneness (1979), 5/10
The Swing of Delight (1980), 5.5/10
Zebop! (1981), 4/10
Shango (1982), 4/10
Havana Moon (1983), 4/10
Beyond Appearances (1985), 4/10
Blues For Salvador (1987), 4/10
Freedom (1987), 4/10
Spirits Dancing In The Flesh (1990), 5/10
Milagro (1992), 6/10
Brothers (1994), 4/10
Supernatural (1999), 5/10
Shaman (2002), 4/10
All That I Am (2005), 3/10
Guitar Heaven (2010), 3/10
Shape Shifter (2012) , 4/10
Santana IV (2016), 4/10
Africa Speaks (2019), 4.5/10
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Carlos Santana e Santana (la sua band) inventarono il "latin-jazz west-coast sound" che fu una delle grandi mode del 1969, e che, caso piu` unico che raro, sarebbe tornata alla ribalta vent'anni piu` tardi. Nella sua carriera Santana non ha mai prodotto un vero capolavoro, e non e` mai stato rispettato come altri chitarristi, ma ha guadagnato quattordici album d'oro e nove di platino.

Carlos Santana, chitarrista messicano, figlio di un violinista mariachi, trasferitosi nel 1961 a San Francisco, formo` i Santana nel 1966 con l'idea di suonare blues-rock con accenti latini. Evil Ways, Soul Sacrifice e Jingo (a cover of the Babatunde Olatunji classic) ne fecero una sensazione, grazie all'organo psichedelico, al fitto tappeto percussivo e agli assoli sfavillanti del leader (che usavano il "sustain" alla Peter Green).
Il grande successo dell'album Santana (Columbia, October 1969) fu in realta` un prodotto del "re-alignment" (del "riflusso") che segui` all'orgia dell'acid-rock, del flower-power, degli hippies. Santana sposo` la sua chitarra, che era influenzata dai grandi bluesmen John Lee Hooker, B.B. King e T-Bone Walker, e i suoi assoli ancora immersi nell'atmosfera acid-rock, a ritmi latini che erano disimpegnati e ballabile, realizzati con percussioni latine come congas e maracas (che erano sconosciute ai piu`). Era un tipico sound di compromesso, che adattava la innovazioni della grande stagione psichedelica al bisogno di relax e semplicita` che era stato il tema del 1968.

Navigando le acque poco mosse di mariachi, calypso, samba e salsa, Abraxas (Columbia, October 1970) entro` in discoteca con un classico del "lento" come Samba Pa Ti e una versione salottiera di Black Magic Woman dei Fleetwood Mac. Il clou del disco e` forse Incident At Neshabur, il primo riuscito intervento nel campo del jazz. Troppi brani, pero`, sono soltanto pretesti per gli assoli romantici/atmosferici del leader o sono semplicemente riempitivi.

Santana III (Columbia, October 1971) non aveva nessun hit in particolare (nelle intenzioni lo sarebbe dovuto essere Everybody's Everything, con la sezione di fiati dei Tower Of Power), ma sfoderava i talenti maturi di Michael Shrieve (batteria), Mike Carabello (percussioni) e Greg Rolie (organo). Santana aveva coniato un nuovo genere commerciale, la world-music.

A partire da Caravanserai (Columbia, November 1972) Santana (ri-battezzato Devadip) si trasformo` da bonario intrattenitore da night-club in jazzista misticheggiante. Con l'eccezione di un paio di canzoni, i brani sono prevalentemente strumentali e piu` complessi del solito (All The Love Of The Universe, la lunga Every Step Of The Way di Shrieve). Culmine di questa fase fu il disco registrato con John McLaughlin, Love Devotion and Surrender (Columbia, June 1973), su materiale di John Coltrane e di McLaughlin stesso.

Il problema di Welcome (Columbia, November 1973) e` che sembra semplicemente la brutta copia del disco con McLaughlin: ci sono brani jazz, ci sono i lunghi assoli ipnotici, c'e` lo spirito mistico, ci sono i tempi lenti, ma mancano McLaughlin (non e` un dettaglio) e le composizioni di valore. Rimedia il triplo dal vivo Lotus (Columbia, May 1974), ispirato dal Bitches Brew di Miles Davis.

Viva Santana (CBS, 1988) e` un doppio antologico.

Michael Shrieve, uno dei massimi batteristi della storia della musica, aveva intanto avviato una carriera solista di grande rilievo.

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A collaboration with Buddy Miles (the former Jimi Hendrix drummer) on Live (Columbia, August 1972) yielded a 25-minute long jam and showed what the problem was: Santana was beginning to take his craft a little too seriously.

Beginning with Caravanserai (Columbia, November 1972) Santana (re-christened Devadip and converted to Hinduism) transformed himself from good-natured entertainer of the night-club scene into a mystic jazz musician. A slower, trancey pace and a utopian world-beat (not limited to his Latin roots) entered the picture.

Greg Rolie and guitarist Neil Schon (who had just joined) left to form Journey while Carlos Santana teamed with jazz giant John McLaughlin to record Love Devotion and Surrender (Columbia, June 1973). Needless to say, Santana was dwarfed by his partner.

The problem of Welcome (Columbia, November 1973) is that it sounds like the carbon copy of Love Devotion and Surrender: it has the jazzy jams, it has the lengthy, hypnotic solos, it has the mystic spirit, it has the slow tempos. But it lacks McLaughlin (not a detail) and the good material.

If one album justifies Santana's ambitions, it has to be the triple live Lotus (Columbia, May 1974), inspired by Miles Davis' Bitches Brew and featuring veteran conga player Armando Peraza.

Borboletta (Columbia, October 1974) was the quintessence of routine: terrific playing, mediocre material, lots of self-indulgence. Give And Take and Practice What You Preach could have been on Abraxas, though, and the album does boast an impressive cast (Airto Moreira, Flora Purim, Stanley Clarke).

Santana's collaboration with Alice Coltrane, Illuminations (Columbia, September 1974), was a disappointing tribute to the music of John Coltrane.

Then Michael Shrieve, one of the greatest percussionists in the history of music, left the band to join Stomu Yamashta and launch his solo career.

Amigos (Columbia, March 1976), that featured a completely renovated band and was dominated by keyboardist Tom Coster, was a blatant commercial retreat, featuring bland salsa (Dance Sister Dance), flamenco (Gitano), disco (Let It Shine), soul (Europa), and funk (Let Me) numbers, more vocals, catchy melodies and quicker tempos. For what it's worth, it was Santana's first resurgence.

Festival (Columbia, February 1977) was even more compromised with mainstream pop, as testified by the MOR ballad The River. The live album Moonflower (Columbia, September 1977) sealed this second life of Santana.

Next, Santana embraced disco-music (the seven-minute One Chain) and heavy-metal (Open Invitation) on Inner Secrets (Columbia, October 1978), the first album without Coster. Marathon (Columbia, September 1979) continues the slide into confusional state, swinging from disco (Stand Up) to salsa (Summer Lady), from fusion (Aqua Marine) to heavy-metal (You Know That I Love You).

Santana played with Weather Report on This Is This (1976) and then performed live with their saxophonist Wayne Shorter, a session documented on the double-CD Live At the 1988 Montreux Jazz Festival (2007).

Oneness (Columbia, March 1979) was Santana's first solo album, although the difference between Carlos Santana and Santana the band was more blurred than ever. The main difference was that this album was mostly instrumental. It was followed by an even more ambitious solo album, The Swing of Delight (Columbia, August 1980), that featured Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter and Tony Williams: Miles Davis' legendary combo.

In the meantime, Santana the band manufactured banal pop-soul muzak on a couple of embarrassing albums: Zebop! (Columbia, March 1981) and Shango (Columbia, August 1982). Beyond Appearances (Columbia, February 1985) employed synthesizers and drum-machines.

Santana's solo Havana Moon (Columbia, April 1983) was a tribute to black music of the 1950s. His next "solo", Blues For Salvador (Columbia, October 1987), was a shameless collection of leftovers from Santana albums.

Viva Santana! (Columbia, 1988) is an anthology of the first twenty years.

Freedom (Columbia, February 1987), with Buddy Miles taking over vocal duties, Spirits Dancing In The Flesh (Columbia, June 1990) and Milagro (Polygram, June 1992) marked a return to the blues-rock sound of Santana's early days, and the latter showed a return to form in Somewhere in Heaven and Red Prophet.

But the live Sacred Fire (Polygram, October 1993) seemed to shut Santana's career for good. Santana wasted time recording an album with his two Brothers (Island, September 1994) and then vanished.

Dance of the Rainbow Serpent (Columbia, 1995) is another anthology.

When he was considered little more than a ghost, Santana staged a surprising comeback, although Supernatural (Arista, June 1999) sounds more like a compilation of modern artists than a Santana album. The stellar cast includes: Rob Thomas of Matchbox 20 (Smooth), Lauryn Hill (Do You Like The Way), Everlast (Put Your Lights On) Eric Clapton (The Calling), Mana` (Corazon Espinado), Wyclef Jean (Maria Maria), Dave Matthews (Love Of My Life), etc. A year after its release, the album had already sold 13 million copies. Santana's muzak had finally found its audience.

Shaman (Arista, 2002) is another collaboration with stars but the hype lasted only one album, and this one went unnoticed and despised, although it was basically the same album again. All That I Am (2005) is a bad copy of Shaman that was a bad copy of Supernatural that was a bad copy of Santana's early albums.

Guitar Heaven (2010) is a colletion of covers sung by guest vocalists.

The good instrumentals of Shape Shifter (2012) were as good as the ones on the overhyped Supernatural, notably Shape Shifter, Never the Same Again and Metatron (reminiscent of Bob Dylan's Is Your Love in Vain), but this album should have been an EP as most of the pieces are trivial and predictable.

Santana IV (2016) was a re-union album with Schon, Shrieve, Rollie and Carabello, a rather boring experience of catchy tunes (Yambu and Leave me Alone) and laid-back instrumentals (Fillmore East, Eschizo).

Africa Speaks (2019), a collaboration with with Spanish singer-songwriter Concha Buika, was a more serious effort, an attempt at Afro-Latin-Jazz fusion, with lots of polyrhythmic exuberance, visceral African chanting, and hard-rock guitar solos (notably in Batonga) despite the usual flirting with pop muzak (Oye Este mi Canto). The nine-minute ballad Blue Skies is actually reminiscent of Santana's early instrumental jams.

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