SANTANA — Santana (review)

SANTANA — Santana album cover Album · 1969 · Latin Rock/Soul Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
dreadpirateroberts
Undeniably an amazing debut.

While not my favourite Santana release, it's just about as good as any from their classic period. They still have that San Francisco jam-band feel, which is later replaced by a jazzier approach, but at the same time it's an impressive blend of the Latin and Rock styles. The songwriting isn't as interesting as it would later become, but the key early-period Santana elements are here. Percussion, inventive use of organ and guitar (and not only in the form of Carlos' his soon-to-be trademark lead sound but his rhythm playing too) Shrieve's excellent work and the catchy vocal tunes supporting instrumental pieces.

It also includes several covers, one being the important hit single 'Evil Ways' and a version of 'Jingo' by Babatunde Olatunji (which I didn't realise until writing this review.) Of course, they aren't just carbon copies of other peoples' songs - they're Santana-fied, something the band also do well on their follow up 'Abraxas.' But for my money, the single-that-should have-been, 'Persuasion' is the better piece, it's more urgent and that rhythm guitar is just great - a tightly arranged rocker if ever they wrote one.

The influence of the blues should be mentioned of course - from the fairly stock-standard lyrics to the effective outro of 'Treat' or 'You Just Don't Care' and 'Persuasion.' The showcase piece, 'Soul Sacrifice' is a little more indicative of where they would head across the next few albums and is a great closer.

While they'd become far more interested in pursuing a jazz sound (well, some of the band anyway) there's nothing truly unenjoyable here for a jazz fan with an ear for rock and the Latin sound. Santana would reach higher peaks of creativity with their follow up and especially with 'Caravanserai' but don't overlook this album.
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