SANTANA ALBUMS RANKED WORST TO BEST

Message Topic Search Topic Options Post Reply Create New Topic Printable Version Translate Topic

    Over the course of 26 albums, Carlos Santana and his namesake band have withstood and embraced a bevy of stylistic shifts, from the psych rock and Latin rock they famously displayed to the half-million patrons at Woodstock, to jazz rock and jazz fusion in a different phase, straight-up AOR in another and an unlikely move to radio pop on their biggest-selling record, released three decades after their debut. It's been quite a career, and it continues on.
It takes a while to make one's way through the entirety of the band's studio oeuvre. (This experience can be further extended if one includes the band's multiple live albums and collaborative records, plus Carlos Santana's solo output, of which there are close to a dozen, both in studio and live.) But it's well worth the trip, even if it means enduring the passel of releases on which the group gives in to the plastic production and super-synthesized sound of a particular era. Eve

n in those cases, Santana is Santana, and there is a mark of quality to be lived up to; if the material seems uninspired, the band still lives up to their reputation as a collective of stellar players, regardless of who is backing up the Big Guy on a given album.
Consider the following, then, as something of a guide through the great, the good and the not-so-good – a list of Santana Studio albums, Ranked Worst to Best. 
Santana Albums Ranked Worst to Best
Carlos Santana & Co. have been supernatural musical shape-shifters for 26 albums. Here's how those records rank.

26. 'Beyond Appearances' (1985)
Even at the band's most cloyingly commercial nadir in the late '70s and '80s, Santana's albums always had at least one or two songs one could point to — if not to recommend a given record, then to say it wasn't a complete waste of time. There was one exception to that rule, and it's Beyond Appearances. Synthesizers and programmed drums abound, and the lyrics veer from seventh-grade love poetry to hippie-fied pleas for peace and brotherhood, the latter of which manage to appear on just about every Santana record, but on Beyond Appearances, there's very little musically to distract one from them. The good news is there are no other Santana albums as bad as this one. 

25. 'Marathon' (1979)
Marathon is notable for being singer Alex Ligertwood's first album with the band, and little else. The commercial, AOR-directed approach the band began with 1978's Inner Secrets falls flat here, mostly due to a lack of interesting material. "You Know I Love You" cracked the Top 40, but squanders its interesting melody and a gorgeous, compact Carlos Santana solo with trite lyrics. Still, there were worse radio hits in 1979, and the lovely instrumental "Aqua Marine" and stadium-ready "All I Ever Wanted" are worth the spins they got. Overall, though, Marathon was a stumble, and did not bode well for the decade ahead. 

24. 'Shango' (1982)
After the commercial (and modest artistic) success of Zebop!, Santana tripped again with the largely empty-sounding Shango. "Nowhere to Run" is emblematic of the arena rock they were striving for, and aside from the Top 20 hit "Hold On," it's the most successful thing on the record. "Hold On" was a fine single – tight, soulful, and catchy – but it could not carry the album. 

23. 'Freedom' (1987)
You'd think that bringing Buddy Miles (Electric Flag, Jimi Hendrix's Band of Gypsys) into the Santana fold would have brought some serious inspiration to the band and its namesake, but Freedom is a snoozer from front to back. "Veracruz" and "Once It's Gotcha" are good songs, relative to the other material on the record, but the synth-forward production and the let's-get-together, it's-time-to-change-the-world lyrical hooey gets really old, really quickly. Freedom also includes one of the worst songs Santana has ever committed to record – the whiny "Songs of Freedom," which equates record-company mandates ("You need a single to help you through") with democratic crises ("What about the Constitution, freedom of expression"). It's likely such debate would have been moot, had they just made a decent album. 

22. 'Spirits Dancing in the Flesh' (1990)
In spite of having an FM rock radio hit with "Peace on Earth … Mother Earth ...Third Stone From the Sun" and employing a platoon of collaborators that included Living Colour's Vernon Reid, jazz sax master Wayne Shorter and the great R&B singer Bobby Womack, Spirits Dancing in the Flesh was a largely desultory affair – indicative of how plastic Santana's output of the era could be. Tracks like "Full Moon" and covers of Curtis Mayfield's "Gypsy Woman" and the Isley Brothers' "Who's That Lady" almost crack the synthetic sheen that covers most of the album, but not quite. 

21. 'Guitar Heaven: The Greatest Guitar Classics of All Time' (2010)
Making Carlos Santana, one of the great guitarists of this or any other age, the central focus of what amounts to a classic rock karaoke record, was a bad idea – one that could have been redeemed by filling the album with some tremendous vocal performances and/or some left-of-center song choices. Guitar Heaven has a few of these – Chris Cornell was born to sing "Whole Lotta Love" as Santana wears out the hinge on his wah-wah pedal; R&B singer India.Arie gives "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" a slippery, soulful performance; and Chris Daughtry, of all people, helps Santana crush Def Leppard's "Photograph." Most of the album, though, lacks the kind of inspiring performances found in those three tracks. For example, ever want to hear Train's Pat Monahan sing Van Halen's "Dance the Night Away"? No? Or Creed's Scott Stapp snarling through Creedence's "Fortunate Son"? Yeah, neither did we. 

20. 'Shaman' (2002)
So you're Carlos Santana and the last time you made a record, you got a bunch of contemporary artists to collaborate with you, you put the record out on Clive Davis' label, and you went on to sell about 30 million copies. Stands to reason you might like to do all that again, so you do. Rob Thomas isn't available, so why not get that Nickelback guy, Chad Kroeger, to sing a tune ?(Of course, he'll be replaced by the dude from the Calling once it's time to release a single.) Oh, wait – Thomas wrote a song for the project, so you use that, only you get Musiq to sing it. And P.O.D., whoever they are – they can do a track, too. And Ozomatli, and maybe even Dido, if she's available. And suddenly, you have another mish-mash of performers and sounds and none of it has a consistent feel. Only Michelle Branch ("The Game of Love") and Macy Gray ("Amore [Sexo]") turn in performances worth repeated listens. Still, the album hits No. 1 on the Billboard 200 album chart, so who cares if it's consistent, or even very good? 

19. 'All That I Am' (2005)
All That I Am is the second attempt (after 2002's Shaman) to replicate the Supernatural collaboration formula, and it's probably the best. Michelle Branch returns; having helped score the biggest hit off Shaman, "The Game of Love." She brings arguably a better song, "I'm Feeling You," and in so doing gives All That I Am its best track. "Just Feel Better," with terrific vocals from Aerosmith's Steven Tyler, is nearly as good, and two R&B-centric songs – "My Man" (featuring Mary J. Blige and Outkast's Big Boi) and "Twisted" (featuring Anthony Hamilton) – have deep grooves and soul to spare. There are, however, more than enough clunkers to weigh down the album; tracks by will.i.am, American Idol quasi-rocker Bo Bice and a trio performance including Kirk Hammett and steel guitarist Robert Randolph are like lead in a swimming pool. That's a shame, because the good stuff on All That I Am is very good, indeed. 

18. 'Corazon' (2014)
Latin pop's influence on popular culture continued in the '00s and '10s, yet Santana was largely forgotten as one of the progenitors of the genre, or at least its rock sibling. Corazon attempted to remedy the situation, though with mixed results. Colombian singer Juanes gets the plot – his singing on "La Flaca" sounds like Rob Thomas, and the song works. "Una Noche en Napoles" (featuring Lila Downs, Nina Pastori & Soledad) is silky smooth, and Santana's acoustic guitar playing is lovely accompaniment. However, the less said about misfires like "Oye 2014" – a rejiggering of "Oye Como Va," featuring Pitbull – the better. 

17. 'Festival' (1977)
Toward the late '70s, a blanket of easy-listening sound had covered AM radio and Santana soaked up that sound, adding Chicago-ish horns behind its usual peace-and-love overtures to create a unique, though not always successful addition to its discography. Festival contains a single great track – "The River," which plays with all the soft-rockisms of the day, but does them so well, you barely notice how little it sounds like a Santana song (thanks in large part to singer Leon Patillo, back in the band after a brief hiatus). Tracks like "Carnaval," "Jugando" and "Revelations" are solid fare, while cuts like "Let the Children Play" and "Let the Music Set You Free" combine tiresome sentiment with flaccid playing to make for some skippable songs. 

16. 'Shape Shifter' (2012)
After the oddity of the Guitar Heaven record two years earlier – the nadir of the Supernatural template of "Carlos Santana plus superstar guests" albums – one wondered what Santana might do next. The answer was a relief, not to mention a pleasure: a largely instrumental album that touched on a number of his strengths, from jazz to blues to Latin and Afro-Cuban influenced sounds and rhythms. "Never the Same Again" and "Canela" are highlights, along with the ballad "In the Light of a New Day." There's also "Mr. Szabo," named after Gabor Szabo, the Hungarian guitarist who wrote "Gypsy Queen," the song Santana used as the coda for his band's recording of "Black Magic Woman."

Read More: Santana Albums Ranked Worst to Best | https://ultimateclassicrock.com/santana-albums-ranked/?utm_source=tsmclip&utm_medium=referral

Edited by snobb - 29 Dec 2022 at 7:32am

Author	Message Topic Search Topic Options Post Reply Create New Topic Printable Version Translate Topic
snobb Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Visit Members Homepage Add to Buddy List Forum Admin Group Site Admin Joined: 22 Dec 2010 Location: Vilnius Status: Online Points: 29580	Post Options Post Reply Quote snobb Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: SANTANA ALBUMS RANKED WORST TO BEST Posted: 29 Dec 2022 at 7:23am
	Over the course of 26 albums, Carlos Santana and his namesake band have withstood and embraced a bevy of stylistic shifts, from the psych rock and Latin rock they famously displayed to the half-million patrons at Woodstock, to jazz rock and jazz fusion in a different phase, straight-up AOR in another and an unlikely move to radio pop on their biggest-selling record, released three decades after their debut. It's been quite a career, and it continues on. It takes a while to make one's way through the entirety of the band's studio oeuvre. (This experience can be further extended if one includes the band's multiple live albums and collaborative records, plus Carlos Santana's solo output, of which there are close to a dozen, both in studio and live.) But it's well worth the trip, even if it means enduring the passel of releases on which the group gives in to the plastic production and super-synthesized sound of a particular era. Eve n in those cases, Santana is Santana, and there is a mark of quality to be lived up to; if the material seems uninspired, the band still lives up to their reputation as a collective of stellar players, regardless of who is backing up the Big Guy on a given album. Consider the following, then, as something of a guide through the great, the good and the not-so-good – a list of Santana Studio albums, Ranked Worst to Best. Santana Albums Ranked Worst to Best Carlos Santana & Co. have been supernatural musical shape-shifters for 26 albums. Here's how those records rank. 26. 'Beyond Appearances' (1985) Even at the band's most cloyingly commercial nadir in the late '70s and '80s, Santana's albums always had at least one or two songs one could point to — if not to recommend a given record, then to say it wasn't a complete waste of time. There was one exception to that rule, and it's Beyond Appearances. Synthesizers and programmed drums abound, and the lyrics veer from seventh-grade love poetry to hippie-fied pleas for peace and brotherhood, the latter of which manage to appear on just about every Santana record, but on Beyond Appearances, there's very little musically to distract one from them. The good news is there are no other Santana albums as bad as this one. 25. 'Marathon' (1979) Marathon is notable for being singer Alex Ligertwood's first album with the band, and little else. The commercial, AOR-directed approach the band began with 1978's Inner Secrets falls flat here, mostly due to a lack of interesting material. "You Know I Love You" cracked the Top 40, but squanders its interesting melody and a gorgeous, compact Carlos Santana solo with trite lyrics. Still, there were worse radio hits in 1979, and the lovely instrumental "Aqua Marine" and stadium-ready "All I Ever Wanted" are worth the spins they got. Overall, though, Marathon was a stumble, and did not bode well for the decade ahead. 24. 'Shango' (1982) After the commercial (and modest artistic) success of Zebop!, Santana tripped again with the largely empty-sounding Shango. "Nowhere to Run" is emblematic of the arena rock they were striving for, and aside from the Top 20 hit "Hold On," it's the most successful thing on the record. "Hold On" was a fine single – tight, soulful, and catchy – but it could not carry the album. 23. 'Freedom' (1987) You'd think that bringing Buddy Miles (Electric Flag, Jimi Hendrix's Band of Gypsys) into the Santana fold would have brought some serious inspiration to the band and its namesake, but Freedom is a snoozer from front to back. "Veracruz" and "Once It's Gotcha" are good songs, relative to the other material on the record, but the synth-forward production and the let's-get-together, it's-time-to-change-the-world lyrical hooey gets really old, really quickly. Freedom also includes one of the worst songs Santana has ever committed to record – the whiny "Songs of Freedom," which equates record-company mandates ("You need a single to help you through") with democratic crises ("What about the Constitution, freedom of expression"). It's likely such debate would have been moot, had they just made a decent album. 22. 'Spirits Dancing in the Flesh' (1990) In spite of having an FM rock radio hit with "Peace on Earth … Mother Earth ...Third Stone From the Sun" and employing a platoon of collaborators that included Living Colour's Vernon Reid, jazz sax master Wayne Shorter and the great R&B singer Bobby Womack, Spirits Dancing in the Flesh was a largely desultory affair – indicative of how plastic Santana's output of the era could be. Tracks like "Full Moon" and covers of Curtis Mayfield's "Gypsy Woman" and the Isley Brothers' "Who's That Lady" almost crack the synthetic sheen that covers most of the album, but not quite. 21. 'Guitar Heaven: The Greatest Guitar Classics of All Time' (2010) Making Carlos Santana, one of the great guitarists of this or any other age, the central focus of what amounts to a classic rock karaoke record, was a bad idea – one that could have been redeemed by filling the album with some tremendous vocal performances and/or some left-of-center song choices. Guitar Heaven has a few of these – Chris Cornell was born to sing "Whole Lotta Love" as Santana wears out the hinge on his wah-wah pedal; R&B singer India.Arie gives "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" a slippery, soulful performance; and Chris Daughtry, of all people, helps Santana crush Def Leppard's "Photograph." Most of the album, though, lacks the kind of inspiring performances found in those three tracks. For example, ever want to hear Train's Pat Monahan sing Van Halen's "Dance the Night Away"? No? Or Creed's Scott Stapp snarling through Creedence's "Fortunate Son"? Yeah, neither did we. 20. 'Shaman' (2002) So you're Carlos Santana and the last time you made a record, you got a bunch of contemporary artists to collaborate with you, you put the record out on Clive Davis' label, and you went on to sell about 30 million copies. Stands to reason you might like to do all that again, so you do. Rob Thomas isn't available, so why not get that Nickelback guy, Chad Kroeger, to sing a tune ?(Of course, he'll be replaced by the dude from the Calling once it's time to release a single.) Oh, wait – Thomas wrote a song for the project, so you use that, only you get Musiq to sing it. And P.O.D., whoever they are – they can do a track, too. And Ozomatli, and maybe even Dido, if she's available. And suddenly, you have another mish-mash of performers and sounds and none of it has a consistent feel. Only Michelle Branch ("The Game of Love") and Macy Gray ("Amore [Sexo]") turn in performances worth repeated listens. Still, the album hits No. 1 on the Billboard 200 album chart, so who cares if it's consistent, or even very good? 19. 'All That I Am' (2005) All That I Am is the second attempt (after 2002's Shaman) to replicate the Supernatural collaboration formula, and it's probably the best. Michelle Branch returns; having helped score the biggest hit off Shaman, "The Game of Love." She brings arguably a better song, "I'm Feeling You," and in so doing gives All That I Am its best track. "Just Feel Better," with terrific vocals from Aerosmith's Steven Tyler, is nearly as good, and two R&B-centric songs – "My Man" (featuring Mary J. Blige and Outkast's Big Boi) and "Twisted" (featuring Anthony Hamilton) – have deep grooves and soul to spare. There are, however, more than enough clunkers to weigh down the album; tracks by will.i.am, American Idol quasi-rocker Bo Bice and a trio performance including Kirk Hammett and steel guitarist Robert Randolph are like lead in a swimming pool. That's a shame, because the good stuff on All That I Am is very good, indeed. 18. 'Corazon' (2014) Latin pop's influence on popular culture continued in the '00s and '10s, yet Santana was largely forgotten as one of the progenitors of the genre, or at least its rock sibling. Corazon attempted to remedy the situation, though with mixed results. Colombian singer Juanes gets the plot – his singing on "La Flaca" sounds like Rob Thomas, and the song works. "Una Noche en Napoles" (featuring Lila Downs, Nina Pastori & Soledad) is silky smooth, and Santana's acoustic guitar playing is lovely accompaniment. However, the less said about misfires like "Oye 2014" – a rejiggering of "Oye Como Va," featuring Pitbull – the better. 17. 'Festival' (1977) Toward the late '70s, a blanket of easy-listening sound had covered AM radio and Santana soaked up that sound, adding Chicago-ish horns behind its usual peace-and-love overtures to create a unique, though not always successful addition to its discography. Festival contains a single great track – "The River," which plays with all the soft-rockisms of the day, but does them so well, you barely notice how little it sounds like a Santana song (thanks in large part to singer Leon Patillo, back in the band after a brief hiatus). Tracks like "Carnaval," "Jugando" and "Revelations" are solid fare, while cuts like "Let the Children Play" and "Let the Music Set You Free" combine tiresome sentiment with flaccid playing to make for some skippable songs. 16. 'Shape Shifter' (2012) After the oddity of the Guitar Heaven record two years earlier – the nadir of the Supernatural template of "Carlos Santana plus superstar guests" albums – one wondered what Santana might do next. The answer was a relief, not to mention a pleasure: a largely instrumental album that touched on a number of his strengths, from jazz to blues to Latin and Afro-Cuban influenced sounds and rhythms. "Never the Same Again" and "Canela" are highlights, along with the ballad "In the Light of a New Day." There's also "Mr. Szabo," named after Gabor Szabo, the Hungarian guitarist who wrote "Gypsy Queen," the song Santana used as the coda for his band's recording of "Black Magic Woman." Read More: Santana Albums Ranked Worst to Best \| https://ultimateclassicrock.com/santana-albums-ranked/?utm_source=tsmclip&utm_medium=referral Edited by snobb - 29 Dec 2022 at 7:32am

snobb Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Visit Members Homepage Add to Buddy List Forum Admin Group Site Admin Joined: 22 Dec 2010 Location: Vilnius Status: Online Points: 29580	Post Options Post Reply Quote snobb Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 29 Dec 2022 at 7:35am
	15. 'Blessings and Miracles' (2021) After the under-heard triumph of 2019's Africa Speaks, Carlos Santana decided he wanted to have hits again, and so once more he returned to the Supernatural template, with middling results – the highs on Blessings and Miracles are quite high indeed, but the lows more or less sink the project. Chris Stapleton adds a Southern spice to "Joy," easily making it the most successful collaboration on the record. Not far behind is "Angel Choir/All Together," a jazz summit with the late keyboardist Chick Corea and his wife Gayle Moran Corea, which, at three-plus minutes, is far too short; there must be a lengthier jam on this in someone's vault. While these and several of the tracks without all-star help are fine, other guest-heavy attempts at impacting rock radio (with the likes of Living Colour's Corey Glover, Kirk Hammett and the returning Rob Thomas) sound stale and artificially overdriven. 14. 'Milagro' (1992) Santana's earthy influences come to the fore in some of the most heavenward-looking tracks on this 1992 record, as in the multihued "Somewhere in Heaven," on which a mild, languid opening gives way into a pedal-to-the-floor middle section, before slowing down again to conclude. Throughout the movements, Carlos Santana wrings every ounce of bent-note blues from his instrument, to great effect. The jazz abstractions of "Red Prophet" and "Saja / Right On" show off a different kind of mastery, certainly enough to override the rather pedestrian synth sound that permeates the record. The highlight may well be "Agua Que Va Caer," a percussion-heavy workout that hearkens back to early triumphs, while still sounding contemporary. 13. 'Zebop!' (1981) A cover of Russ Ballard's "Winning" put Santana back in the Top 20 of the pop chart, and Top 10 of the album chart – both for the last time until the Great Supernatural Resurgence 18 years later. The band revels in the pop-forward sound of Zebop!, outfitting tracks like "Over and Over," "The Sensitive Kind" and a cover of Cat Stevens' "Changes" with a depth of sound that stood out on FM radio. The instrumental take on the standard "I Love You Much Too Much" is another highlight, as Carlos Santana's guitar takes on a beautiful melody usually reserved for human voices, and emerges triumphant. Zebop! is often pilloried as a ho-hum effort, but it is far more effective than it is credited with being. 12. 'Supernatural' (1999) All hail the power, insight and Rolodex of industry mogul Clive Davis, who in 1999 saw in Carlos Santana something no one else – literally no one else – saw in the then-52-year-old Woodstock veteran: a hit-making machine. Two No. 1 hits, 30 million copies and nine Grammy Awards later, Davis was proven right. And while everyone knows the hits on the album ("Smooth," with Rob Thomas, "Maria Maria," with the Product G&B and "Put Your Lights On," with Everlast), don't sleep on instrumental tracks like "The Calling" (featuring Eric Clapton) or "El Farol," on which Carlos Santana slips out of the commercial puppet strings and back into the "guitar god" persona for which he is best regarded (and likely most comfortable). Also worth hearing are lesser-known collaborations, like the gorgeous "Love of My Life" (with Dave Matthews and Carter Beauford) and "Corazon Espinado" (with Mexican rock band Mana), which are as good as the hits. 11. 'Africa Speaks' (2019) Carlos Santana calls Rick Rubin, asks, "Would you like to work together on an album?" Rubin says yes, asks which guest stars Santana would like on the record. He's thinking about whether he knows someone who knows Rob Thomas, or maybe Drake, or Bad Bunny. Santana says, "Two – Laura Mvula and Concha Buika." Rubin quickly Googles them, says okay, gives Santana the directions to his Shangri-La Studio in Malibu. 10 days and 49 songs later, Africa Speaks is completed, and then some. The album shimmers with positive energy and rattles rhythmically with all manner of percussive influences, as much as any album Santana has ever made. It debuts at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 album chart, then the next week falls to 189, then the week after that drops into the abyss of the uncharted and forgotten for the most part, except by the people who hear it and are moved by it. They're the same group, mind you – if you hear it, you will be moved. 10. 'Inner Secrets' (1978) Previous to 1978, Santana sounded great on FM radio because they were a great band making great music, and whatever tool or setting they used to amplify that greatness just worked. Inner Secrets was the band's first real foray into FM rock for FM rock's sake – representing a shift in focus away from percussion-driven Latin grooves and jazz fusion overtones, to a more complete commercial presentation. The results are surprisingly solid; much like Neal Schon and Gregg Rolie did with Journey, Santana cracked the AOR code and made a record that could stand with contemporary albums like Journey's Infinity, Foreigner's Double Vision, or Toto's self-titled debut, all of which made impact in 1978. And they did it with a set that leaned heavily on cover tunes: a slinky take on Traffic's "The Dealer," a faithful rendition of the Classics IV's hit "Stormy," a disco-fied pass on the Four Tops' "One Chain (Don't Make No Prison)" and a cover of Buddy Holly's "Well All Right" that out-Blind-Faiths Blind Faith's take on the song. And while Inner Secrets works because Santana is up front about what they're doing and why, the commercial-centric approach definitely saw diminishing returns with subsequent records like Marathon and Shango. On Inner Secrets, though, the band comes through with energy and power; it's definitely worth listening to again, all these years later. 9. 'Moonflower' (1977) A two-LP collection of live tracks interspersed with new studio recordings, Moonflower provides both a fine representation of Santana's mellower, burgeoning commercial direction – as heard on Festival, released earlier that year, and more fully represented on Inner Secrets, in 1978 – and a reminder of their continued brilliance as a live band. The concert material includes songs from more recent albums, as well as cuts from the earliest Santana recordings, when they were an almost entirely different band (only percussionist Jose "Chepito" Areas and Carlos Santana himself remain from that initial incarnation). Of those, the back-to-back salvo of "Dance Sister Dance" and "Europa (Earth's Cry, Heaven's Smile") on Side Two provide as full a picture of the Santana live experience as one could expect out of two tracks – the former, a full-tilt call to move one's body, and the latter a Bic-worthy anthem meant to be played to the largest of crowds. The studio tracks include the propulsive, bass-heavy "Zulu," the soulful ballad "Transcendence" (which deserves to be more widely known) and their cover of the Zombies' "She's Not There," which gave them a Top 30 hit for the first time in years. 8. 'Santana IV' (2016) There was no guarantee that reassembling the surviving members of the Santana III band would work in a 21st-century context. Yet there they were – Carlos Santana and Neal Schon trading guitar licks and solos, Gregg Rolie behind the organ, playing and singing, Michael Carabello on percussion, adding color to Michael Shrieve's inspiring drumming. Two years of studio sessions yielded a surprising and frankly stunning return to form. "All Aboard" is a concise, bluesy jam with a hard rock vibe; it segues into the ghostly "Suenos," which features Santana on acoustic gut-string guitar, giving the melody all its worth. To hear Rolie's voice out in front of the band is a pleasure – tracks like "Leave Me Alone," "Blues Magic" and the raunchy come-on "Shake It" just wouldn't sound right without him. Even when Ronald Isley takes the mic on two tracks, the vibe does not stop; it's a party on a platter. If anything, there might be too much of a good thing on Santana IV – a judicious paring back from 16 tracks to a more concise 12 or 13 would have likely resulted in a tighter, even more satisfying collection. Nevertheless, the album speaks to the strengths of the band as a unit, not just a backdrop provider for guest stars; would that another volume of music this good might be coaxed from these men. 7. 'Amigos' (1976) After three albums of deep, exploratory jazz-forward music, Santana pulled back a bit on Amigos, focusing on more vocal tracks and recapturing the lilt and spirit of their first three records. "Let Me" finds singer Greg Walker riding a wave of funk that bassist David Brown and keyboardist Tom Coster (here, on clavinet) put together, and it just cooks. On "Gitano," Walker yields the mic to percussionist Armando Peraza, who leads a call-and-response performance that hearkens to earlier hits like "Oye Como Va" and "Evil Ways." "Tell Me Are You Tired" is layered and affecting, particularly on the driving chorus. That's not to say there aren't fine instrumental tracks on the album. Amigos introduced listeners to the majestic "Europa (Heaven's Cry, Earth's Smile)," which would become a live staple for the band. There's also "Take Me With You," which shifts slyly from high-powered percussion workout to a calmer, smoother closing. No words are needed to express what each expresses; Carlos Santana's guitar and the sympathetic assistance of the other instrumentalists in the group say it all. 6. 'Welcome' (1973) Caravanserai introduced a new direction for Santana incorporating jazz more deeply into the band's rock, fueled by Latin percussion and guided by Carlos Santana's burgeoning spiritual consciousness. It was music divorced from any real commercial concerns, and with Welcome, the band walked deeper into those waters, submerging itself completely. Guests Alice Coltrane (widow of the great jazz saxophonist John Coltrane) and guitarist John McLaughlin (de facto leader of the Mahavishnu Orchestra, which provided a sort of template Santana's music was following) lend their expertise and assistance, but the bulk of Welcome displays the band itself discovering their own way through the music, occasionally straying from the path, only to come back around wiser for the digression. "Mother Africa" sees the band trading expansive solos with positively stunning percussion work, particularly from drummer Michael Shrieve. Shrieve also contributes "When I Look Into Your Eyes," a propulsive vocal number with a two-minute coda that stops the song cold, ceding it to keyboardist Tom Coster and bassist Douglas Rauch, who throw shards of riffs in one another's direction and close the song on a completely different level than it had been on at its beginning. "Completely different" might also describe "Light of Life," on which the band is joined by a string section, adding depth and tonal color to the track. Welcome can be listed among Santana's finest albums due to moments like those in "Light of Life," when the band can be heard expanding and improving, right there in the grooves of the record. Read More: Santana Albums Ranked Worst to Best \| https://ultimateclassicrock.com/santana-albums-ranked/?utm_source=tsmclip&utm_medium=referral

snobb Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Visit Members Homepage Add to Buddy List Forum Admin Group Site Admin Joined: 22 Dec 2010 Location: Vilnius Status: Online Points: 29580	Post Options Post Reply Quote snobb Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 29 Dec 2022 at 7:36am
	5. 'Santana' (1969) Just days after they blew away the audience at Woodstock, Santana released their self-titled debut album, a distillation of the raw energy and prowess they expressed in front of that most famous and voluminous of audiences. Much of their set at the festival is represented on Santana, led by the frantic playing on tracks like "Waiting," "Savor" and the band- and genre-defining rush of "Soul Sacrifice." It's also got "Evil Ways," the classic rock radio staple and Top 10 hit. And then there's "Jingo," which sets the template for the band's distillation of African rhythms and song structure and incorporation of those influences into their approach to Latin rock. Santana is an extraordinary debut, which kicked off a period of consistently excellent and exploratory work from the band and its guitarist. 4. 'Borboletta' (1974) Of all Santana's early and mid '70s fusion-centric albums, Borboletta may well be the most consistent, its modal structures providing a foundational element that underpins its dozen songs. Vocalist Leon Patillo joins the band, and immediately assumes a complementary place in the instrumental flow, his voice another instrument in the mix. "Life Is Anew" is the first example of this, with Patillo slipping into the tapestry of sound as smoothly as the percussion elements or keyboards. Better yet is "Mirage," which emanates from a vocal hook he shares at the beginning of the song and contributes throughout. Of course, Carlos Santana's guitar is the star of the record, molting from jazzy comping and soloing to the slightly subdued (but no less strong) amplified rock of tracks like "Give and Take." 3. 'Caravanserai' (1972) In 1972 – in contrast with the commercial hit-chasing in which he would engage at the end of the decade (and on through the ensuing three-plus decades or so) — Carlos Santana was intent on making music that was decidedly uncommercial. On his band's fourth album, he began leaning in a direction more akin to the jazz fusion Miles Davis was playing on albums like In a Silent Way (1969) and Bitches Brew (1970), and what the fledgling Mahavishnu Orchestra had achieved the previous year with The Inner Mounting Flame. The result is extraordinary – the Latin groove Santana electrified on its first three albums morphs into the nuanced abstractions of "Waves Within," then to a groove that ebbs and swells as on "Look Up (To See What's Coming)." The lilt of "Song of the Wind" nudges along the extended solos, and the interplay throughout "La Fuente del Ritmo" is all about tightness, but also letting the music breathe. "All the Love in the Universe" has a bit of an anthemic quality to it, and showed what the band would soon lose; after the tour supporting Caravanserai, guitarist Neal Schon and keyboardist Gregg Rolie would bolt to form Journey, which, in its initial incarnation, followed the fusion instincts displayed on Caravanserai, in a smaller, less groove-oriented package. Santana would not be the same, but the evolution of sound expressed on Caravanserai would serve them well for the next few years. 2. 'Santana III' (1971) The band that wowed the crowd at Woodstock makes its last stand here – Carlos Santana would eventually shed bandmates and expand the group with new members, to broaden the band's instrumental palette as he focused on a different, more jazz-influenced sound. On Santana III, he does make a significant addition to the group – teenaged Neal Schon is brought into the fold, to trade guitar leads and inject new energy into a band fairly brimming with the energy it had been generating the previous three years. The album crackles with tracks like "Toussaint L'Overture," which puts that dual-guitar fire to work atop a hip-shaking groove, and "Everybody's Everything," a manic, brass-flecked call to action and to party that stands as one of Santana's finest singles. "No One to Depend On" was another hit, and the Carlos Santana-sung (yes, sung) "Everything's Coming Our Way" coulda/shoulda been yet another. Whether anyone in the band knew this iteration of the group was coming to an end is a moot point – the music they went out with is very much of that moment and among the finest collections Santana ever assembled. 1. 'Abraxas' (1970) One of the great Latin music records ever made (and arguably the greatest Latin rock record ever put to tape), Abraxas fulfills the promise Santana displayed on their self-titled debut by deepening their sound and embracing the abstractions of the psychedelic rock and blues at which they excelled. The blues influence is felt on the medley of Fleetwood Mac's "Black Magic Woman" and Hungarian guitarist Gabor Szabo's instrumental "Gypsy Queen," as well as on "Mother's Daughter" and in the guitar refrain of "Incident at Neshabur." The latter track enables the band to show off their ease with different time signatures and the underpinnings of jazz phrasing and comping – things they would more formally experiment with in future, jazz-heavy records. Things get less restrained on "Se a Cabo" and "Hope You're Feeling Better," but for different reasons. The former is a percussion workout like few others, practically demanding the listener get up and move; the latter is a bruising, bluesy hard rock that might draw blood if you get too close to the speakers when it's playing. On Abraxas, Santana shows different paths of getting to the same destination – total immersion in the music of a great young band, with so much more to accomplish. Read More: Santana Albums Ranked Worst to Best \| https://ultimateclassicrock.com/santana-albums-ranked/?utm_source=tsmclip&utm_medium=referral

SANTANA ALBUMS RANKED WORST TO BEST

Santana Albums Ranked Worst to Best

26. 'Beyond Appearances' (1985)

25. 'Marathon' (1979)

24. 'Shango' (1982)

23. 'Freedom' (1987)

22. 'Spirits Dancing in the Flesh' (1990)

21. 'Guitar Heaven: The Greatest Guitar Classics of All Time' (2010)

20. 'Shaman' (2002)

19. 'All That I Am' (2005)

18. 'Corazon' (2014)

17. 'Festival' (1977)

16. 'Shape Shifter' (2012)

15. 'Blessings and Miracles' (2021)

14. 'Milagro' (1992)

13. 'Zebop!' (1981)

12. 'Supernatural' (1999)

11. 'Africa Speaks' (2019)

10. 'Inner Secrets' (1978)

9. 'Moonflower' (1977)

8. 'Santana IV' (2016)

7. 'Amigos' (1976)

6. 'Welcome' (1973)

5. 'Santana' (1969)

4. 'Borboletta' (1974)

3. 'Caravanserai' (1972)

2. 'Santana III' (1971)

1. 'Abraxas' (1970)