Santana: The Best of Santana. Sony/Columbia. March
31st, 1998. Audio CD. Get
it from Amazon.com.
Biography of Carlos Santana
Born in Autlán de Navarro, Mexico, Carlos Santana,
grew up in the border town of Tijuana, where his family became established
in 1955. His father, a mariachi violinist, had introduced him to traditional
Mexican music. But soon, he was more interested in B.B. King, John Lee
Hooker and T-Bone Walker. Aged 14, he started performing with his guitar
in local bands and local bars. In 1961, he moved to San Francisco, rejoining
his family which had moved there a year earlier. After finishing High School
in October 1966, he founded the Santana Blues Band together with
Gregg Rolie (*1947, key), David Brown (*1947, b), Tom Franzer (g) and Rod
Harper (dr). They mainly played covers by B.B. King and Ray Charles. In
May 1968, the first stable band emerged with Santana, Brown, Rolie, José
Cheptio Areas (*1946, perc), Mike Carabello (*1947) and Michael Shrieve
(*1949, dr). It took them only a few months with concerts in Avalon, Fillmore
West and an appearance at the three days of the Sky River Rock Festival
in Sultan, Washington, to become one of the first American rockbands -
a place he and his band still occupy today, playing 'world music' long
before the name was coined. Also important was their historic appearance
at the Woodstock Festival in 1969. The Santana Band's debut album, Santana
sold double-platinum, their follow-up album Abraxas quadruple-platinum.
Santana's selling record includes eight gold and seven platinum albums.
But only at the end of 1999, aged 52, did Santana acheive his first US
number one hit with Smooth, featuring Rob Thomas. In his career,
he has sold over 40 million albums and performed in front of over 20 million
people.
Carlos Santana has enlarged pop music with his mix of
blues, rock 'n' roll, Afro-Cuban and Latin sounds. Percussion fireworks
and of course his guitar-playing are his trademark. So on his new CD, Supernatural,
the first sounds you hear are naturally Santana's typical guitar riffs.
The first four titles are not breathtaking, but track five, Smooth,
is truly a party-time smash hit that deserves its success. The next song,
Do
You Like The Way, starts with Lauryn Hill's and Cee-Lo's uninspired
rap that is in sharp contrast to the soulful background. As soon as the
soul becomes dominant, you have a sound that can compete with the best
of Marvin Gaye. Also the Latin sound on Carazon Espinando is great.
The following three tracks are all right. Santana's last title, The
Calling, is another highlight. More than 7 1/2 minutes of an instrumental
journey together with Eric Clapton - occasionally backed by a choir singing
'People hear me calling'. That's as good as it gets.
