The start of this track gives nothing away in terms of where this album will take you over the next few tracks until the guitars start to fade in and then you start to get some sort of idea. I like the gentle. Jazzy feel to the track but it’s not particularly memorable
Then it’s the turn of the percussion and we start to hear the trademark Santana sound. We’ve also got those great keyboards.
There are better tracks on the album but I don’t mind the slower pace to this track at all and it reminds me of the ocean
I don’t want to get too hippy dippy but there’s certainly a spiritual vibe to the track
Thought I’d give it a listen before talking about it. But in truth I don’t need to as it’s an album I still play, after all these years, on a regular basis.
Can’t remember when I first heard Santana (I must have been a fan by ’76 because I taped the BBC Sight and Sounds show off the radio), I image at some friends house and would had thought “Samba Pi Ti” would have been the reason I gave my hard earned pocket money over the counter for it.
So, we have my favourite 3 tracks all instrumental, which when I think about it must have been quite unique for me at the time. I was into Progressive Rock and so was used to long instrumental passages. But to listen to, and fall in love with so many instrumental songs? However, we have Carlos’ guitar which transcends a pure guitar sounds and becomes a voice in itself.
So… Side 1 opener “Singing Winds..” is a perfect opener, after some gentle keyboards Carlos’ guitar lays down a statement, and off we go with glistening keyboards, gentle rhythms (and its surprising, given that Santana are famous for their Latin rhythms and guitar, how keyboard driven this track is). Before you know what’s happening we are into “Black Magic Woman > Gypsy Queen” Sheer perfection. Better than the original ? Too close to call but oh that guitar into.
Dance your way through “Oye Coma Va” and the side winds up with an “Incident At Neshabur” Fast Latin beat and then brought home with great interaction between the rhythm section and Carlos’ guitar. Incidentally there are some amazing live versions, one from “The Last Days of The Fillmore” from July 71, and 15 min version from ’73 on Lotus. (You can never have too much of a good thing)
And love the segue between the songs, as they all seem to develop into each other.
Side 2 – “Se A Cabo” – more interplay between the rhythm section and guitar. Gotta dance to it. “Mother’s Daughter” Easy to overlook as we wait for “Samba Pa Ti” probably the closer to a conventional rocker on the album but nothing wrong with that.
And then one of the greatest songs ever, those opening few notes, holding back the rhythm and then…the keyboard hits in and the song takes off into space. It’s easy to forget that this song is less than 5 mins long. It seems much longer as it develops from one theme to the next. All making sense but surprising at the same time.
Any song following it is going to have a problem, and as such “Hope You’re Feeling Better” does suffer a little. But playing it as a single track on its own it’s a fine song. Like “Mother’s Daughter” a fairly straightforward rock song.
And a farewell with the drums and chats of “El Nicoya” Being truthful it took me a while to get this song. But as I have got older I appreciate it as a perfect ending to the journey that stared 40 odd minutes earlier.
Thought I’d give it a listen before talking about it. But in truth I don’t need to as it’s an album I still play, after all these years, on a regular basis.
Can’t remember when I first heard Santana (I must have been a fan by ’76 because I taped the BBC Sight and Sounds show off the radio), I image at some friends house and would had thought “Samba Pi Ti” would have been the reason I gave my hard earned pocket money over the counter for it.
So, we have my favourite 3 tracks all instrumental, which when I think about it must have been quite unique for me at the time. I was into Progressive Rock and so was used to long instrumental passages. But to listen to, and fall in love with so many instrumental songs? However, we have Carlos’ guitar which transcends a pure guitar sounds and becomes a voice in itself.
So… Side 1 opener “Singing Winds..” is a perfect opener, after some gentle keyboards Carlos’ guitar lays down a statement, and off we go with glistening keyboards, gentle rhythms (and its surprising, given that Santana are famous for their Latin rhythms and guitar, how keyboard driven this track is). Before you know what’s happening we are into “Black Magic Woman > Gypsy Queen” Sheer perfection. Better than the original ? Too close to call but oh that guitar into.
Dance your way through “Oye Coma Va” and the side winds up with an “Incident At Neshabur” Fast Latin beat and then brought home with great interaction between the rhythm section and Carlos’ guitar. Incidentally there are some amazing live versions, one from “The Last Days of The Fillmore” from July 71, and 15 min version from ’73 on Lotus. (You can never have too much of a good thing)
And love the segue between the songs, as they all seem to develop into each other.
Side 2 – “Se A Cabo” – more interplay between the rhythm section and guitar. Gotta dance to it. “Mother’s Daughter” Easy to overlook as we wait for “Samba Pa Ti” probably the closer to a conventional rocker on the album but nothing wrong with that.
And then one of the greatest songs ever, those opening few notes, holding back the rhythm and then…the keyboard hits in and the song takes off into space. It’s easy to forget that this song is less than 5 mins long. It seems much longer as it develops from one theme to the next. All making sense but surprising at the same time.
Any song following it is going to have a problem, and as such “Hope You’re Feeling Better” does suffer a little. But playing it as a single track on its own it’s a fine song. Like “Mother’s Daughter” a fairly straightforward rock song.
And a farewell with the drums and chats of “El Nicoya” Being truthful it took me a while to get this song. But as I have got older I appreciate it as a perfect ending to the journey that stared 40 odd minutes earlier.
Great summary of the album DaveP and really appreciate you sharing. it's an important album for me which will come out over my next few posts.
So, from 1970 to 1975 or so I was heavily into heavy rock / metal. Loved bands like Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Budgie, Uriah Heep and Atomic Rooster.
Then, in around 1975, I discovered this album. Not sure how I got to meet these folks, probably through an x school friend, I was 17 by now, but I got to know what, at the time I called "The Hippy Lot". They introduced me to loads of great music and this was the first album I heard that this girl in the group owned.
We were sat in her parents living room (they must have been out or away), after having been down the pub. I remember thinking that her parents must be rich because they had such a big house.
Anyway, she put this album on and it blew my mind. I was used to great heavy music but this was something totally different but equally great. Pretty much my world opened up to a whole new strand of music and I never looked back.
Over the next few months I discovered The Allman Brothers, Traffic, Steve Miller Band, Robin Trower and a whole lot more. At 17 I was a sponge, eager to learn as much as I could.
Santana's Greatest Hits is one of my all-time top 100 albums, and half of the album is five songs from Abraxas. Black Magic Woman and Oye Como Va were the only actual hits I think, and the other three are famous fan favorites that everybody knows. Samba Pa Ti is Santana's best instrumental and has Carlos Santana's most beautiful guitar playing. The other two instrumentals on this album are almost as good. My two favorite Santana songs are Everything's Coming Our Way and Everybody's Everything, so Santana III is probably my favorite Santana album, but the first three albums are probably equally good.
Santana's Greatest Hits is one of my all-time top 100 albums, and half of the album is five songs from Abraxas. Black Magic Woman and Oye Como Va were the only actual hits I think, and the other three are famous fan favorites that everybody knows. Samba Pa Ti is Santana's best instrumental and has Carlos Santana's most beautiful guitar playing. The other two instrumentals on this album are almost as good. My two favorite Santana songs are Everything's Coming Our Way and Everybody's Everything, so Santana III is probably my favorite Santana album, but the first three albums are probably equally good.
Thanks for feeding back brigand99. I think that the first three Santana albums can be considered classics. A great run of albums and III is an excellent album. Hard for me to pick a favourite TBH so not even going to try.
Probably the most familiar / recognisable track on the album. The song became one of Santana's staples and one of their biggest hits
It basically consists of covers of two songs, played as a medley of Peter Greens Black Magic Woman and Gábor Szabó's 1966 "Gypsy Queen".
To be fair, Santana’s version retains the same general structure as Fleetwood Mac’s version, however, I think that there’s more of a jazz vibe, along with the Latin vibe going on here, (organ, percussion etc.) as you would expect. I love both FM’s and Santana’s version equally. I saw this version referred to as having a “voodoo” vibe. I see that.
I love this track and it lifts the album after the more laid back opening track.
To be honest I never heard that Gabor one before, and I think it's really cool. I love instrumental songs and now I gotta add that one to my list. For some reason I didn't expect the original Gypsy Queen to be an instrumental. I just always thought that Santana probably just decided to do it as an instrumental as a way to close out Black Magic Woman. I don't know why I thought that. I always liked the Fleetwood Mac Black Magic Woman too. I like that heavy drum thing it has.
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