Santana

Santana goes back deep into the roots of today's music, not only just to the time when the
Family Dog was at the Avalon, but back further into the heavy dosages of Latin and African
rhythms that have been part of American music for a long time. For it's surely true that for
all their Fender basses and fuzz tones, Santana is more deeply committed to the music
defined and still played by Tito Puente, Machito, Mongo Santamaria, and all the gl... More >

In theory, the polyrhythms intensified the momentum while the low-definition songwriting served the freeflow gestalt. In fact, the Latin lilt lightened the beat and the flow remained muddy indeed. So the electricity generated by the percussion-heavy opening cut comes as a pleasant surprise, and the movement of what follows is a surprising pleasure. New second guitarist Neal Schon deserves special thanks for crowding out Gregg Rolie's organ. Maybe soon he'll come up with more than one idea per solo. (Grade: B)