CARAVANSERAI

A confident step into fusion territory, Caravanserai does not jettison the salsa and psychedelic rock influences of previous Santana albums - both manifest themselves here and there at points - but it does amp up the jazz component of the band's music sharply, as well as putting a strong emphasis on the role of percussion in the group's composition, with no less than four percussionists taking part. Of course, Carlos Santana himself still plays exceptional lead guitar on this, but his solos play less of a central role this time - despite the group bearing his name, this album is very much a band effort, to the point where Santana doesn't even get a songwriting credit on all the songs. A credible entry to the fusion world, as well as a decent attempt at large-group fusion of a sort experimented with by only a few artists. I don't think it's quite as iconic as the great milestones of the fusion genre, or Santana's previous two albums, but it is extremely strong nonetheless.