FREEDOM

In terms of the band's entire music career, this is not the album which received appreciation from the fans as well as music industry. But still, you can find excellent guitar melody unique to Santana which creates Latin rock nuance. Looking at the opening track "Veracruz" you might not expect that this song is played by Santana; because the music is very close to standard R&B music. The next track "She Can't Let Go" is also another pop venture which, unfortunately, does not attract me to digest at all. But you might find the third track "Once It's Gotcha'" which has better soul and composition. It sounds like normal R&B music but as the song moves along, there are textures that make this song beautiful especially through the insertion of guitar melody. "Songs of Freedom" is another exploration of Santana into jazz-rock fusion kind of music especially this is characterized by the way bass guitar is played (similar to those of Stanley Clarke's). "Deeper, Dig Deeper" tries to dig out what Santana's sound like in the past through long guitar solo unique to Santana. "Victim of Circumstance" concludes the track with a music that combines old Santana sound (through guitar work) and disco music. The guitar solo is still nice to capture, but the music is not quite interesting to enjoy.

Overall, It's really difficult to maintain band's performance over time. This "Freedom" album tells us that the music of Santana is no longer like what it was great during late 60s or early seventies. I leave it up to you whether or not to buy this album, especially if you are die-hard fan of Santana. If you love the way Santana plays his guitar, some tracks featured here would satisfy you. But most of the songs featured here do not represent what Santana has done