SANTANA

This albums can be pointed at as the birth of Latin-rock, some say latin fusion. The guitar dominated rock of Santana added some soul to the normal improvised rock of the day. The additions of percussion and Latin styled vocals gave this rock-band a totally new vibe. Santana had yet to become the famous king subtle on the electric guitar, but on the debut he already played some amazing solo's. I myself never was a great fan of his subtle guitar parts, on this album I sometimes shiver because they are slightly out of pitch at times. His heavy and fast solo's are very interesting though.

The composition on this album is good. A combination of rock songs with soul and good hard rock improvisations of a band with a leader (instead of a leader and a band). The organs are very classy, the drums and percussions warm and the vocals are authentic. The guitar sound thick and warm.

The link between Santana and progressive rock has never been very apparent to me. The music is melodic, at times inventive, it has both soul and it rocks. But progressive? Not at all. Jazz-rock/Fusion? Nowhere to be found. Prog-related would have been a better description since Caravanserai has some progressive influences. Nevertheless, discussions about it's genre aren't of much importance here, since a lot of people on PA just seem to like Santana's music.

A good album of a good band. It's style is innovative and it's musicianship both good and authentic. Three and a halve stars.

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