LOTUS

Live concert material recorded on May 3 & 4, 1973 while the band was touring in Japan, the "album" was only released on vinyl--as a triple album--in Japan--in May of 1974, in Europe in November of 1975, and the US in June of 1991--this latter version being the one I had access to for my listening experience--which came in the form of two-disc CD format.

Line-up / Musicians: - Carlos Santana / guitars, percussion, vocals - Doug Rauch / bass - Michael Shrieve / drums - Greg Walker / percussion, vocals - Leon Thomas / vocals, percussion - Tom Coster / keyboards [electric piano, Hammond and Yamaha organs] - Richard Kermode / keyboards [Hammond organ, electric piano] - Armando Peraza / percussion [timbales, congas] - Jose 'Chepito' Areas / timbales, congas, percussion

CD 1 (58:53) 1. "Going Home" (3:23) warm up, tuning, sound level adjustments, 2. "A-1 Funk" (3:13) continued warmup--especially for the synth player (Tom Coster?) (8/10)

3. "Every Step of the Way" (11:30) the first four minutes are just an extended intro/warmup for this song, it's not until 4:10 that the song becomes recognizable as the great tune from the band's 1972 album, Caravanserai. Then it's magical: a very spirited performance all around. (18.5/20)

4. "Black Magic Woman" (3:38) great bleed from "Every Step of the Way" to this. Weird to hear Leon Thomas' voice in the vocal position: he's so uniquely Leon Thomas! Also weird to hear Doug Rauch's bass playing to sound and feel so mechanical and laid back. I like it better when he feels like he's flying around the stage--as he does a little more with . . . (9.25/10)

5. "Gypsy Queen" (3:57) I can't remember if the album version of this song (from the band's album Abraxas--as are the songs preceding and following it) had the Jimi Hendrix homage riffs from Carlos (from "Third Stone from the Sun"), but I love it. The percussion interplay is awesome--and awesomely recorded and imaged. (9.5/10)

6. "Oye Como Va" (5:47) great with some fun group vocal and percussion performances beneath and between Carlos' screaming guitar leads. (Carlos letting the spirit of his dad's mariachi band flowing through him). Perhaps Doug's subdued bass play was due to his wanting to uphold the sacrosanctity of the originals, but you'd think with these percussionists and Carlos getting so fired up and expressive that it would light a little infectious fire in Doug's playing. Perhaps we just have to wait for the material from Caravanserai and Welcome that he helped to create. Anyway, this is an engaging and spirited song.(9.5/10)

7. "Yours Is the Light" (5:30) a song from Welcome attributed to keyboardist Richard Kermode, it's very melodic and smooth--perfect for every one to just groove to--especially the percussionists. Finally we get to hear the loose, engaged, and fully-expressive bass playing of Doug Rauch. (This alone may end up making this song a favorite from this concert album.) Also due to the excellent electric piano play. So smooth and hypnotic! (9.75/10)

8. "Batuka" (0:55) a percusssion jam interlude/bridge (that probably went on longer than what we've been given to hear here). (4.5/5)

9. "Xibaba" (4:13) another cover of the Airto Moreira composition that was first presented to the world on Donald Byrd's 1970 album, Electric Byrd (on which Airto was a contributing studio musician). (I've always thought that the main melody of this song sounded like it was borrowed from a television or radio advertizing jingle of the day--or vice versa.) (9/10)

10. "Stone Flower (introduction)" (1:14) (4.375/5)

11. "Waiting" (4:14) I've always adored this song ever since I first heard it as the opening song on Santana's debut album: great whole band "introduction" jam. I wish Carlos' guitar tone was a little more aligned with those of more traditional rhythm guitarists of the time: his is a little loud--plus, I don't really think he's very good as a rhythm guitarist: he's a melody-maker not an accent provider or rhythm sectionist, but, this awkwardness is resolved with A) some great organ play and B) the transition into the next song. (9/10)

12. "Castillos de Arena, Part 1 (Sand Castle)" (2:51) on which he returns to his natural place and role as the front man: making his melodies and making women's nipples erect. The song's second half sounds as if everybody has suddenly shifted into MAHAVISHNU mode! It's wild, crazy, cacophonous, and chaotic but AWESOME! (9.5/10)

13. "Free Angela" (4:26) a song credited to "Bayeté" (keyboard player Todd Cochran). It starts out rather dynamically but then quiets down into something befitting a Herbie Hancock Mwandishi-lineup song. (I wonder if the song is politically-motivated--perhaps expressing some dismay at the treatment and arrest of Black Panther members like Angela Davis.) (9/10)

14. "Samba de Sausalito" (4:02) another great whole band Latin jam with some serious jazz-rock fusion roots. It was composed by percussionist Chepito Areas and recorded for the Welcome album. (9.333/10)

CD 2 (59:47) (113/125 = 90.40) 15. "Mantra" (7:17) opening with heavily-treated/effected/distorted percussion and keyboard sounds played as if in a Gamelan percussion orchestra, Doug and Michael join in after a bout 90-seconds, pushing the "oriental" percussionists back into rock mode as the two organists join in, weaving together an interesting and enjoyable tapestry between the rhythm section and the impending lead instrument. I know both Richard and Tom are soloing, they're just doing it so smoothly, so subtly, that it all falls into place among the rhythm section's hypnotic groove. At the very end of the fifth minute Carlos finally enters, using a minor key scale to explore a tension-filled melody. Here you can really tell how much John McLaughlin's pyrotechnical guitar playing style has affected Carlos. It's good! It's all good (no matter how improvisational it may be.) Surprising that this song appeared as a polished version on Welcome. (13.25/15)

16. "Kyoto" (9:58) Michael Shrieve's drum solo! Having the engineering imaging panning the sonic field is helpful in making it entertaining in the same way it would have been if I had been standing in front of the drums during the concert. Percussionists add subtle accents from a variety of odd instruments during Michael's trance-like performance. It's actually really good! Like sitting in on a very listenable drum exhibition. (I normally don't like drum solos very much.) Tom Coster joins Michael in the second half of the allotted time on an "alien" synthesized electric piano. (18.25/20)

17. "Castillos de Arena, Part 2 (Sand Castle)" (1:13) bleeding over from Micheal's drum solo to start another part of Carlos & company's Mahavishnu-ed jazz-rock fusion. (4.5/5)

18. "Incident at Neshabur" (15:57) using a two-chord blues-rock vamp to build over, this one sounds like something from BLIND FAITH or BRIAN AUGER, only more Latinized from Santana's percussion-rich ensemble. Again we get to hear some of Doug Rauch, Richard Kermode, and Tom Coster's adventurous spirits spilling over into the rhythm section's support of Carlos--who, in the meantime, is soloing dynamically while pleasantly sneaking a few well-known melodies and riffs into his lead performance, including "My Favorite Things," a little Chuck Berry, Jeff Beck, and many others that were probably lost on me. Expanded in the version I get to hear to triple the original 4:53 length on Abraxas, the original six-sided three-disc Japanese release from 1974 is over 17-minutes in length. By the time the eighth minute has rolled around it has become a sleepy, spacious place over which Carlos has even more unrestricted freedom to replicate some of his more favorite melodies--many of which are familiar to the lovers of his more iconic lead guitar songs--especially those from Caravanserai, but also some more from other artists. I must admit that this must have been a very fun--and entertaining--song to listen to as one of the concert attendees: listening, waiting, to see if you can guess the source of the artists' melody lines or riffs. By the end of the eleventh minute the song has re- ramped up to full speed, full participation of all band members--most of them flying at full speed with virtuous near- reckless abandon. Carlos's re-entry at 12:25 commands a "stop and make space" response from the other musicians. He then proceeds to fill the speakers with some long, slowly held and progressed notes while the rest of the band provides one of those "end of rock song" finishes--only this one prolonged over two and a half minutes. Still, I like this song very much: great entertainment for a live audience--especially a musically-aware audience. (27/30)

19. "Se a Cabo" (5:39) back to Abraxas, which was, at the time, the band's biggest selling album worldwide. Though it's a two-chord Latin vamp, Doug and the rest of the rhythm section feel very engaged and locked in. (8.875/10)

20. "Samba Pa Ti" (8:56) It seems as if everyone gets a chance to solo on this one. Too bad the mix and imaging of the instrumental stage isn't rendered more distinctly so that each and every instrument is clearly and cleanly distinguished from the others. The fans seem to love Carlos' "teasing" extended delay-pauses that he uses during the middle over the smooth dance grooves provided by the locked in band. (17.75/20)

21. "Mr. Udo" (3:07) a variation (or pre-version) of "Savor" that the band delivers with a very Japanese-sounding start (but then find it quickly devolve into another Latin-dominated tune) over which the real Leon Thomas sings using his full complement of vocal idiosyncracies (wordless vocal "noises"). (8.875/10)

22. "Toussaint L'Overture" (7:40) The only song representing the Santana III album! (Perhaps because the band was disintegrating at the time Santana III was being made.) Lots of great percussion play from the Latin ensemble and some very loud JIMI HENDRIX-like guitar shredding from over this four-chord "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood"-like song. Awesome! Perhaps it was even intended as a tribute to the late great guitar god. (14.5/15)

Total Time 118:40

The first 18 minutes of Side One sounds totally like warmup and a space-jam of the sort that Stomu Yamash'ta would exploit in his upcoming (1976) Go Live in Paris album. Also, I don't know if other listeners had this experience, but I found the sound quality and imagery on the entire second CD disc to be thinner and flatter than that of the first disc-- with all of the instruments (except Carlos' guitars) mixed further into a flat background than the wonderfully three- dimensional feel of the first disc.

This album opportunity seemed like it could have been the perfect vehicle to hear the genius of bass phenom Doug Rauch at play but I have to say that his performances mostly felt subdued, reigned in, and less than enthusiastic--very tight and professional but totally lacking any of the flash and flare that I thought (and hoped) I'd hear.

A-/five stars; a very nice recording of a fan-pleasing concert that represents fairly well the free-wheeling jazz-tinged period of Santana's career.

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