DANCE OF THE RAINBOW SERPENT

Among the many Carlos best-of compilations, Dance of The Rainbow Serpent stands out as a very personal and complete multi-label three-disc retrospective that was compiled and annotated by Carlos himself. Each CD is individually entitled and thus characterized as: A. Heart, B. Soul, and C. Spirit. This is a pretty good combination of material with plenty of unreleased or rare material interspersed within personally selected songs intended to show cross-sectional review of his career. Even though the styles captured within vary tremendously, it flows very nicely with few either jarring or boring sections.

Dance of The Rainbow Serpent is a historic document. The notes not only provide a very intimate song-by-song description by the man himself, but also include a complete discography, including guest appearances, and a list of all the folks he has played with over the years. Some of this stuff really makes having this disc worthwhile even if the listener has all the attendant songs already.

Material from John Lee Hooker and Weather Report albums is included along with a couple of outtakes with the likes of Vernon Reid and Larry Graham. However, The real gem is the original Santana band's version of Miles Davis' In A Silent Way that was previously only available on the three-record set: Last Days At The Fillmore. Neil and Carlos really shine on this one, and the group is at its peaking moment.

Dance Of The Rainbow has convenient attractive packaging and it makes a wonderful Christmas gift for the casual listener. Unlike "Viva Santana!" it never appeared as an LP, and thus it has more appropriate and readable packaging as a CD. Some of the tunes are a bit weak, like say Brightest Star, but by and large this one is certainly worth having.

As an anthology, Dance Of The Rainbow Serpent is both a cool keepsake and an excellent reference.