MARATHON

And herein enters Alex Ligertwood on vocals. Excellent voice and a mighty fine album released in 1979. He possesses an AOR feel to his sound but of all the era Santana lead vocals, I would have to say that Alex Ligertwood of Brian Auger fame was and is the best to date. Some may argue Gregg Rolie but that is another debate.

The album kicks off with the awesome title track ' Marathon', followed by the commercial ' Lightning in the Sky' My personal favourite follows and is arguably one of Santana's finest instrumentals - ' Aqua Marine', great laid back tempo encapsulating scenes of torquoise waters and dreamy summers....a masterpiece alone.Side two does not hold up as highly as the first side but there are still great songs like ' All I Ever Wanted', the sultry sounds of ' Summer Lady' and the pleading Alex Ligertwood singing ' Stay ( Beside Me ). Great album with a powerful vocalist. CS as usual ( always taken for granted) is simply pure vintage on the guitar throughout Marathon. The best release since Borboletta.