SANTANA 3

Third from Santana band debut trilogy album is similar,but a bit different from predescessors. Roughly, it is for sure same Latin fusion/jazz rock with very specific Carlos Santana guitar sound. But there some differences indeed as well.

First of all, there is second solo guitar ( Neal Schon at the beginning of his career), which doesn't change music , but add some sound nuances. Second, brass section ( Tower of Power) is added in some songs - it gave some funky feel. But most important - using the same mixture of Latin rock/fusion, band sounds a bit repetative in moments. Softer, more rounded sound and sometimes pop-arrangements delete last raw traces from earlier works.

There are some perfect compositions, as "Guajira", or "Everything Is Coming Our Way", but some songs sound a bit boring there.It looks for me, that main reason is lack of fresh ideas, still having perfect basis in Latin rock/fusion.

I think that this album, being still between their four best earlier works, is a bit below highest standard of band's golden period. It doesn't means ,that album isn't good enough, just they put their standard of that time very high!