MARATHON

I have never been a big fan of Santana even though the old albums colored my childhood with songs like "Guajira", "No One To Depend On", "Oye Comova", or "Black Magic Woman". But for some reason I almost purchased any album that Santana produced even though that albums were not quite famous including this one. Well, I only knew this album couple of days ago when I saw the cassette of "Marathon" at secondary market. I had very little attention to have it but as the cassette was quite cheap I finally purchased it. Recently I'd rather listen to music from analog source even though in the form of cassette. Indonesian cassette market in the seventies until mid eighties were booming where many companies record new albums of international bands recorded from the vinyl, illegally. But the record quality was top notch even until today which already 25 years to 35 years old already. So is the case this "Marathon" album by Santana.

I have just realized now that Santana always produced hits because when I play this cassette I find a song that was very popular in late seventies titled "Stay (Beside Me)". This is a number that was famous that period because practically many radio stations played it on air. It's basically a nice song with good straight forward composition. I admire that Carlos Santana did not let his guitar solo dominate the song, but the keyboard / piano instead. All songs basically very good in terms of composition and they flow nicely. The instrumental "Aqua Marine" is also a good one. In terms of favorite song, I would say "Stand Up" continued to "Running" are maybe good ones as the music is quite energetic combined with tight basslines. "Hard Times" is also another good track.

Overall, this is a good album from Santana and do not expect something prog in any song here. But I always enjoy Carlos Santana guitar work as well as the use of percussion in some of the songs in this album. Keep on proggin' ...!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW