Word: santana
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...Santana too, and a normal reviewer would call this a Big Concert, but I just say, "At the Garden, last night, and you missed...
Caliente is dedicated to Carlos Santana, who Gato says has arrived at that place where "music is the memory of dream." Santana was born in Mexico, and his early musical efforts fused the sound of Latin America, Afro-Cuba and basic blues rhythm into a style that dazzled flower-powered San Francisco in 1967 at the debut of his band. They rivaled even the most luscious psychedelia of the time with their low key vocals and cosmic instrumentals. Their drums hammered out traditional rock while their guitars varied between folk, jazz and Jimi Hendrix. Santana made songs like "Jingo,"Evil...
...group was suffering from management, money and drug problems. Santana himself, pressured by sudden stardom was "watching the band decay on the wrong energy flow...what I was really seeking was illumination not satisfaction." Santana went to Sri Chinmoy, the Ceylonese guru who'd helped John McLaughlin. McLaughlin, whose rock-jazz had been increasingly influenced by Indian raga music, had adopted the philosophy of creating his music as an offering to a Supreme Being. Santana took similar steps towards peace and enlightenment--to the point where he wrote "God Himself is the musician." The band became increasingly jazz-oriented after...
...surprising thing about Santana's newest release, Festival, is how little obvious mysticism it contains. It is beautifully crafted--the rough edges of early days are smoothed out--while retaining the mixture of varied rhythmic elements that made the band unique. However, the music seems just a touch self-conscious. There are the same obviously Latin numbers, from "Try a Little Harder" to "Let the Music Set You Free." There are even the old hollow lyrics: "No one said it would be easy, doing whatever you do, you just might have to suffer, but keep on moving through...
...most noticeable thing about this album is that there are only a few really noticeable songs on it. Most of the cuts are assured and polished, but there's some inner conviction missing--which seems odd given Santana's personal faith. It seems ironic that, in the process of finding himself as an individual, Santana has mislaid some of the Santana-as-artist. For the moment it seems that he's forgotten the Mardi-Gras spirit that used to sweep his listeners along in the manner of a Carnival parade...