In Santana we trust

i'm with raytheprinter--the spacier, more exploratory stuff like caravanserai and borboleta holds up a lot better than the poppier stuff that came before it or the increasingly forgettable stuff that came after. "welcome" is antoher goddun.

I agree that Caravanserai, Lotus and Abraxas are the Santana bands best recordings. Although not as musically intense several Santana recordings are severely overlooked...Marathon, Freedom, Spirits Dancing in the Flesh and Milagro. If your unfamiliar with these recordings don't let the critics determine there worth.

For me, the first record was great; a startling and original fusion of latin and rock music. Abraxas was half a step back, but still an interesting record. After that, other than Caravanserai - little of their music was of much interest to me. His playing often recalls Clapton to my ear, not always a bad thing, but probably a little too much for my taste in CS's case. When the music wanders toward straight pop, as so much of it has recently, there's just not enough in his playing to make me pay attention. As always, YMMV.

Miner42 are you sure about the vocals? Kim Wilson was the vocalist in the T-birds, not JV.

True, but I believe JV is the vocals on the song Havana Moon. Some members of the FT were the studio musicians on this LP.

Besides 'Havana Moon' and 'Blues For Salvador' he made 3 other interesting solo records when he was calling himself Devadip Carlos Santana (ala Mahavishnu John McLaughlin). The best IMO was 'The Swing Of Delight'. Although he used various other musicians on the double album, the highlight was that he primarily used the members of Miles Davis's 2nd great quintet; Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, Tony Williams, and Wayne Shorter! Of course, while 'Caravanserai' can be considered the only Fusion recording by the Santana band, his hardest hitting Fusion record was his collaboration with Mahavishnu John McLaughlin; 'Love, Devotion, & Surrender'. The Santana band record that rarely gets any love is Santana III. To me it's as good as Abraxas, the only time the band had TWO lead guitarists, a very young, but extremely smokin' Neal Schon, who went on to make it big in Journey. Being an aging latino hippy;), I always loved Santana as it was the perfect mix of Rock, Latin, with some Jazz overtones. I really can't listen to his music anymore. His 'formula' since 'Supernatural' has been the same and it bores me to tears. He's making more money than ever so I'm happy for him, but his music has stopped evolving and the worst aspect is that so has his guitar playing.