Santana (Legacy)

Rolling Stone - 4 stars out of 5 - "[A] nonstop thirty-seven-minute rhythmic onslaught..." Rolling Stone - Ranked #150 in Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Albums Of All Time" - "[The album] combined Latin rhythms with jazz-inspired improvisation, hard-rock guitar and lyrical, B.B. King-style blues..." Rolling Stone - 4 stars out of 5 - "...thrilling....This is music with ambition, soul and absolute conviction - every moment played straight from the heart." Q - 4 stars out of 5 - "...Genuinely fresh, fierce stuff even the dead-legged Woodstock generation couldn't ignore..." Musician - "...Sony Legacy's sonic wizards have made...[Santana's] first three albums reappear, each appended with additional live recordings....epochal works...an explosive fusion of Hispanic-edged rock, Afro-Caribbean rhythms, and interstellar improvisation..." Uncut - 4 stars out of 5 - "[S]omething vital and fresh that's still enthralling today."

Carlos Santana was originally in his own wing of the Latin Rock Hall of Fame, neither playing Afro-Cuban with rock guitar, as did Malo, nor flavoring mainstream rock with percussion, as did Chicago. His first record, as with the best fusion, created something a little different than just a mixture -- a new style that, surprisingly, remains all his own. Granted that Latin music has seeped into the mainstream since, but why aren't Van Halen and Metallica listening to this? Where they simmer, Santana boils over. ~ Carl Hoyt|