[ Post a Response | Moonflowercafe.com ]
Posted by Xaman on May 10, 2008, 9:00 pm, in reply to "Losing Santana Interest"
75.19.39.60
I have learned after decades of being a fan, that Santana is not just one type or style of music. The majority of Santana's albums have included something for everyone, from accessible commercial numbers to the meaty stuff for us music freaks, (someone from New York that I met during the Santana/Jeff Beck called the later group "muxos.") But one thing that is always present is the Santana sound, may that be Carlos' peculiar guitar tone or the band's trademark Afro Cuban attack.
It was easy during the vinyl era when you could skip the needle to whatever song you wanted on the album. Then cassettes took over and that made it a bit more difficult to skip songs. CDs followed and the job of choosing songs became easier. What I'm trying to say is that we have a choice to hear whatever we chose to so so.
I have yet to find music that I don't like, except for banda music that my fellow Mexicans listen to now a days. Music is like food, there is food for every ocassion. What I know is that all music requires a certain frame of mind. If the music makes you change your frame of mind and pulls you in, then that is authentic music. That's what Carlos Santana does ninety nine percent of the time, the long bass and drum solos are played so that people can go use the bathroom.
Yes, lately Santana has recorded a lot of stuff that he was probably encouraged to record by the suits, not only recently but at other periods of his career. To his credit, much of it, except for the monster hits, he never touches again. "Winning" is a good example, it came at time when he was working hard to get a hit, still, it was quickly dropped from the live song list. Carlos has been playing as much jazz in recent years as during the Lotus years. We can not really judge Santana based on a song from the latest album, there is way too much going on.
Personally, "Spirits Dancing in the Flesh" and "Milagro" despite of having several classic Santana numbers each, those were two albums that I did not listen all the way through, I did a lot of skipping songs. I'm not a deeply religious person, not trying to offend anyone. I was a sort of non believer during most of the seventies, eighties and nineties. Musically, my favorite Santana years were the Sri Chimmoy years. I listened to the music and ignored the religious messages. We have a choice.
My bother Jeff, I'm assuming that you are Jewish, I am going to say this with a lot of respect. Many left wing leaning people were disappointed that Carlos used the photo of him at the Wailing Wall wearing a yamulka, and the period when he used use a Yiddish salutation. What I learned about that era, was that Carlos was so proud that in Israel he made the Jews and the Palestinians dance together. That Is amazing!
I was sitting on the deck of my Baja cabin, nothing to do, sort of bored, pressed the play button on my boom box. The J Lo Baby Bash collaboration came on, soon I was tapping my feet.
