which means the more time goes on, the more he closes in on on exploring everything possible with the (limited) technical knowledge he possesses; the lesser tool box you have, the more difficult it is to elaborate your expression. Finally, to the complainers:Yo Me Lo Merezco is a lovely rock song, where Carlos is actually ripping it without using any of the tired riffs of late. His entré into the solo at around 3:48 actually gives me the chills for the first time in a long time’]. There is no organ, conga or bongo solo pesent, because it does not belong there! It would destroy the feeling of the song! (Besides Carlos soloing -not directionless at all in my view- what makes this song is the Rock’n’Roll feeling of Buikas vocals!)
And the Title song- really classic Santana (with the Spanish/Arabish notes, providing that long missed feeling of mystique!
And, by the way, Blue Skies is great; the ”dueliing solos” are all overdubs of Carlos, which actually mixed greatly, and hides a bit the parts that consists of the tired licks.
By the way, did you hear that the funky part of Blue Skies (from appr. 4:30) is actually a modern version of ”You just don’t care” from the first album. And also, did you hear that on Bembele, Carlos playing on I’ll be waiting, or soul sacrifice- the Rodrigo/Concierto de Aranjuez part, how long have we been waiting for this??
/Niklas, sincere fan since I received Zebop and Moonflower as a birthday present from my brother in 1982!
Funny, because the more I listen to Africa Speaks the more I like it and it's the only music I've been listening to for a solid week. I was down on Buika at first but have gradually warmed to her. Am I going to run out and start my Buika music collection? No, but she'll do for me on Africa Speaks, I don't speak a lick of Spanish either other than the most basic of basic.
What I like about Africa Speaks is how raw it is. It's a stripped down lineup. Although some engineering and sound polishing was done to the vocal parts, Carlos' guitar is raw. The guitar parts on this record are like a live concert. Play it once and you can't go back and fix it in the mix after seven re-takes. Carlos said they recorded this in a short amount of time and it sounds like it. I go "WTF?" every time I hear the last 17 seconds of Batonga. The dueling guitar solos on Blue Skies is a mess - it should have been just Carlos, in my opinion. But I like the fact that they left it the way *they* liked it and didn't make it more consumer friendly. I can't recommend Africa Speaks to my Top 40 hits loving friends but it's good, adult music for me.
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