Moonflower
| Santana
Moonflower
Moonflower is a double album released in 1977 by Santana. The recording features both studio and live tracks, which are interspersed with one another throughout the album. It is perhaps the group's most popular live album, because Lotus did not receive a U.S. domestic release until 1991. It displays a mix between the fusion of Latin and blues-rock styles of the late 1960s and early 1970s, and the much more experimental and spiritual jazz fusion sound that characterized the band's mid-1970s work. The live material was recorded during the supporting tour for the Amigos album.-Wikipedia
Critic Reviews
Show All-
AllMusic
The usual comings and goings in band membership had taken place since last time; the track listing was a good mixture of the old . . . and the recent, and with the added radio play of a hit single, Moonflower went Top Ten and sold a million copies, the first new Santana album to do that since 1972 and the last until Supernatural in 1999.
-
Rolling Stone
December 16, 1981. As a live record, this is a decided retrogression from Lotus: there is no sense of a coherent set here, and the programming all too frequently sounds like it resulted from a greatest-hits mentality. There are a few tremendous moments, but not enough to sustain momentum over the four sides . . . . This seems shoddy and deceptive, mere filler saved only by the band’s graceful playing.
-
Jazz Music Archives
February 10, 2011 "Moonflower" isn't their best ("Caravanserai" holds that trophy) but it contains everything I adore about these guys and the respected institution they built with their own hands and hearts over long years of commitment to just making good music together.
-
The Music Box
January, 2004. Unfortunately, Moonflower is a song cycle without a cohesive identity. Issued as a double album, it features a series of concert cuts intermingled with studio selections, and the result of this juxtaposition is incredibly jarring.
-
Daily Vault
November 2, 2013. That's all well and good, but Moonflower is that somewhat unique concoction, a greatest hits/live/studio double album bonanza. . . . the album still stands as an highly listenable collection of dynamic, intensely rhythmic music. Like Carlos Santana, it's one of a kind, and should be savored as such.
-
Post Rock Mania
Overall Moonflower is a solid release. Quite possibly Santana's best to date. Really sensational from beginning to end.
-
Ultimate Santana
Moonflower was notable for several other reasons, as well. First, it was America's first introduction (on a record) to the band's chief selling point, which was their dynamic live show. Second, it marks the first truly successful integration of Carlos Santana's jazz influences with his Latin-rock melodic chops. And, last but not least, Moonflower encompasses the nascent "Santana tone;" a smooth, rich, endlessly sustaining guitar sound with which he has been associated for the last three decades.
-
Robert Christgau
In the rock guitar tradition he is less a man of style than of sound, a clear, loud, fluent sound that cleanses with the same motion no matter how often that motion is repeated--as long as the intensity and the context are there. On this album, the live cuts provide both.
-
The Great Albums
This half-live/half-studio double-disc affair (featuring Greg Walker as the band’s new lead vocalist) returned the band to the Top Ten on the albums chart and also revived the band’s fortunes at Top 40 radio as well.
-
Elsewhere
Initially this double album credited to the Santana band seems like an odd mix of new studio tracks and live hits, but the meld mostly works.
-
Wilson & Alroy's Record Reviews
This double album of mixed live and studio tracks might be all the Santana you need. For a change, Carlos takes up most of the solo space rather than spotlighting less talented musicians, and as usual his playing is brilliant. (DBW)
-
George Starostin's Reviews
Actually more interesting than any other Seventies' album Carlos ever put out since Lotus; tucked in between some of his less compelling pieces, it may easily become lost in the sea of filler, but I'd advise you try to grab it by the goatee and pull it up anyway.
Rate This Album and Leave Your Comments