Santana (album)
| Santana
Santana (album)
Santana is the debut studio album by American Latin rock band Santana. It was released on August 30, 1969. Over half of the album's length is composed of instrumental music, recorded by what was originally a purely free-form jam band. At the suggestion of manager Bill Graham, the band took to writing more conventional songs for more impact, but managed to retain the essence of improvisation in the music.-Wikipedia
Critic Reviews
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AllMusic
Unlike later efforts, Santana's first album features an abundance of loose, collective compositions based on a couple of simple riffs ("Jingo," "Soul Sacrifice"). This approach allows for Santana and his bandmates to flex their improvisational muscles to fine effect. The high-energy level on Santana is infectious . . . .
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Rolling Stone
January 27, 2005. The two-CD reissue is stocked with extras, most compellingly the band’s entire Woodstock set. Live and in-studio, it all sounds as shit-hot as it did in the summer of ’69.
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George Starostin's Reviews
Give 'em props for inventing Latin-rock, but save your applause for future records.
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Wilson & Alroy's Record Reviews
The band was already pointed in the right direction, but wasn't quite ready for prime time: besides the Woodstock showstopper "Soul Sacrifice" and the catchy hit single "Evil Ways," the tunes are just excuses for jamming, and nobody's much of a soloist besides Santana.
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MoFi
Lyrical, Splendorous, Rapturous, Psychedelic, and Bluesy Debut Set a New Musical Standard: Experience This Paradigm the Way the Artist Intended.
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Enjoy The Music
With Santana atop the charts again in recent memory, it seems now would be a good time to review their glorious past. I would argue that their first album is actually still their best.
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The Music Box
December 4, 2004. That the eponymous effort wasn’t perfect doesn’t matter; it has served the group remarkably well simply because its contents are so utterly unique. Standing at the crossroads between jazz and blues, Santana’s music was flavored with a healthy dose of soul-pop smoothness, worldly rhythms, and Latin spice. Although the songs on its debut didn’t fold together in as cohesive a fashion as the ensemble’s subsequent outings, the primal force with which they were delivered made quite a powerful statement while also paving a path to the future.
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Robert Christgau
Just want to register my unreconstructed opposition to the methedrine school of American music. A lot of noise.
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