Win a copy of the Santana CD

4 months ago 18th Aug 15:24

History swirls around Santana, signed to Columbia Records by Clive Davis in late-1968. They began recording in January 1969 – although the follow-up sessions of May 1969 were the ones eventually used for their debut self-titled album. That came out on August 19, 1969, the day after the end of the Woodstock Music & Arts Fair, where they performed on Saturday afternoon. WARRIOR includes one of their oldest signatures, ‘Samba Pa Ti,’ the B-side of their fourth single, ‘Oye Como Va,’ from the second Santana album, Abraxas (1970).

At the far end of the Columbia timeline are the final three albums to bear the Santana name – and the only three albums on WARRIOR to be represented by one track each on disc one and disc two. Early 1987’s Freedom – which reunited original band members Gregg Rolie on lead vocals and keyboards (after his 1975-85 founding stint in Journey), drummer Mike Shrieve, and percussionist José ‘Chepito’ Areas – is the source for ‘Praise’ and two instrumentals, ‘Bella’ and ‘Love Is You.’

At the end of 1987, Carlos Santana delivered Blues For Salvador, his final Columbia solo album, which won his first GRAMMY Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. WARRIOR includes the closing title instrumental, as well as the opening vocal medley of ‘Bailando/Aquatic Park.’ A long hiatus ensued before Santana released its final Columbia studio album in 1990, Spirits Dancing In The Flesh. That album’s opening track, ‘Let There Be Light,’ featuring lead singer Alex Ligertwood (Santana’s longest-running vocalist, from 1979 to 1995), is the appropriate opening track of WARRIOR. An instrumental track from Spirits, ‘Full Moon’ appears on disc two.

Santana’s two decades at Columbia Records encompassed some 25 studio and live album releases, comprising band albums and solo projects by Carlos Santana. On the vocal side, WARRIOR also revisits Festival (1976, with ‘The River’); Moonflower (1977, with ‘I’ll Be Waiting’); and Beyond Appearances (1985, with ‘Brotherhood,’ ‘Spirit,’ ‘Right Now’). On the instrumental side, WARRIOR includes tracks from Marathon (1979, ‘Aqua Marine’) and Zebop! (1981, ‘I Love You Much Too Much’).

Santana had a brief but productive three-year stay at PolyGram, starting with the May 1992 release of Milagro. The album was dedicated to two close friends, Miles Davis and long-time Santana manager and booking agent Bill Graham (who died respectively in September and October, 1991) and contained tributes to four of Santana’s inspirations, John Coltrane, Gil Evans, Marvin Gaye and Bob Marley. From that album, WARRIOR offers four vocals on disc one: ‘Life Is For Living,’ ‘Saja/Right On,’ and two Santana originals, ‘Somewhere In Heaven’ and ‘Your Touch.’

Attention focused on the Milagro album as Santana toured through 1992 and mourned the April ’93 death of César Chavez. Later that year, Sacred Fire, a live album was released. Santana returned in 1994 with a final PolyGram album, Brothers, essentially a trio collaboration by Carlos, his brother Jorge, and nephew Carlos Hernandez. Three of its instrumentals are included on WARRIOR: ‘Blues Latino,’ ‘En Aranjuez Con Tu Amor,’ and ‘Luz, Amor y Vida.’

A five-year hiatus from recording followed, ending in 1999 with the release of Supernatural. It was Santana’s first album for Arista Records, and a welcome reunion with Clive Davis, who produced the album with Carlos. Supernatural was an industry phenomenon – 15-times RIAA platinum in the U.S. alone, where the album spent 102 weeks on the Billboard chart including 12 weeks at #1.

Most significantly, Supernatural generated an all-time record-breaking nine GRAMMY awards including Album Of the Year and Best Rock Album. Among the instrumentals on Supernatural (and included on WARRIOR) is ‘El Farol,’ which won the GRAMMY for Best Pop Instrumental. (‘El Farol’ was also the B-side of the worldwide smash hit single and triple-GRAMMY Award winner ‘Smooth,’ co-written by and featuring Rob Thomas of Matchbox Twenty).

Supernatural was a hard act to follow – but 2002’s Shaman gave Santana a second consecutive #1 multi-platinum album. The album’s title alluded to traditional and primitive religious figures who are in touch with the spirit world, an atmosphere that is conjured up with “Victory Is Won,” the closing track on disc two of MULTI DIMENSIONAL WARRIOR.

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