Carlos Santana CD's & DVD's

The Best of Santana - Vol 1  This is probably the best collection for a beginner of listening to Santana. It has most of his biggest hits from his earlier albums. But this is different than his newer albums. It is more hard rock mixed with Spanish rythms and blues the music is really good. It is the essential collection other than the short Greatest Hits or the too much filler of The Essential Santana collection.

The only thing missing is any material from Santana's recent commercial comeback. The disc gets extra credit for not adding on any inferior "new" material like a lot of such packages do.

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Dance Of The Rainbow Serpent [BOX SET]  The bulk of the songs on this greatest hits or anthology (whatever you want to call it) Santana CD is composed of studio tracks from Santana albums. However, there are some in the combined category of live, unreleased, outtake, video, and appearances on albums by other artists, with a nod to John Lee Hooker on two songs

This fabulous collection of Santana's best is a feast for his fans and sure to attract new ones from the present generation. The tracks on Disc One alone make the set worth its purchase price with its splendid renderings of "Black Magic Woman" and "Oye Como Va".

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The Swing Of Delight:  While Carlos Santana skirted the edges of jazz for much of the 1970s, here he plunged right in and made a real jazz album with jazz giants. It is a brilliant success. Too bad he never tried it again. The playing is really hot yet accessible. The inspiration level is consistently high. This is not esoteric jazz--it fits comfortably into the upper level of electric jazz of its day, but has aged better than most of the electric jazz by other artists.

This is one of Santana's greatest musical accomplishments. Though rough in a couple of spots, there are some amazing connections going on in this album, especially between Carlos and Herbie Hancock, who appear together on every track

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Caravanserai  represents one of Carlos Santana's finest moments, even considering his superb first two albums. His jazz/rock fusion becomes largely dominated by jazz here, with less of the raw latin beat/latin sound, although these are present in more refined form. The jazz is modern, fairly often fast-paced and hard driving, and very rhythmic and melodic. It is the music that is central, for only three of the entries have lyrics. Santana delivers a tour de force, a work of compelling beauty, one which is sure to become one of your favourite Santana discs.

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DVD-Santana - Sacred Fire (1993):  This DVD is the real deal if you want a live-in-concert DVD that has music from all phases of Carlos Santana's evolving career. The 18-song, 97-minute offering is the finest visual document of a live performance by Santana currently available on DVD, and until they start releasing his classic shows from the 1960s and 1970s, this is the one to buy. The songs span the heady 1960s ("Jingo" and "Soul Sacrifice" from the self-titled debut album) to the 1990s ("Make Somebody Happy" from the Milagro album that marked the beginning of a comeback cycle that ended with Supernatural).

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DVD-Supernatural Rhythm & Grooves (2002):  This DVD/CD package is a must for all musicians and enthusiasts. The music of Santana has no boundries and the percussion section is the "key" element to their sound. This DVD provides an in depth look at Santana's rhythm section with great performances and easy to understand instruction of how traditional Afro-Cuban rhythms have been molded into today's contemporary music.

The additional play-along CD is an amazing tool to play-along with the guys in the band. If you're a drum set player, a conga player, a percussionists or just like to bang on things, you can fell like you're "IN" the band with this CD. One of the best instructional/performance DVD's on the market.

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DVD-Supernatural Live:  Like the Hit album that inspires its name, Supernatural Live brings journeyman guitarist Carlos Santana back into the mainstream by surrounding him with younger superstars eager to bask in his formidable musical presence

Production values are excellent, with crisp camera work and sound mixing. A special remote camera, mounted on the neck of Santana's guitar, presents his intricate fretwork in nifty close-ups that are wisely held to just a few songs. --Sam Sutherland

 

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