No apologies. I farqing love Santana, me. They were hip and cool back there for a few short years, but "the brand" - which it is, as opposed to a band - devalued over decades of declining interest and zero relevance, stinking up the marketplace with some of the most wretched product ever released by a major act. I don't care - the best is still the best, and provides a seemingly non-depletable source of energy and good vibes, qualities weirdly not much in demand today.
Thus, this.
Flor D'Luna is the album created from hermetically contiguating the studio tracks from Moonflower, the underplayed double album from '77. It's liked well enough, but the consensus seems to be the mix of studio and live tracks makes for less rather than more. The consensus is right - the hidden studio album is a beauty - mostly instrumental, with a butterfly-light jazz-inflected feel reminiscent of Borboletta. And there's a terrific cover of The Zombies' She's Not There, echoing Black Magic Woman. Carlos' playing throughout is inspired - fiery-ferocious or gentle as a summer breeze.
From their first in '69 up to this the man they're calling Santana barely put a foot wrong or missed a beat. Flor D'Luna represents, in some ways, the culmination of what you could call his Golden Era, if you were not that great with words [like he's not - Ed.]. From here on in, it was never quite the same again. But what is? Looked in the mirror recently?
I've mind-melded a couple of shorter tracks - you won't feel the seam - and edited and sequenced with my signature due diligence so you don't have to get your hands dirty grubbing up a playlist, ya lazy slob. Provided AT NO COST TO YOU, MR. CONSUMER, is this here swell new cover design using DALL-E©.
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Included in the loaddown is the remaining live album which I've left under the original (and beautiful) cover [left - Ed.].
Should youse bums be desirous: https://workupload.com/file/rY33vrwrRuN
ReplyDeleteAs soon as this loaddowns I'll get as hammered as Paul Pelosi and give it a spin. Nice to see you. And thanks.
DeleteI said something incredibly stupid myself, earlier today.....
DeleteThank you - I enjoy this "era" of Mr. Carlos & band; this Lp set shines well as does its follow-up "Inner Secrets". For some though, its all a bit too Pop/mainstream...
ReplyDeleteI thought you weren't going to post anymore. I feel cheated.
ReplyDeleteFarq....are you back or just slumming? Rather miss the corrupter-in-chief.
ReplyDeleteWas on the Left Coast and got to see Santana....someone said "he can make mistakes that sound better than EC". That had to be 50 years ago....jeeeez.
Will
Doing time at the USG Center.
Thanks Farq. Looking forward to hearing this. Gbrand
ReplyDeleteso good to know you are still in place. i gave up on santana after hearing their first album. i love almost any latin music jazz, soul, rock and roll, mambo, puerto rican and on and on... but santana just left me really cold, the last thing that latin music should do.
ReplyDeleteSo, you heard Santana before their first album?
DeleteThanks for this one, listening to it now, appreciated.
ReplyDeleteMy favourite Santana album is Havana Moon though.
fantastic come back.
ReplyDeleteWow. Should we start getting the hammocks slung, raking the sand and hosing down Kreemé ? Ta for the Santana btw.
ReplyDeleteHosing down Kreemé, got me thinking about a certain Hortense who used to turn up here occasionally - random post below:-
Deletehttps://falsememoryfoam.blogspot.com/2020/08/swimsuit-siren-offers-clickbait-service.html
Anyway, I had never heard of the name Hortense (outside of IOF) until last month I read J.P. Donleavys book The Beastly Beatitudes of Balthazar B, a fine book, laugh out loud funny at times, but featuring someone called Hortense. Oh by the way that book had been sat on my bookshelf unread for about 25 years, I had bought a job lot of science fiction and somehow this NOT science fiction book had sat there next to Michael Moorcock all that time.
I'll check in again to see if Hortense makes an appearance, maybe helping Geriatrix with that hosing job?
It was wonderful to see you had a new post up. So glad you're around. A fine read, & an excellent subject. Personally, I really dig Santana. I like to remaster their albums for fun. Sometimes it's hard to believe the modern era records are from the same act.
ReplyDeleteThanks for hanging around, Konrad.
DeleteSantana be Ok by me. I always seem to get dragged in to some kind of spell.
ReplyDeleteIt’s the night before Halloween. An entity slowly appears from the inky shadows.... Spooky, but hey, it's carrying a Santana album. Well then, invite it in, make some room and pour that hideous beast a entrail cocktail. Nice to see ya again Farq, you creep.
ReplyDeleteLikewise, I'm sure!
DeleteThe Island is dead! Long live the Island! Glad you still have things to say about cool stuff Farq.
ReplyDeleteTyping this listening to Flor D’Luna. I stopped buying Santana albums somewhen around Moonflower but they were still a serious live band many years later. Saw them in Bournemouth on a 1989 tour, that percussion + heavy guitar riffs thing was absolutely sweet. I think they had some or all of the original percussion players back for that tour, those boys were excellent. But yes indeed Moonflower should have been 2 separate albums, and now it is. Thanks Farq.
Well, well, hello Del and Farq. I too was at that gig in Bournemouth, the only time I saw Santana and it was a great night. This really is a great listen.
DeleteI only saw them once, around '90, in Paris. As is usual with every gig I've attended, I don't remember much about it, but they were hyper-professional and delivered a good show. I have many, many bootlegs. It's almost impossible to find a bad one. Santana, like the Dead, is a constant in my life. When I first came out here (to what I still like to call the Far East, although it's actually close enough to touch) I travelled through Thailand, Cambodia and Laos (without a phone! or a guide book!) and every so often the sounds of Santana's immediately recognisable guitar would come from a huge beat-up speaker in the shade of somebody's beat-up porch. He's universal, and all his little failings are trivial next to that global connection he's made.
DeleteOne thing I remember about that Santana gig was that about ten minutes before showtime, candles and incense were lit on stage, which sounds like the sort of things bands would do, but I don't remember it happening at any other gigs.
DeleteThose were Carlos' favorite White Sage incense sticks. Native Americans have been using White Sage during rituals and ceremonies for centuries for its ability to get rid of negative energy and ward off enemies. And, I think we all know how well that worked for them.
DeleteWelcome back and thanks for the de-gunkified remix of an album I haven't had the patience to sit through before
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments - 'preciated more than you know. It's a scaled-down IoF©, not asking for contributions or links, no labor-intensive stuff (Foam-O-Graphs©, StealthLinks™, heavy text formatting and the like), but there'll be screed to read whenever I feel like cutting myself a new quill.
ReplyDeleteWelcome back, my friend!
ReplyDeleteHere are two excellent (performance and audio wise)Santana shows. One from August 31, 1969, at the Dallas International Motor Speedway, Lewisville, TX. It's a short set of just over thirty-five minutes, but we're talking quality over quantity. And another one from May 8, 1971, at the Hammersmith Odeon in London, which is both quantity and quality.
https://mega.nz/file/tHcE1ICA#lEPWi3T-0vuhyjEFgaralde27on84sM1YQOZCeAQUZI
Gee, Babs - *snurfle* - you're the best pal a guy could have! Apart from, like, a dog. Or a Pet Rock.
DeleteYeahhhh!! By pure chance clicked on a link to find you're back!! "Caravansarai" & "Borboletta" were the 2 albums that really turned me on to Santana!! See ya' around!!
ReplyDeleteI don't like to say "need", but you may need a little Welcome in your life, Steve. It suffers a little from the lack of cohesiveness (I'm big on cohesiveness, me), with one or two tracks that seem unresolved, but it is absolutely one of the three "spiritual" albums, along with the ones you mention. I was going through a tough time during my first divorce, working as a pool guy in the South of France (I choose exotic locales for my breakdowns), and listening to Welcome late at night was the best way to comb out the knots in my kirlian aura and drift into the arms of Lethe. Releasing the spirit that went into making the music. It's real.
DeleteFarq Sez: Available here - https://ulozto.net/hledej?q=santana%20welcome
DeleteThese 3 were my favorites (after the first 3) as well as most of Lotus. Glad to see Farq back and more activity here, Keep on keepin' on!
DeleteThanks Farq!!! Got it !! It's those shimmering keyboards sending my brain all a'quiver!!!
DeleteLoved them since "Woodstock"
ReplyDeleteHermann
Holy crap - you're back!
ReplyDeleteGreat to see you!
Muchasta graniolas, compadore!
DeleteGlad to see you're back. Miss you, the music and -almost above all- the buch of commentators. Santana rocks, BTW. He is sort of an old hippie aunt nowadays, but he is still cool. Greetings from Argentina.
ReplyDeletePfff. You started the place back up and forgot to send out the invites, eh?!
ReplyDeleteEarly retirement from the music blog business doesn't suit you, my friend. Glad you seem to have come to the same conclusion.