Audio CD review:
Santana - Festival

Santana - Festival

Band: Santana Title: Festival Rating: Release Date: 20 August, 1990 Media: Audio CD Tracks: 1: Carnaval 2: Let The Children Play 3: Jugando 4: Give Me Love 5: Verao Vermelho 6: Let The Music Set You Free 7: Revelations 8: Reach Up 9: The River 10: Try A Little Harder 11: Maria Caracoles

Customer Reviews Festival, by Santana - Excellant Music by any standard. Having owned it before, I knew how great the music was. I ordered this CD again since my old one is missing. But it wasn't untill I heard it again that I realized how great the CD was and how much I really missed it. I've always loved Carlos Santana's music. On this CD, all the tunes are great. The last tune, Maria Caracoles, is a Salsa tune which Carlos inserting teasing bits of lead electric guitar. A rarity in Salsa Music. This is a great CD. . good album, with some flaws If the mediocre tracks on both albums were taken out, and the superb tracks were left in, what you would get is a extremely good album. First off, this album should have been merged with Amigos, since Festival was released the same year as the masterpiece Moonflower. The first four songs on the album are great, but things kind of go down hill on "Verao Vermelho. " I don't see what people like in this song. "Revelations" is a breathtaking piece of music. Reach Up and The River are mediocre, but the album ends on the plus side with the "feel good" track Try A Little Harder" and the dance classic "Maria Caracoles. " Chepito Areas returns on his last studio performance with Santana. He would come out in the live tracks on Moonflower. The drummer does an "alright, so-so" job. Ndugu Chancler did a better job on Amigos, and he should have stayed for Festival as well. But no one can even come close to Michael Shrieve. If he would have stayed to play on festival with Chepito Areas, this album would have been much better. Overall, minus some cons, this album is recommended. A Righteous Rocker Looks At 30, With Excellent Results Five of the eleven cuts are mediocre, but the excellent quality of the others- as well as his opposition to what recently happened to a young Australian tourist in Indonesia- earns this album five stars, especially in comparison with his "comeback" albums in the late 90s/early 00s. On FESTIVAL, Carlos Santana continued his 30th birthday celebration. The best songs feature group vocals, although the album's highlight, "Try A Little Harder", primarily features Leon Patillo in his most soulful moment, at least on this album. . You can see a complete list of all Santana discography, or go back to the Santana tabs