Main menu
Fretplay home Submit tabs

Santana
Santana tabs Santana discography

Channels
Guitar channel Bass channel Guitar videos Reviews

Message Forum
Guitar forum Bass forum Bands and artists Promote your band Recent discussions All categories

Fretplay.com

Santana guitar tabs

CD reviews

Live at the Fillmore 1968

Santana - Live at the Fillmore 1968 Audio CD

A fair review of the Santana "Live at the Fillmore 1968" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Santana reviews here, or go back to the Santana tabs.

Band: Santana
Title: Live at the Fillmore 1968
Rating:

Release Date: 1997-03-11
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Jingo 2: Persuasion 3: Treat 4: Chunk a Funk [#] 5: Fried Neck Bones and Some Homefries [#] 6: Conquistadore Rides Again [#] 7: Soul Sacrifice 8: As the Years Go Passing By [#] 9: Freeway

Drop the bongs, guys, there's actual music to be made...
Okay, here we go. Oye. The acid-happy meanderings of Santana before their Woodstock breakthrough. See, what had made Santana good in the early days was their ability to make a jam compact, but there's no sense of that here. None of these songs run at logical lengths, and in fact most are excruciating. The half-hour "Freeway" is particularly bad. It just goes. And goes. And goes. Thirty minutes, one chord, probably because the group was too stoned to play a second. And that's what the rest of the album's like. Plus it features Carlos experimenting with quasi-metal tones ("Jingo"; "Persuasion") that fit him like a Latin tone would fit Toni Iommi. "Chunk a Funk", one of the many otherwise unreleased tunes here, is funky, but also crappy. Too much of it is devoted to Greg Rollie, who plays a very familiar chord sequence. But not even that could be as bad as, say, "Fried Neckbones" - an insignificant vamp with inconsequential lyrics and insipid playing. Even "Soul Sacrifice" sounds bad - the organ is more Steppenwolf than Santana. Carlos sounds timid during his solo as well. Check out the Woodstock version instead. There's also a long, generic blues ("As the Years Go Passing By") that's notable for two reasons: it doesn't really suck, and it more or less is "Since I've Been Loving You". Same introducing solo, same melody (though, in interest of fairness to Jimmy Page, it also has the same melody as "Going Down Slow" and a thousand other blues songs), similar chord progression (though, once again. . . ). All it lacks is the huge emotional release that made "Since I've Been Loving You" good as it is. However, Carlos' playing on it is inspired, with him making the absolute best of the generic blues riffs he's shooting out. I mean, yeah, you've heard them a dozen times before. But Carlos injects them with a certain emotional freshness, as if that progression means everything to him. And that, in my mind, is guitar soloing. It's not an entirely good song, because the vocal passages are interminable, but compared to "Freeway"? We're dealing with divine quality here. With that said, any given Allman Brothers or Jimi Hendrix blues jam smokes it. I mean, you think this can compare to "Hear My Train a-Comin'" or "Stormy Monday"? Ha. So the remaining good song is "Treat", equipped with a fine jazzy piano solo and the kind of high-quality playing Santana was capable of, even during his drugged-out hippie moments. Santana's first five studio albums rule, and so does the (mostly) live Moonflower. That, in my mind, is much better Santana. .

A Welcome and Worthy Addition to Santana's Catalogue
It features a stripped-down, five-man version of the band, with conguero Marcus Malone and drummer Doc Livingstone, both of whom would be gone before SANTANA was recorded. Recorded well before Santana's classic 1969 debut LP, this hometown concert set is notable for several reasons. The jams here are lengthier and hotter than their studio counterparts, from the blistering opener "Jingo" (a showcase for Malone which makes one wish he'd stayed around a bit longer) and the jaw-droppingly prefaced version of "Persuasion" to the inevitable - but still tasty - "Soul Sacrifice. " Most of these pieces, however, would never appear on a Santana studio album, and I'm quite confused as to why. Gregg Rolie's evocative handling of "As the Years Go Passing By," the sliding ensemble performance of "Chunk-a-Funk" and the psychedelic fury of "Conquistadore" make for what seem like sure-fire cuts from a band celebrated for its onstage flights. Carlos Santana has seldom if ever played with more flash, and the entire band's level of musicianship is exceptional throughout - though "Freeway" does get a bit long. Fans of the early, grooving Santana will certainly want this set, and all live album enthusiasts are encouraged to give it a spin. Great stuff from a very young and talented band! .

Truly Awesome.................Classic Santana!
My favorite. Incredible album. Santana you rock. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Treat will really have you going. Highly reccomended for all hardcore Santana fans!! Enjoy! .

Rockin Early Santana

This album lacks Mike Shrieve's drumming and is shy a couple of Latin percussionists but Carlos's blazing guitar work carries the whole show along anyway. This is a great album for fans of Santana's early work, the Latin/blues/rock fusion sound that made them unique among the zillions of hippie bands of the era.
Although raw and less polished than the 1st Santana album, this album ROCKS - even the extended 60's jams are fun.
The accompanying liner notes booklet is informative and the sound quality is first rate.

.

Great Early Santana.
Michael Shrieve isn't in the band yet, so the concert isn't anything close to future Santana standards. Let's start with the obvious. However, this live album shows you how it all got started. This is the bare bones, the raw Santana. Santana had just signed on with Columbia Records when they played this concert. Obviously, the formula hasn't been perfected yet, but this is the starting point, the beginning of what would be a future rock and roll phenomenon.
The first disc starts off strong with a long version of Jingo. Persuasion follows with a hard rock intro, pretty cool. Treat is beautifully played here, with Gregg Rolie pounding on the piano keys like there's no tomorrow. All the other songs on this disc are great as well.
Disc two has a 14 minute Soul Sacrifice. It's not anything close to the Woodstock version, but this one is good too, with a great organ solo by Gregg Rolie. As The Years Go By is a great blues song, and finishing things up is Freeway, a 30 minute jam that rocks hard all the way through.
You might be hesitant to get this album because it's a Santana that is young, barely starting out. But the truth is, there's no such thing as a bad Santana concert. Get Santana Live at the Fillmore 1968, it's a great slice of time, with great music to have you jammin' all night.

**If you want to hear THE Santana concert, pick up Santana III Legacy Edition. It contains the REAL band's whole concert on the closing night of the Fillmore West in 1971. Great music with great musicianship. You can't beat it. .

You can see a complete list of all Santana discography, or go back to the Santana tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.