Audio CD review:
Santana - Welcome

Santana - Welcome

Band: Santana Title: Welcome Rating: Release Date: 30 September, 2003 Media: Audio CD Tracks: 1: Going Home 2: Love, Devotion & Surrender 3: Samba De Sausalito 4: When I Look Into Your Eyes 5: Yours Is The Light 6: Mother Africa 7: Light Of Life 8: Flame-Sky 9: Welcome 10: Mantra

Customer Reviews Latin Rock, Jazz and Fusion After his great success in his first 3 releases, Santana begins to discover new musical routes hand in hand with the Great guitarist John Mc Laughlin. Welcome is Santana's Fifth studio recording album; Nothing like Santana I, Abraxas or Santana III; yet a pure state of art (Latin Jazz Rock fusion) musical release. They release this CD hand in hand with "Love, Devotion and surrender". Back in 1973, both albums were disregarded by most of the radio stations and even by most of Santana fans, who expected a more Latin Rock albums. Obviously Carlos Santana was deviating from his original Latin Rock roots sound and taking the Jazz Rock fusion path. Back to "Welcome"; if you are a Santana guitar fan, you will be pleased listening to this album today; it did not age one single minute. If you are into Jazz, Rock and Fusion, this album would fit as a real Jewel in your musical collection. Last and not Least; If you like this CD, I believe you would probably enjoy the following releases as well: 1. Love Devotion and Surrender by Carlos Santana and John McLaughlin 2. Caravanserai by Santana 3. Illuminations by Santana 4. Devotion by John McLaughlin Welcome to the great Jazz Fusion sounds and music; Highly recommended. . Santana embraces spirituality (4.5 stars) Although there aren't any bonafide classics here like "Evil Ways" or "Black Magic Woman", the music and lyrics on Welcome embrace spirituality more than their music had previously. Just as on their previous release, Caravanserai, Welcome sees Santana complementing their Latin rock sound with a jazz feel. Also worth noting is that while Caravanserai must be listened to its entirety to fully digest, Welcome is more of a song-based collection. The opening "Going Home" continues the Santana trend of the instrumental opener providing the feel for the rest of the album. In this case, the organs provide a majestic churchlike feel before piano and Carlos' ringing guitar lines provide a feeling of peace. This kicks right into the funky "Love, Devotion and Surrender", a track where Carlos, Wendy Haas, and Leon Thomas share vocal duties, with each of them adding a little more emotion as the song progresses. "When I Look Into Your Eyes" is a love poem put to music with a dated keyboard outro while the excellent "Yours Is The Light" features near operatic vocals from Flora Purim. "Light Of Life", with its strings and majestic vocals from Thomas, is also a highlight. As for the instrumentals, both "Mother Africa" and "Flame Sky" are two of the band's best with the former featuring a killer sax solo from Jules Broussard while the latter contains wicked solos from both Carlos and guest guitarist John McLaughlin. The original closing title track projects a similar feel to its opener, one of eternal peace. The bonus track, "Mantra", has a very chaotic feel, similar in intensity to "Flame Sky", and complements the album well. Although not quite as cohesive as their first four albums, Welcome is a strong musical statement that still blows most of today's music, including Santana's more recent output, right out of the water. Flame Sky burns! The vocals of the great Leon Thomas haunt one and Santanas guitarwork is very restrained. The overall sound on this CD is lush, breezy and very much a record to be played during the summertime. On one track it's unleashed. "Flame Sky" is a guitar battle between Carlos & John McLaughlin and is set just around a basic E minor/F major 7th chord progression. . . very simple. . that's until the solos fly and both guitarists float in outer space! McLaughlins classic machine gun,rapid fire riffs will scorch the hair on your head. Definitely one of the highest points in the careers of both men. A stunningly beautiful album throughout that is once again inspired largely by the music of the great John Coltrane. . You can see a complete list of all Santana discography, or go back to the Santana tabs