Santana III CD

Santana: Gregg Rolie (vocals, piano, organ); Carlos Santana (guitar, background vocals); Neal Schon (guitar); José Chepitó Areas (flugelhorn, drums, congas, timbales, percussion, background vocals); Michael Shrieve (vibraphone, drums, percussion); David Brown (bass guitar); Michael Carabello (congas, tambourine, percussion, background vocals).
Following on the heels of Santana's 1970 breakthrough, ABRAXAS, 1971's SANTANA III is teeming with the eclectic mix of rock, blues, jazz, R&B, and Latin rhythms for which the band is known. Though somewhat more jam-oriented than its predecessor, SANTANA III is no less of an achievement. Full of percolating webs of percussion, jazzy keys parts, infectious call-and-response vocals, and the searing twin guitar attacks of Carlos Santana and Neal Schon (who later went on to form Journey), the album is an absorbing sonic experience from back to front.
Given Carlos Santana's late-career partnerships with everyone from Rob Thomas to the Black Eyed Peas, it's sometimes hard to remember that his band was a product of San Francisco's late-'60s psychedelic rock scene. While the band's music represents the wide-open aesthetic of that milieu, it also dates much better than other music of the time, in large part because of its groove-oriented accessibility and the formidable skills of the musicians. SANTANA III holds up particularly well, and sounds not a whit out of place in the mashed-up, multi-culti 2000s. The 35th Anniversary Deluxe Edition features remastered sound and a bonus disc of Santana performing live at San Francisco's Fillmore auditorium in 1971.
Santana III is an album that undeservingly stands in the shadows behind the towering legend that is the band's second album, Abraxas. This was also the album that brought guitarist Neal Schon -- who was 17 years old -- into the original core lineup of Santana. Percussionist Thomas "Coke" Escovedo was brought in to replace (temporarily) José Chepitó Areas, who had suffered a brain aneurysm, yet who recovered quickly and rejoined the band. The rest were Carlos, organist Gregg Rolie, drummer Michael Schrieve, bassist David Brown, and conguero Michael Carabello. "Batuka" is the powerful first evidence of something being very different. The band was rawer, darker, and more powerful with twin leads and Schon's harder, edgier rock & roll sound paired with Carlos' blend of ecstatic high notes and soulful fills. It cooks -- funky, mean, and tough. "Batuka" immediately transforms itself into "No One to Depend On," by Escovedo, Carabello, and Rolie. The middle section is highlighted by frantic handclaps, call-and-response lines between Schon and Rolie, and Carlos joining the fray until the entire track explodes into a frenzied finale. And what's most remarkable is that the set just keeps on cooking, from the subtle slow burn of "Taboo" to the percussive jam workout that is "Toussaint l'Overture," a live staple in the band's set list recorded here for the first time (and featuring some cooking Rolie organ work at its beginning). "Everybody's Everything" is here, as is "Guajira" and "Jungle Strut" -- tunes that are still part of Santana's live show. With acoustic guitars, gorgeous hand percussion, and Santana's fragile lead vocal, "Everything's Coming Our Way" is the only "feel good" track here, but it's a fitting way to begin winding the album down with its Schon and Santana guitar breaks. The album ends with a completely transformed reading of Tito Puente's "Para los Rumberos," complete with horns and frantic, almost insanely fast hand drumming and cowbell playing. It's an album that has aged extremely well due to its spare production (by Carlos and the band) and its live sound. This is essential Santana, a record that deserves to be reconsidered in light of its lasting abundance and vision. ~ Thom Jurek
All it takes is a listen to the opening track and you know this band means serious business. From the very first measures of "Batuka," SANTANARolling Stone (p.63) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "Everybody sounds stoked -- the rhythm section drives guitarist Carlo Santana into simultaneously agitated and poised solos that sustain an elusive state of polyrhythmic bliss."
Uncut (p.120) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[C]onsistent, refined and confident, with the core six-piece adding teenage guitar sensation Neal Schon to spar aggressively with Carlos Santana on the blistering 'Jungle Strut'."
Down Beat (p.91) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "Showcasing solid original material and well-chosen covers, SANTANA III contains the perfect balance of flash and substance, grace and power, and mind and body."
Dirty Linen (p.83) - "The live set shows just how far the band had come since Woodstock....The entire set shows the band at the peak of their creative powers."