Santana?? Am I missing something???

  • Thread starter Thread starter King Elvis
  • Start date Start date
King Elvis

King Elvis

New member
The other day I saw a commercial on TV where they were talking about "the ever-evolving style of Carlos Santana" and I thought I was gonna fall out of my chair. Am I missing something here or what?? I mean, I like Santana's tone, but all I ever hear him do is the same old tired licks behind whoever is currently popular. His career is on auto pilot. Help me out here, am I the ONLY one who feels this way?? I am suprised that he has not played with Justin Timberlake yet the way Van Halen, Steve Stevens and Slash did with Wacko Jacko.
 
Mike;

Being from the 70's, I enjoyed his chops then and like you, I don't see alot of difference now. To me, that's not necessarily bad, but it seems like he's just trying to keep his name in the forefront or something.

CR ><>
 
Carlos & Me...

I was a rabid Santana fan right from the first 'Santana' album.

Abraxas was superb. Loved it then. Love it now.

The third album (Man With Outstretched Hand) was much heavier and and I loved it. One of my regularly-played CDs.

'Caravanserai' showed slight leanings towards jazz, but I loved it. An absolute must for the discerning Santana fan.

'Welcome' I was very ambivalent about but I bought it, even though I didn't really like it. I was a fan, you see.

'Moonflower' was OK-ish, but Carlos was using a 'singer' now.

Amigos was the end of the line for me. Apart from the sublime Europa, he'd dipped his toes into the murky waters of disco. Goodbye Carlos.

(I may have got the chronolgy mixed up on the latter two albums :) )

Thirty years on what's changed?

Same riffs effortlessly played, but now on a PRS instead of a Yamaha SG2000. And he's still playing behind a singer. I feel he's in danger of becoming a parody of himself. Get back to your roots Carlos. Forget the kiddie-collaborations. You're aiming for sales when you should be aiming for credibility.

--
BluesMeister
 
Let him do what he wants.........I gotta go watch Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.......internet chat rooms.....hahhahaha....thats a funny part in the movie.
 
I think y'all are missing the idea behind the Santana revival. It's the exact opposite of the '80s guitarists playing with Jacko. Instead, everybody is lining up to play with Santana.

Carlos is a genius--he's franchised his sound, which isn't just his guitar, it's the whole Latin rhythm (Tito Puente is wishing he thought of it first, before Carlos took it from him). He brings a fresh beat to otherwise stale artists like Matchbox 20 or a quick boost to newbies like Michelle Branch.

He's instant credibility, just add salsa. I mean if one of these artists tried to use the Latin beat without Carlos, it would sound contrived. Only Paul Simon can get away with that.

So they have to go to the Santana store for the crossover sound. Carlos is a force to be reckoned with--accept him or he will destroy you!
 
Think about it. anybody who has been around as long as Carlos must be doing something right! I mean like a lot of really good guitarist have never made it to their second album. Okay, Carlos Santana is getting old and tastes do change, but give credit where its due, he's still a fantastic guitar player.
 
My guitar teacher asked me if I wanted to learn the "Santana Scale":eek:
 
I mentioned this after the superbowl. Carlos has earned the right to do whatever he wants. IMO
 
I love that whole sound in general , it brings about a certain gyration that I can't quite explain but would be happy to send pictures.

Santana is more than OK with me, and yeah a marketing smart guy to say the least.
 
I grew up listening to Santana.
I can honestly say that his chops were an inspiration to me and I started collecting ALL his records.

These are all the Santana records I own, started collecting them in 1980.

These 5 were bought by my father back when they came out.
Adventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al Cooper...1968
Santana I...1969
Woodstock...1970
Abraxas...1970
Santana III...1971 (with Niel Schon! GREAT)

His style made a slight turn, more jazzy fusion on these 6 albums
Caravanserai...1972 (great record, Song of the wind is awesome. Niel was still with the band)
Carlos Santana & Buddy Miles live…1972
Welcome...1973
Love Devotion surrender…1973 (with John McLaughlin )
Borboletta...1974 (another great record, Promise of a fisherman is still mesmerizing)
Illuminations…1974 (with Alice Coltraine, didn’t really like this one)

Lotus…1975 (live in Japan)
Festival…1976 (Let the children play and Revelation were great!)
Amigos…1976 (The legendary romance song EUROPA was on this one)
Moonflower…1977 (another live album, AWESOME)
Inner Secrets…1978 (Carlos was turning DISCO on this one, still had good tunes)
Oneness…1979
Marathon…1979 (Awesome record, great guitar work)
Swing of delight…1980 (With Herbie Hancock. Great album)
Zebop…1981 (Gregg Rolie got together with him again on this one)
Shango…1982
Havana Moon…1983
Beyond Appearances…1985
Blues for Salvador…1987 (loved this record, the cover song is fantastic)
Freedom…1987 (didn’t like this one at all)
Spirits dancing in the flesh…1990 (this was the last one I bought)

After that last one I just became turned off.
I still listen to his older stuff, but I can’t really get into his newer stuff at all.
 
I am not trying to diss CS, but I was watching him on Woodstock and he was playing a riff that I hear him play on every song on the radio these days that he is on. I love his tone, I guess I just hate to see someone who is a legendary artist in his own rite start to collaborate with the current crop of here today gone tomorrow people.
 
King Elvis said:
I am not trying to diss CS, but I was watching him on Woodstock and he was playing a riff that I hear him play on every song on the radio these days that he is on. I love his tone, I guess I just hate to see someone who is a legendary artist in his own rite start to collaborate with the current crop of here today gone tomorrow people.
Click to expand...
Ubetcha! I wasn't slamming the man.

I caught him late-nite after the Super Bowl. Can't remember whether it was Leno or Conan. I was just sitting here at the puter and immediately knew it was him playing and got up and watched. He's a fantastic player and no one is like him.

CR ><>
 
Whether or not you like his stuff he is one of the only 60's artists that is still relevant to todays music scene. I have to commend him for taking a back seat to the entire production. Even though his signature sound is all over the songs they do stand on their own. More guitar gods should be taking notes about his career instead of just spitting out a bunch of 'virtuoso' recordings.
 
TexRoadkill said:
Whether or not you like his stuff he is one of the only 60's artists that is still relevant to todays music scene. I have to commend him for taking a back seat to the entire production. Even though his signature sound is all over the songs they do stand on their own. More guitar gods should be taking notes about his career instead of just spitting out a bunch of 'virtuoso' recordings.
Click to expand...


Well said Tex.
 
Carlos was playing here last week.90% + of his material is only a year or so old.Compare that to the Stones 40 Licks tour.Santana stays current.
 
The problem with the Stones is that the fans dont let them grow. They put out albums of new material every couple of years and it is usually pretty good stuff. They even play new material in their shows but the fans still demand the old songs. It is quite a legacy to live up too, I mean, I am sure that Keef is SICK of playing Satisfaction...he has got to be!!!
 
Eyes,

You know, I'd completely forgotten about Borboletta :)

Thanks for the critique on his discography. I guess you and I pretty much feel the same about Carlos ;)

--
BluesMeister
 
RE: Tito Puente

Tito was pissed off at first when Santana covered him. Years of royalty checks changed his mind. Still, what if instead of getting big money off of one song, he got them off every song he cut? What if there had been a Puente album with Elvis and Buddy Holly and Pasty Cline and Sam Cooke and Nat Cole? That's what Santana has done.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top