I think I'm falling in love with Santana!

I got one of his Greatest hits cds a couple weeks ago (this one)


and Im really loving it. especially Evil Ways, Oye Como Va, Samba Pa ti, and Black Magic Woman. But where do I go from here??

I have Supernatural, and thats nice but I want some more classic Santana
with that seemless rock and Latin blend.

Where do I go from here?
Any fans have advice on which albums I should seek out?

Santana is amazing without the likes of Michelle Branch and Macy Gray.

Sure, Supernatural brought home many Grammy's but it's not by any means his best album.

I know! thats why I wanna hear more of his classic stuff but I hardly know where to begin

Love Santana. Major influence on me as a guitarist. Have ALL of his albums.

Big Fan Over Here!


Santana and Abraxas, Santana's first two albums are great places to start!:

I also really like his 1976 album, Amigos, which added some R&B/Funk to a mix that already included Latin, Rock and Jazz, and also contains one of his most famous instrumentals, "Europa(Earth's Cry/Heaven's Smile)":



for some of his later work, check out Blues For Salvador(containing the great instrumental, "Bella") and Milagro:



and if you're into more of the Pop stuff , of course his last two:



a good overall live set is 1993's Sacred Fire: Live in South America, that's also on VHS and DVD...






...
[Edited 5/16/05 18:37pm]

Santana is a great artist. He's one of my all time favourite musicians. He has so many good cd's to choose from, but being such a huge fan, I love almost everything he's ever done.

Love him.

paligap said:

Along with paligap's excellent suggestions, here are some of his earlier releases I have a special affection for...



...Santana III & Caravanserai (featuring a young Neal Schon)




...Love Devotion Surrender (w/John McLaughlin)





tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...rmusic.htm

theAudience said:

Great picks....after those it kinda went South for the most part....tho I admit I can dig some of their "late 70s arena rock" era too.

theAudience said:

Yes Ndeed, tA!! Great choices, in fact, that's the rest of my collection right there, !! (his version of Coltrane's "Welcome" is off tha hook!! but yeah, other than those, the only other one I have is: Oneness: Silver Dreams, Golden Realities:





...

santana is the shit!
he is one very funky latin peppa! i been groovin 2 abraxis and santana III since christmas....samba pa ti..guajira...black magic..everythings everything...the list goes on and on!

theAudience said:

yep!!!!!

The classics!!!

thekidsgirl said:

Start with these albums.As you can see,I'm partial to his 70s music...


'Abraxas'(1970)
'Borboletta'(1974)
'Lotus' (a 2-CD Live album) (1975)
'Amigos' (1976)
'Festival'(1977)
'Moonflower' (a 2-CD Live album mixed with studio tracks)(1977)
'Zebop' (1980) his strongest 80s album
'Blues For Salvador'(a mostly instrumental album)(1988)
'Milagro' (his best 90s album)(1992)
'Sacred Fire' (an EXPLOSIVE 'LIVE'album!!!) (1993)

'Borboletta',released in 1974,is my favorite Santana album.It's a very soulful,inspired album,filled with strong,hypnotic melodies and passionate guitar-playing.Songs like "Mirage","Life Is Anew","Give And Take" are just superb.Listen to "One With The Sun",and it will be in your head all day long.Carlos Santana was at the top of his game when he recorded this masterpiece.

jayaredee said:

The thing is...'Supernatural' sold 25 million copies,so there is alot of record company pressure for Carlos to continue down that road.Arista is all about making money.But,in recent years,Carlos has tried to release some of his non-commercial music (without the guest stars) through unconventional means.Last year,he teamed up with Baja Fresh Restaurants to release a charity CD called 'Food For Thought'.The CD contains outtakes and rarities.It benefits his Milagro Foundation to help needy kids.A few months ago,his wife Deborah released a book about her life.The audiobook version contains a bonus fifth CD,featuring rare Santana music.

DavidEye said:

Still waiting for that one to be remastered.It's been awhile since the last batch.

I'm a fan of the early Santana days.

Santana, Abraxas, III, Caravanserai (my fav.) and Love Devotion Surrender are masterpieces.

I kinda lost track of Carlos Santana, I don't like his recent work.

Thanks everybody! I went looking for some of his stuff yesterday but some of those are kinda hard to find. So today Im gonna try a used record shop.

I definitely want to get Abraxas, Santana, and III

also can I say DAG! He's got some nice album cover art!
Thanks again guys

MrTation said:

Yeah,this one needs to be remastered asap! So far,all of the remasters have been GREAT.Did you get the 2-CD Deluxe Edition of the first album? That was released not too long ago.

thekidsgirl said:

You can find most of his CDs for sale at his official site...

www.Santana.com

and yes,his album cover art is incredible,isn't it?

paligap said:

'Sacred Fire' is one of the greatest Live albums ever! Carlos plays guitar as if his life depended on it! This is an explosive show.The DVD is a must-have too.

speaking of "Live" albums,we can't forget this one...

Recorded in 1973,'Lotus' is another incredible "Live" album.Originally,it was a 3-LP set that was only released outside America.Nowadays,it is an easy-to-find 2-CD set.These performances were recorded during one of Santana's most creative periods,at a time when he was releasing important,musically diverse albums like 'Caravanserai' and 'Welcome'.

DavidEye said:

Ive never seen this one? How does it compare to Moonflower?

DavidEye said:

Yes.It's a bit annoying that it wasn't released in that form upon it's initial remaster ,so we wouldn't have had to purchase both, but this kind of thing happens all the time nowadays.

DavidEye said:

That's a good one , too.While it doesnt indicate it anywhere on the outside of the package, it is digitally remastered.

found1 said:

It's all live and contains several rare jams.Moonflower is a live/studio mix.

MrTation said:

the sound quality is fantastic!