Santana-3 (1971)

Santana's third album remains as dazzling as its predecessors, and in some aspects surpasses them. However, they move away from jazz-rock to pursue an energetic, accessible rock sound, fused with Latin influences, all underpinned by a clear common denominator: Carlos Santana's brilliant guitar work. This release features a new member, guitarist Neal Schon, completing a lineup that also includes Gregg Rolie (keyboards), Jose "Chepito" Areas (drums, vocals, and percussion), Michael Shrieve (drums), David Brown (bass), Michael Carabello (percussion and vocals), and Carlos Santana (guitar and vocals). Starting with the energetic "Batuka", a kick-off that shows the direction the album will take, passing through explosive pieces like "Jungle Strut", to relaxed passages like "Taboo" and "Everything's Coming Our Way", pure rhythm fantasies like "No One To Depend", attractive instrumentals like "Toussaint L'Overture", radiant songs like "Everybody's Everything" or the irresistible Latin-rock tracks "Guajira" and "Para Los Rumberos".

Santana-Zebop (1981)

Featuring almost the same lineup as their previous album, "Marathon", Carlos Santana continued his journey through the musical wilderness of the 1980s, releasing the band's eleventh album, "Zebop". Following the AOR path of "Marathon", in this new release the Mexican guitarist delves even deeper into the sounds that flooded radio stations at the time. Bands like Boston, Styx, Toto, Journey, REO Speedwagon, and Foreigner dominated the charts worldwide with their high-quality melodic rock. In that context, Santana offered an engaging album where, as usual, their enormous skill with the six-string guitar shone through, along with highly meritorious AOR compositions such as the addictive "Changes", "Searchin' ", "Winning", "Over and Over", and "I Love You Much Too Much", while their vintage style is present in "Primera Invasion", "Tales of Kilimanjaro", "American Gypsy", "É Papa Ré", "Sensitive Kind", "Brightest Star", and "Hannibal". "Zepob" is one of Santana's works where they best managed to combine the modern sounds of melodic rock with the jazz-rock of their albums from the previous decade.

Santana-Marathon (1979)

Following the commercial success of their previous album, "Inner Secrets", Carlos Santana reformed his band once again, bringing in vocalist Alex Ligertwood to replace Greg Walker, while Alan Pasqua replaced keyboardist Chris Rhyne. The rest of the lineup remained the same: Carlos Santana (guitar and vocals), Chris Solberg (rhythm guitar), David Margen (bass), Graham Lear (drums), Armando Peraza (percussion), and Raul Rekow (percussion). Continuing in the vein of the conventional and melodic rock of "Inner Secrets", Santana released his next album, his tenth, "Marathon", which featured the magnificent, dreamlike instrumental "Aqua Marine", followed by the addictive AOR tracks "Lightning in the Sky", "Stand Up", and "You Know That I Love You", as well as the brief instrumental title track. The sensual "Summer Lady" and "Stay (Beside Me)" or the powerful rock "All I Ever Wanted" also contribute to the album's high quality, an album where Carlos Santana once again displays superb guitar work in terms of sound and the creative atmosphere that only this guitarist knows how to imprint on all his songs.

Santana-Moonflower (1977)

"Moonflower" is one of Santana's most famous albums, perhaps the most popular among his 70's fans, even above masterpieces like "Abraxas" or "Caravanserai".
This double album has the peculiarity of interspersing live tracks with studio tracks, which is why it is considered Santana's most important live album, since "Lotus" was not released worldwide until the mid-90s.
Recorded during the tour of the album "Festival" in Europe, it shows a perfect fusion of Latin sounds with the blues rock of the seventies.
It includes the legendary "Europa", "Flor de Luna", "Samba Pa ti", "Carnaval", "Black Magic Woman / Gypsy Queen", "Dance Sister Dance" or "Soul Sacrifice / Head".
Santana also included the version of the Zombies "She's Not There", and the album would reach sales that exceeded 3 million copies worldwide.

Santana-Festival (1977)

By the time Santana released his album "Festival" (1977), he already had seven magnificent records on his back, some of them masterpieces such as "Abraxas", "Caravanserai" or "Borboletta".
In "Festival", Carlos Santana once again leans towards a more commercial sound away from jazz rock and psychedelic sounds from his first four albums and, as in his previous work "Amigos" (1976), the formula of instrumental songs achieves the expected success And if in the previous one "Europa" would be the hit of the album, here "Revelations" would take over, a reflective theme with a final explosion of rock, funk and Latin sounds.

Santana-Abraxas (1970)

With his first album Santana would manage to cross genres and territorial borders, his mix of Latin, African and rock rhythms had a great impact, almost like no artist of his time.
That success would allow him to make an intense tour of the United States, participating among many other concerts in the famous Altamont with the Rolling Stones, on that fateful date where a fan was assassinated by a member of the "Angels of Hell".
After that successful tour, he would take a tour of the United Kingdom, participating in the Royal Albert Hall in London together with I´ts A Beautiful Day and Taj Mahal, all of which popularized him as one of the best rock artists of the moment.
Abraxas was their second album and in a few weeks it would reach the position of honor in the North American charts for six weeks, with sales figures that exceeded one million copies.
That would be somewhat unusual for a group that was preferably instrumental and that based their music on the fusion of rock with Latin rhythms.
African rhythms like "El Nicoya", the Hispanic sound always present in songs like "Samba pa ti", or "Oye como va", purely rock sounds being "Hope You´re Feeling", a good example of this, or the stupendous version of the Fleetwood Mac song, "Black Magic Woman" where Santana recreated her flaming guitar, her mythical melody, they formed an album that put Santana at the head of the rock greats, with her instrumental vehemence.

Santana-Inner Secrets (1978)

This album marks the beginning of a stage in which Carlos Santana begins to disassociate himself a little from the influences of Jazz, Blues and Latin elements to start creating something more oriented towards classic Rock. However, this album was disappointing for many fans.
Nonetheless, this album held up very well on the charts due to some of its singles like "Open Invitation" or the fantastic "One Chain (Don’t make no prison)", longer than any other Santana album since 1971.
But in addition to these two relevant and magnificent themes, Santana dared to cover several sixties classics such as the inaugural "Dealer", by the mythical Traffic and the eternal "Well all right" by the Blind Faith, thus reviving the spirit of Steve Winwood, much forgotten by that times.
In the rest of the album Santana's guitar recovers the edge for "Open invitation", or the instrumental "Life is a lady" where it delves into those long and gimmicky notes of the house (maybe Camel had it in mind for six more years late writing "Stationary traveler") plus great "The facts of love" like "Wham!" soft keyboards border to recover the tropical and Afro-Cuban pulse. And in the end it turns out that the disc buried in personal and collective memory resists, from that evocative gregarious black and white cover, over the years.
Perhaps this was one of his last great albums since during the following decade Carlos Santana continually skirted the disaster with albums that never came to stand out in a special way, despite their undeniable quality.
There is something intriguing, really, the career of this musician, capable of starting with four fabulous albums (not only "Abraxas", the most famous; or the conceptual spirituality of "Caravanserai", so often undervalued), and then lose himself in infinite meanders.

Santana-Caravanserai (1972)

Santana's fourth album would mean the stylistic breakdown of the band on a commercial and famous level.

Caravanserai (1972), radically contrasts with previous albums based mainly on the fusion of Latin sounds and rock, here in this new album, Santana focuses on jazz and progressive sounds.

Most of the songs were instrumental and consequently there were no singles on the hit charts.

This would be the first album in a series of works with a more complex and reflective character focused on jazz rock, for many critics of the time it is the best album of the group, which nevertheless contrasts with the artistic success, since it was not accompanied of the sales of his predecessor albums, losing followers of his Latin style on the one hand and gaining on the other a segment of fans of progressive rock.

Santana-Amigos (1976)

In the mid-seventies, Carlos Santana was determined to move away from the jazz-rock and fusion elements of his early albums and delve into more mainstream sounds. This trend was already evident on his seventh studio album, "Amigos", released in 1976, where the guitarist offered a blend of Latin rock, funk, soul, and R&B. Here, percussion once again takes center stage, the instrumentals are simpler with a solid rock foundation, and his guitar is more prominent than on his two previous albums ("Welcome" and "Borboletta"). Most of the vocal tracks showcase this new musical direction toward more commercial appeal. Retaining some of the pillars of his band, such as Armando Peraza, Greg Walker, Leon Chancler, David Brown, and Tom Coster, this release features several of his best-known compositions, including the instrumental "Europa (Earth's Cry Heaven's Smile)", with one of his most memorable solos, and the Latin-infused "Dance, Sister Dance". Among the rest, the funky tracks "Let Me" and "Tell Me, Are You Tired" stand out, as well as the jazz rock "Take Me With You", the latter clearly in tune with the 1970 album "Abraxas", the flamenco-Latin feel of "Gitano", and the elaborate jazz-based funk "Let It Shine".

Santana-Guitar Heaven...The Greatest Guitar Classics of All Time (2010)

For his twenty-first album, Carlos Santana decided to indulge his nostalgic side, crafting a repertoire of all-time blues and rock classics. One of the album's strengths is the wide array of singers he features, all of them renowned talents such as Chris Cornell, Rob Thomas, Chris Daughtry, Joe Cocker, Johnny Lang, and Gavin Rossdale. In addition to these, Santana employs a vast array of collaborating musicians, including Dennis Chambers on drums, Ray Manzarek on organ, and Benny Rietveld on bass. The 14 tracks on this album sound dynamic and modern, with numerous surprising arrangements, such as the use of cello and harpsichord in George Harrison's classic "While My Guitar Gently Weeps". Santana's usual fiery guitar leaves its mark on the exciting version of Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love", in the duality with the organ in "The Riders on The Storm" by the indomitable The Doors, in the super contagious version of "Smoke on the Water" by Deep Purple, in the psychedelic with Latin touches "Sunshine Of Your Love" by Cream or in the fantastic "Little Wing" by Jimi Hendrix with the legendary Joe Cocker on vocals.

Carlos Santana-Santana Brothers (1994)

Although not part of Carlos Santana's official solo discography, but rather a side project, "Santana Brothers" is a collaboration between Carlos, his brother Jorge, and his nephew Jorge Hernández. Accompanied by keyboardist Chester Thompson, bassist Myron Dove, and drummers Billy Johnson, Karl Perazzo, and Walfredo de los Reyes, the three guitarists showcased their six-string talent in a work brimming with melodic atmospheres and a diverse range of styles and influences. From the opening psychedelic rock track "Transmutation Industrial" to the magnificent reinterpretation of Joaquín Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez, passing through the exhilarating jazz-rock "Thoughs", the Latin-infused rock tracks "Luz Amor y Vida", "La Danza", "Smooth", and "Contigo", the bluesy melody of "Blues Latino", the energetic "Trip", and the exquisite "I Love You Much Too Much". Although all three guitarists demonstrate their tremendous skills, it is relatively easy to identify Carlos Santana's riffs and solos, even though their styles are very similar, thus demonstrating that talent with the six strings is a family trait.

Santana-Borboletta (1974)

In 1972, Santana released his debut album, "Caravanserai", which cemented the American guitarist's worldwide fame after another monumental album, "Abraxas" (1970). But right after that album, the band suffered its first lineup changes. Guitarist Neal Schon and keyboardist Gregg Rolie left to found the progressive hard rock group Journey, while singer Leon Patillo and keyboardist Tom Coster joined, followed by a few short-lived additions for the subsequent album, "Welcome" (1973), such as vocalist Leon Thomas and keyboardist Richard Kermode. However, despite the loss of two of its best members, Schon and Rolie, the band didn't suffer musically, and in 1974 they released their fifth album, "Borboletta", in which Santana achieved another great work of jazz-rock and jazz-fusion that, in some ways, resembled the percussion and atmosphere of the masterful "Caravanserai". Tom Coster, the new lineup's main keyboardist, perfectly filled Rolie's shoes, playing abundant Hammond organ and organ sounds, and occasionally some great electric piano fills. The rest of the band was more or less the same as the one that played on "Caravanserai", with the sole exception of the new lead vocalist, Leon Patillo, who does a great job here. "Borboletta" is another top-notch demonstration of jazz-rock with forays into Latin sounds, featuring powerful emotional sections, all filtered through a funk lens. The album is meant to be listened to in its entirety, without diminishing the value of any single song, because they all flow seamlessly from one to the next, just as they did on "Caravanserai". However, the highlight of Borboletta is undoubtedly the closing track, "Here and Now/Flor de Canela/Promise of a Fisherman", where we hear 13 splendid minutes of Santana at his absolute best. Even so, it's the first part of the album, with the sublime "Spring Manifestations", the brilliant "Life Is Anew", the jazz-rock "Give and Take", and the melodic "Aspirations", that most closely resembles the sound of "Caravanserai". One of the main differences here is the aforementioned new vocalist, León Patillo, who presents a more accessible sound. In addition, there's the occasional appearance of the saxophone, which adds an even more jazzy feel. With “Borboletta” the first stage of Santana came to a close, a stage (1969-1974) in which his most classic works appeared, from here on his sound would evolve towards a more accessible and commercial style, without diminishing the quality of his music.