So, very often I think back to the classic era of rock music. Yes, there are many "classic' periods: The birth of rock 'n' roll with Elvis, Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly and the like in the 1950's, the many changes in the 1960's from the British Invasion to acid rock, punk in the 1970's, modern rock in the 1980's, and grunge in the early 1990's. And you can make an argument for each of those eras as the so-called "best".
Back in high school, where I would graduate in 1974, a classmate, Bob Dudek, a musical expert in his own right (and much more so than me), wrote an article in the school newspaper about the trends in rock music over the past decade. He was right on, except when he pointed out that the years 1969 to 1971 really didn't have any growth or change in the music, and that nothing really "happened". Of course, it's hard to sum up an era just a couple of years after it has happened. For me, it's hard to classify rock in the late 2000's and 2010's (except for the "indie folk" movement), but I'm sure even after a few years, I can put a finger on it.
Well, although perhaps that '69 to '71 period might not have been as "exciting" as the five years the preceded it, rock was far from boring. Of course, you can start with Woodstock in the summer of 1969, which was pretty much a defining moment, marking the boundary of "hippie" and "psychedelia", and the more sophisticated "progressive", coming-of-age, jam bands, such as the Grateful Dead, Allman Brothers Band, and several others. For example, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, were purveyors of this "coming-of-age", message-oriented movement that spoke for a generation.
And then there's Santana. Originally called the "Santana Blues Band", this new outfit made its debut in 1969 and pretty much rocked Woodstock. Led by the Mexican-American guitarist Carlos Santana, they made a name for themselves at the famed weekend, playing jams, blues and Latin-infused numbers like "Soul Sacrifice", "Persuasion", and the first single "Jingo", from their debut album which was completed in May 1969 and released the month of the concert. Like their jazz-rock colleagues, Chicago, their first three albums were pretty much extended jams of progressive heaven, expanding the limits of rock music. And also like Chicago, Santana's first three albums, all released between 1969 and 1971, were defining moments in the bands accomplishments.
Santana had a hit single in early 1970's with their eponymous debut's "Evil Ways", followed then another hit later in the year with "Black Magic Woman"(an early Fleetwood Mac cover0 from their second LP, Abraxas, which introduced even more outstanding jams. "Samba Pa Ti", "Incident at Neshbur", "Hope Your Feeling Better", and the second single "Oye Como Va", continued the jam-rock assault. Santana III, released in late 1971 completed the trilogy, with the hits "Everybody's Everything", "No One to Depend On", plus a personal favorite of mine, "Everything's Coming Our Way". That album was actually the first one I really owned and I played the heck out of it.
The band, of course was more than Carlos Santana. Other musicals complemented his classic guitar playing (which, in my opinion is and was one of the best in rock). Gregg Rolie on keyboards was just as an important part of their sound, not to mention Mike Carabello and Jose Areas on bongos and percussion. Michael Schrieve, Neal Schon and David Brown completed this classic line-up.
But like many bands over the decades, they don't stay in one place. While Chicago went more mainstream, Santana retreated a bit into the underground, with constant changes in personnel and sound. Caravanseri, their fourth album, abandoned that classic sound, and the band went into an experiment stage. Meanwhile, former members were making their mark, most notably Schon and Rolie with arena rock giants Journey. Schrieve has also been a part of super groups, including one with Sammy Hagar and Schon.
Carlos has done quite a bit of side work, while also kept releasing albums with various versions of his band. They had another period of success from around 1977 to the mid-1980's, with hits like "She's Not There", "Stormy" "You Know That I Love You", "Winning", and "Hold On", while albums like Zebop were big hits. Nobody, however from the first three albums were participating ny this time, although veteran musician Alan Pasqua, from my hometown of Roselle Park, did play on Zebop, as well as its1979 predecessor Marathon.
Carlos had an excellent solo effort Havana Moon in 1983, with an awesome song "Daughter of the Night", proving that his musicianship abilities hadn't waned. But after the band's 1987 effort Freedom, with their minor rock hit "Veracruz", the success dried up. Still, Carlos, in various combinations, experimented with various forms of music, with tributes to jazz greats Miles Davis, and one with his brother Jorge, who had success with his band Malo around the same time as Santana III".
Then came 1999 and Supernatural. That album, which featured tracks by Santana, his current band, and featuring star vocalists of the day, brought him back into prominence. The concept was conceived by music impresario Clive Davis, in an attempt to make Carlos more contemporary. "Smooth", which featured hot-at-the-time Rob Thomas from Matchbox Twenty was a #1 song, Santana's first one ever. "Maria Maria", which featured the hip-hop act The Product G&B, also hit the top. Rap-rocker Everlast was featured on "Put Your Lights On" which was a rock hit. The album also included everyone from Dave Matthews to Cee-Lo Green. It was Santana's watermark album, and was popular with many of my friends. I liked the album and all.....but to me it wasn't REAL Santana.
Shamen came next in 2002, which was a similar effort. "The Game of Love" which featured Michelle Branch on vocals, was my #1 song of that year, and another single, "You and I" which contained Chad Kroeger of Nickelback on the album, and Alex Band of The Calling on the re-mixed single, was a minor hit as well. All That I Am, continued that format in 2005, but at that point, the novelty was drying up somewhat. "I'm Feeling You", another song with Branch, only hit the middle of the Hot 100, but was another fave of mine.
In 2010, I finally got to see Carlos Santana and his current incarnation of the band. That alone was awesome, but adding to it was that the concert was at the Bethel Woods center, site of the original Woodstock festival. Although I was too young (12) at the time to go to Woodstock back then, this was the next best thing. Seeing Santana lead off with "Soul Sacrifice", with video of that original performance on the monitor was bone-chilling, to say the least. He referred to the surrounding land as "sacred ground", which it surely was. It was a great experience.
As far as my blog goes, in 2010 Santana released his Guitar Heaven album, which, like the previous three efforts, showcases guest vocalists. One single, a cover of The Beatles' "While My Guitar Gently Weep", featuring india.arie, reached #24 on my blog in late 2010. Two more albums, Shape Sifter and Corazon, were released. I had contemplating adding the latter but perhaps of my hiatus, balked at it.
You might be wondering why I've been talking about the flight of Santana all this time. Carlos, of course is alive and well, but the reason is that I'm pretty excited is that a new album, Santana IV is about to be released. Wait a minute, IV? It's his 33rd studio album, but what makes it special, it's the first one since 1971's III which had reunited the classic line-up of the band. The one which played at Woodstock and made all those magical sounds and rhythms. Schrieve, Schon, Carabello and Rolie are back together. The first single, "Anywhere You Want to Go", is my Top Debut at #61, and sure enough it was throwback to that golden era of the band. While, yes, the song itself is a couple of notches below their best work, all the elements which made that 1969 to '71 period a bit of magic, are here. Santana's guitar work, of course, is timeless and sounds just as great as it has through all the eras.
On my iPod playlist, Santana is one of my most played artists from that classic era, with several tracks from their first three albums taking up a big part of that playlist. Santana IV drops April 15 and am looking forward to this.
6 AM AT 11:59?: Fitz & the Tantrums' "6 AM" spends week 71 on my list, dropping to #99, and, barring yet another resurgence, most likely will finally drop off the chart next week. That would leave "Last Raindrop", at #62 in its 32nd chart week, as the one remaining song from their 2013 set More Than Just a Dream, The first single, "Out of My League" entered on February 13th of that year, thus the band has been continually on my SNS 100 for over three years. However, I just got word that the band will release their third album, self-titled, in June. In advance of that album, a new single "HandClap" is being released. I just heard the song, and while it is a sharp departure from their previous material, it's still a very awesome, exciting and unique outing. The single is available as a download now. Look for a very high, possibly record debut next week, at which time, I'll talk more about it. Looks like that blog chart streak could go on for quite a while longer.
Scenes ‘n’ Soundwaves 100
March 13 & 20,
2016
| This Week | Last Week | ARTIST-Title | Weeks on List |
| 1 | 1 | NUMBER ONE:
"Under the
Influence"
Album: Love Stuff
(2 weeks at #1)
|
9 |
| 2 | 3 | Foals - Give It All | 7 |
| 3 | 4 | Adele - When We Were Young | 9 |
| 4 | 2 | Coldplay - Adventure of A Lifetime | 14 |
| 5 | 5 | DNCE - Cake By the Ocean | 8 |
| 6 | 6 | Florence + the Machine - Delilah | 6 |
| 7 | 7 | City and Colour - Lover Come Back | 13 |
| 8 | 8 | Lake Street Dive - Call Off Your Dog | 11 |
| 9 | 11 | Beach House - Space Song | 8 |
| 10 | 12 | Half Moon Run - Turn Your Love | 15 |
| 11 | 10 | Martin Courtney - Northern Highway | 17 |
| 12 | 16 | Tame Impala - The Less I Know the Better | 5 |
| 13 | 17 | Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats - Look It Here | 6 |
| 14 | 21 | TOP 20 IMPACT OF THE WEEK:
"I Feel It"
Album: I Want to See You Dance (EP)
| 7 |
| 15 | 9 | Cage the Elephant - Mess Around | 18 |
| 16 | 23 | Run River North - Run or Hide | 5 |
| 17 | 22 | Taylor Centers - Dodged Your Bullet | 8 |
| 18 | 19 | Wild Belle - Giving Up On You | 9 |
| 19 | 20 | Chris Stapleton - Traveller | 15 |
| 20 | 13 | Smash Palace - Haddontown | 18 |
Tremors:
| 101 | Bear Hands - 2 AM |
| 102 | Banners - Shine a Light |
| 103 | Taylor Swift - Out of the Woods |
