Devadip Carlos Santana - Oneness: Silver Dreams - Golden Reality (1979)

Dan:

Oneness: Silver Dreams - Golden Reality is easy to overlook, given its impressive predecessors - Caravanserai, Welcome, and Borboletta. To begin with, the album is attributed to Devadip Carlos Santana, not the Santana band. Carlos had only used this name once before, on Illuminations, a 1974 collaboration with Alice Coltrane. He would use it once more on Swing of Delight (1980), but he eventually lost faith in Sri Chinmoy, the guru who had given him (and his wife Deborah, who became Urmila) their spiritual names.

Oneness finds Devadip at his most spiritual, judging by the Buddhas on the album cover alone. Inside, the album sleeves contain similar artwork. This should not scare off fans of Santana's earlier albums. His guitar is featured on key tracks throughout, but guest musicians account for much of the album's distinction. For instance, Urmila offers the poignant narration on "I Am Free," accompanied by Clare Fischer on Fender Rhodes. The main vocalist, Greg Walker, appears on three of the tracks, and Saunders King delivers a stunning rendition of "Silver Dreams, Golden Smiles," again with Fischer's backing. Several tracks are less than two minutes long.

Despite the excellent playing on individual tracks, it's best to listen to this album in its entirety. In this respect, it follows a common prog pattern wherein the whole album takes precedence over its parts. For example, Urmila's 1:25 minute recitation on "I Am Free" would make no sense on its own. Neither would Walker's chant on the opening track, "The Chosen Hour." Indeed, the first six tracks all flow together, forming their own identity of "oneness."

There are plenty of rhythmic sections that we've come to expect from Santana albums, and while the guitar is positioned to serve the narrative, it also shines in the solo spotlight. For example, the opening passages of "Oneness" use Santana's' lower strings to play melodically in front of the modal chords sustained by organ and bass. Santana nuts can get their fill on this track alone and appreciate that it's also the longest track at 6:21 minutes. "Oneness" is followed by the funky "Life is Just a Passing Parade," which is obviously autobiographical for Santana. The closing "Song for Devadip" returns to soaring guitar territory as if to remind us that spirituality does not preempt solid rock and roll.

As the 1970s came to an end, Santana albums would continue on for another four decades. Blessings and Miracles (2021) is the latest of approximately 60 albums in the series, although it's hard to count them all amidst the reissues, compilations and live recordings. It's my hope that Santana's magical albums of the 1970s are not overlooked. 

Steve:

In the early 1990s, I picked up a vinyl copy of Oneness, fairly certain that at least bits of it would be familiar to me. I remembered the album cover from my childhood, but not all of the songs. The two memorable tracks were "Cry of the Wilderness" and "Song for Devadip", both instrumentals that are fueled by Devadip's guitar themes, and brought to completion through his unique gift for soloing around those themes.

I quickly found, however, that (as Dan said above) Oneness is clearly designed to be listened to as a whole, or at least as two unified vinyl sides. As with Borboletta, soulful vocal features sit side by side with both guitar-based instrumentals and scene-setting atmospheric tracks, often graced with wordless chanting.  

At this time, Devadip clearly felt comfortable splitting his artistic identity into two parallel parts - the more hit-oriented Latin rock of his band albums and the more exploratory jazz/rock of his solo work. Todd Rundgren had a similar split personality a few years prior, but the focus was reversed, where his solo work was the more pop-oriented and his band Utopia satisfied his more progressive urges. Eventually Todd merged both personas into the pop realm as progressive rock became less commercially relevant, and Devadip eventually did the same. 

Progressive rock fans would miss a lot if they chose to judge Carlos/Devadip as merely a classic pop/rock act, while ignoring the series of groundbreaking records he made in the 1970s.

Santana - Borboletta (1974)

Dan: 

Borboletta follows closely in the footsteps of Caravanserai and Welcome, using Santana's tried-and-true formula. It's more like Caravanserai than Welcome, but all three albums are part of the band's peak period. None of them should be missed, especially by listeners only familiar with Santana in the 1980s and beyond. The 70's run is fully conceived and executed, blending subtle opening and closing passages that sound like insects on a warm night, tight vocals, and (best of all) extended jam-like suites featuring Carlos at his soaring best.

On Borboletta, the sequence beginning with "Here and Now" through to the end lasts about 16 minutes and is worth every second. "Here and Now" serves as a halting-tempo prelude building expectations that soon become realized by the faster-paced "Flor de Canela," driven by percussion and sustained by long chords from the electric piano, organ and guitars. After a little over two minutes, "Promise of a Fisherman," the centerpiece of the album, comes on gloriously. The temperature rises over the steady pulse to climax ecstatically during its 8-minute length. It's one of the most exciting aural adventures I've ever experienced in rock and roll. 

I'm envious of anyone who has not heard the Santana albums reviewed in this blog. They get to hear them for the first time!! 

Also recommended are Lotus, a 3-LP set of live recordings from Japan (1974), and Moonflower, a part-studio, part-live recording (1977). These serve as valuable cappers to a fertile period that was bound to end. 

Steve: 

When we decided upon the list of albums to review in this blog, I noticed that for some reason, I had never acquired a copy of Borboletta. Although I remember it being in Dan's collection, I wasn't sure what any of the tracks sounded like. Being old-school, I held off on listening until a few days later, when a used vinyl copy magically appeared on my doorstep. Thanks Discogs!

It turned out I did remember most of this album. Although Caravanserai, Welcome, and Borboletta represent the sweet spot of Santana's most exploratory period, each has its unique flavor. If Caravanserai was a cosmic search through a spiritual desert, and Welcome was the resulting spiritual awakening, then Borboletta feels like a celebration of the natural world. The brief opening and closing pieces feature percussion and nature sounds by guests Airto Moreira and Flora Purim. The R&B/Soul influences are more pronounced, with "Give and Take", "Life is Anew", "One with the Sun", "Practice What You Preach", and "Mirage" all featuring smooth jazz/soul vocal arrangements. Even the titles of the aforementioned tracks reflect a desire for harmony with nature. I have been in the mood for 70s R&B lately, so this goes down especially well.

The instrumentals, comprising about half of the album, continue the advances made on Welcome. I agree 100% with Dan as to the intoxicating power of "Promise of a Fisherman" - the rhythm track bubbles over like a boiling cauldron, maintaining intensity for its duration. Tom Coster (keyboards) and Carlos Santana (guitar) both contribute dazzling extended solos. Welcome to jam band heaven.

I still have some catching up to do on this album, but I'm glad this blog finally prompted me to grab my own copy. No Santana collection is complete without it!

Santana - Welcome (1972)

Dan:

As each new year arrived in the 1970s, I was eager to hear what the next Santana album might bring. The successor to Caravanserai was Welcome, and I welcomed it into my collection as soon as I could. I knew the title tune was by John Coltrane, and I also noticed that Coltrane's widow, Alice, was involved with Welcome as the arranger for "Going Home," the album's first track. Also contributing to Welcome was British guitarist John McLaughlin; Carlos and John would collaborate in 1973 on Love, Devotion and Surrender. Alice and Carlos were to collaborate on 1974's Illuminations. 

This set of albums and their instrumental lineups intrigued me. The jazz influence was obvious, but so were the Santana guitar solos (and guitar duets with McLaughlin), and a distinctive spiritual signature. Alice was well into her monastic era, which lasted until her death in 2007 (and probably beyond). All three artists also adopted spiritual names: Turiya Alice Coltrane, Devadip Carlos Santana. and Mahavishnu John McLaughlin (not to mention drummer Maitreya Michael Shrieve). Devadip and Mahavishnu also wore white clothing and openly acknowledged the influence of Guru Sri Chinmoy. (The photo shows Santana wearing a Sri Chinmoy t-shirt).

The programming of the tracks on Welcome creates an effective link between the low temperature tracks ("Going Home," "Mother Africa," "Light of Life," and "Welcome") and the more incendiary tracks (especially "Flame-Sky"). Instrumental and vocal tracks also work together, as they did on Caravanserai. Vocals are performed by Leon Tomas and guest Flora Purim. Almost everyone gets in on the writing of the seven original pieces, which beautifully complement the John Coltrane and Antonín Dvořák compositions.

Music like this got me through the mid-to-late 1970s. It filled the void left by jazz, which had turned to lighter fusion material to compete commercially with rock. I much prefer jazz-influenced rock than rock-influenced jazz. Yes, there is a difference, although in particular instances it's better to drop the labels and enjoy what you hear (as in the case of McLaughlin's Mahavishnu Orchestra). 

Steve: 

Although I do not listen to Welcome nearly as often as Caravanserai, I still consistently enjoy it all the way through each time I do. The Coltranes' (both John and Alice) influence is very pronounced on this album, as is the McLaughlin and Sri Chinmoy influence, guaranteeing this to be a much more spiritually minded Santana effort. I recall several of these tracks from my youth, no doubt from Dan's turntable, including "Mother Africa" with its curious organ melody, Jose Arias' "Samba de Sausalito", and the Flora Purim-sung "Yours is the Light".  

In recent years, I discovered the source of the opening Alice Coltrane meditation "Going Home", via Alice Coltrane's Lord of Lords album, which I purchased along with a couple other of her albums. Much of my recent interest in Alice Coltrane stems from a collaborative album Carlos Santana did with her around this time called Illuminations (mentioned by Dan above), also worth your time. 

Santana - Caravanserai (1973)

Dan:

Following the success of their first three albums (Santana, Abraxas, and Santana - yes, the first and third albums had the same title), the band turned in a new direction. Instead of focusing on creating hit songs, they developed more thematic albums in which songs and longer suites would be programmed together. Caravanserai and its successors (Welcome and Borboletta) retained little of the Latin-rock that fans had come to expect and substituted longer instrumental tracks that appeared to draw upon jazz influences. 

On Caravanserai, the new direction manifested itself by running songs together into suites, although they are not designated as such. Everything flows together starting with "Eternal Caravan of Reincarnation," featuring jazz saxophonist Hadley Caliman. Even the vocal numbers are sequenced as parts of the whole: "Look Up" flows into the wonderful instrumental "Song of the Wind," which flows into the second vocal, "All the Love of the Universe." Neither of the songs became hits but they were not intended to be. 

Side 2 follows a similar development with "Stone Flower" as the only vocal. It's followed by the extraordinary sequence of "La Fuente del Ritmo" and "Every Step of the Way," which consume 13:32 minutes to close the album. These show Santana (both the band and the leader) doing what I like best. The driving rhythm is the key impetus for great solos on electric keyboards, organ and, of course, Carlos' sustained wails on guitar. Hearing the Latin percussion pushing the band in this way is an exhilarating experience. 

I might have had the pleasure of hearing Caravanserai live when Santana played at the university I was attending. Frank Zappa was the opening act. I did not go because I had a young child at home. I've chided Steve many times for being the reason why I couldn't go. As punishment, he was forced to listen to prog music every day. He and his mom later let me go to another campus concert by Emerson, Lake and Palmer. 

Steve:

I didn't know that Santana was also playing at that same concert with Zappa that Dan had to miss on my behalf. Ouch. If it's any consolation, I didn't turn to crime and drugs thanks to his attentive care, so overall I think it was worth the sacrifice.

Caravanserai is one of a handful of albums I remember quite clearly from my early life. At my young age, I tended to study the album covers almost as intently as the music, and the cover art for Caravanserai is the perfect image to accompany the opening "Eternal Caravan of Reincarnation" - that track and that image are both indelible parts of my impression of this album, then and now.

Partly because of my early exposure to this album, it has remained my favorite Santana release. I didn't even bother to listen to the more popular first three albums for many years; most days, Caravanserai is the only Santana I need. 

Santana - Santana (1969)

Dan: 

Like many albums of the late 1960s, my memories are associated with places where I first heard them. Erie, Pennsylvania is where I place Santana's debut album. It received plenty of FM radio play, especially the single "Evil Ways." It offered an original type of fusion between rock and Latin music and signaled the beginning of one of the great bands in the history of rock music.

I have to confess that I ignored a lot of the songs on Santana except for "Evil Ways," which I really liked. When Caravanserai, Borboletta, and Welcome came out a few years later, I gave them all my attention. But I recently revisited the first album, gaining a deeper appreciation for it. For starters, I took a long look at the album cover art, which I always thought was just a portrait of a roaring lion. Look closely for yourself and you should see much more. How's that for a metaphor for discovering unheard aspects of a recording?

Musically, the key to my renewed respect for Santana is embracing Latin percussion and the vocal traditions of popular Latin music. For example, I discovered the beauty of congas and timbales, as played by both Mike Carrabello and José Chepito Areas. Appreciation comes more easily after you admit that your expertise is limited to what you already know, and you're willing to open your ears to hear things you've missed.

Of course, no assessment of Santana should exclude the monster guitarist and leader/namesake of the band, Carlos Santana. There are more long solos on the later albums, but even his fills and melody statements on Santana are attention-grabbers. 

A bit of advice to those who only know Santana through its 1999 hit "Smooth" from Supernatural. Please go back to the earlier years. They're much better on all counts than the overproduced best seller. 

Steve:

I actually didn't get this album into my collection until just a few years ago, and I've only ever heard it a handful of times. I have, however, heard Caravanserai, Welcome, Oneness, and others of that ilk many times, and prefer those. We'll get to reviews of those soon. With that kind of listening background, it's easy for me to underestimate and difficult for me to understand how groundbreaking this Santana debut must have been in 1969, even if its ambitions seem tame relative to those later achievements. While it's far from the first instance of a Latino focus in American pop music, it may represent the first strong Latino influence on progressive rock. Not only that, but this new flavor was successfully fused with a lead guitar style that was all Carlos's own, and the two were a surprising but natural fit.  

Apart from "Evil Ways", the other song I know well from Santana is "Soul Sacrifice", which was featured in the Woodstock movie. The Woodstock Festival actually preceded the release of Santana's debut album, so I can only imagine how blown away the attendees were at the time. The Columbia/Legacy CD reissue of Santana, in addition to having a nice booklet and clear sound, has three live performances from the Woodstock performance, including all 11 minutes of "Soul Sacrifice" - a great addition to the CD.