Rating: 8.5/10

Top Track ‘Oye Como Va’

When I think of the best guitarists of all-time, who comes to mind? That’s a good question. Thanks for asking. Well, we’ve got Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, B.B. King, Chuck Berry, and Carlos Santana. Of course my list of great guitarist is much longer than that, but I think my point is made. That point being that Santana’s name has to come up when talking about great guitar players. Not only that, he’s probably the best Mexican-American guitar player to ever live. As a Mexican-American myself, I’ve always held Santana in high regard; which is probably why his name would appear higher on my guitar players list than most other classic rock enthusiasts. Now that that’s out of the way, let’s talk about the album, shall we? I feel like I should address the album cover first. It’s got a lot going on and frankly, I don’t have enough time to unpack it all. It’s like a crazy acid trip. It’s got two naked ladies on it and that’s about all I’ve got to say about that; I think the cover can speak for itself. When I first opened the album up, I noticed something in the front sleeve of the album cover. I pulled it out and it was a neatly folded, near-mint black-and-white poster of the band; Carlos Santana, Gregg Rolie, David Brown, Michael Shrieve, José “Chepito” Areas, and Michael Carabello. They’re all laughing about something, maybe one of them made a joke. That’s the thing with vinyl. I can tell you there’s no getting posters of any band listening to music online. There’s no special connection made. Vinyl’s pretty cool, man. “Abraxas” came out one year after the band’s breakout performance at the Woodstock musical festival. Before that, no one had really heard of the band from San Fransisco experimenting with latin-blues-rock fusion. That wasn’t so true anymore as the band’s second studio album went to number one on the U.S. charts when it was released. I understand why as I’m currently listening to the album for the umpteenth time. Does anyone else feel like dancing?

Unlike most albums I have previously covered, the choice for Top Track was fairly easy. The two main choices were ‘Black Magic Woman / Gypsy Queen’ and ‘Oye Como Va’. Seeing as the former was a rendition of a Fleetwood Mac song that was released the year prior, I decided to go with an original. Besides, I genuinely like ‘Oye Como Va’ better. From the “Rrrr sabor” at the beginning to the fantastic guitar solo that finishes the song off. The fact that this song only has nine words repeated over and over just makes it that much better. I have no idea why.

Oye como va
Mi ritmo
Bueno pa' gozar
Mulata

That’s the whole song. And it’s all in Spanish, which I think is fantastic. It’s a Latin song, why not sing it in the corresponding language? Right? I thought about translating it, but Google Translate doesn’t always work and I figured there’s no translation that could convey what the words truly mean. So I’ll just let it be what it is. Have I mentioned Rolie’s keyboard solo? I haven’t? Perhaps I should. After Santana’s excellent shredding for about the first two minutes of the song, Rolie gives him a break and takes over with a high-energy solo that blows me away every time. Best believe I’m miming some air keys along with Rolie during this song.

Born in the small town of Autlán, Jalisco in México, Santana learned to play the guitar at the age of eight from his father who was a mariachi musician. In the 1960s Santana’s family moved to San Fransisco. A young Santana soon formed the Santana Blues Band and the rest is history. All of Santana’s influences, as well as the rest of the band’s, comes through on this album. Especially on the first track. ‘Singing Winds, Crying Beasts’ is such a great example of Latin-Jazz fusion. That 60s jazz feeling is undeniable and even shades of Miles Davis peeks through. The percussive instruments used really add that Latin touch, as they do to all the track on this album. I also love the way the first two tracks fade into one another, almost as if they were recorded back to back. Which is what might have actually happened, I’m not sure. The second track, ‘Black Magic Woman / Gypsy Queen’ starts off with a great keyboard riff and Rolie’s voice is so very smooth. All of that combined with Santana’s guitar gives the song a very sexy feeling. Until the breakdown. The band quickly picks up the tempo as the percussion goes double-time and Brown lays down a quick salsa-like bass-line. The last minute and a half of that song just makes me want to move my hips, baby.

Before it wrap it up here, let me just address the percussion work going on on this album. “Chepito” Areas and Michael Carabello really hit it out of the park on this album. But don’t just take my word for it, take a listen to ‘Se a Cabo’. That first track on side 2 of this album has some of the best conga playing I have ever heard. Still not convinced? ‘El Nicoa’ should do it. That song is almost all percussion. Take a listen to both of those track and just try not to dance. Man, this album really does have everything. Classic latin, rock, jazz, blues. Oh yeah, blues! ‘Hope Your Feeling Better’ probably showcases the band’s blues influence and rocks harder than other track on this album. What more could a Mexican-American boy ask for? This band introduced Latin rock to mainstream music listeners and laid the groundwork for future Latin rock groups like Los Lobos. This band, this album, and more specifically, this guitar player is one of the best.

Muchas gracias por su música Santana.