Caravanserai
| Caravanserai | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio album from Santana | ||||
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Publication |
1972 |
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| Label (s) | Columbia Records | |||
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Format (s) |
LP / CD |
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Title (number) |
10 |
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running time |
51:21 |
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| occupation |
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Studio (s) |
CBS Folsom Street Studios |
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Caravanserai is an album by Santana , recorded between February 21 and May 5, 1972 and released in October 1972 on Columbia Records .
History of origin
Caravanserai was the fourth studio album by the band Santana. It marked a musical turning point after the first three albums by leaving the popular rock format of the previous albums. It didn't contain any hits either; rather, the focus here was on jazz-related instrumental passages, some of which were experimental in character. The Woodstock cast had broken up. Gregg Rolie and Neal Schon , who founded the band Journey the following year , played on this album ; Rolie in particular had problems with the new compositions. Keyboard player Tom Coster played one piece in the band, whose music developed even more towards jazz-rock on the following album Welcome . Mike Shrieve, who produced the album with Carlos Santana, also spoke out in favor of this direction.
Clive Davis , the president of the record label Columbia, questioned Carlos Santana about the direction of the album, which contained no songs in radio format, and predicted an end to Santana's career. But Santana insisted on doing this album that way.
The album
The introductory title "Eternal Caravan of Reincarnation" develops in a dreamlike atmosphere like "Singing Winds, Crying Beasts" on Abraxas . Its melody is heavily influenced by Astral Traveling , a track from Pharoah Sanders ' album Thembi . "Eternal Caravan of Reincarnation" is a showcase for guitarist Neal Schon. Saxophonist Hadley Caliman and Wendy Haas also played on the Fender Rhodes ; the saxophone forms a sharp contrast to cicada-like sounds. The next song, "Waves Within", a jazz rock instrumental, focuses on Carlos Santana's guitar.
The titles of the album include, in addition to their own titles, a cover version of the Brazilian standard Stone Flower by Antônio Carlos Jobim , to which Carlos Santana and Michael Shrieve contributed the English lyrics. Future Primitive by Chepito Areas and Mingo Lewis was surrounded by a sound surface, which included piano, vibraphone and cymbals contributed by Michael Shrieve. The extended All the Love in the Universe is a composition by Carlos Santana; here two bassists are deployed over a complex rhythm carpet, which Santana's biographer Norman Weinstein understood as a sign of a turn to jazz. The short Just in Time to See the Sun , one of the few vocal numbers, serves as the introduction to the instrumental Song of the Wind , in which the lead guitar of the band leader is in the foreground. Look Up (to See What's Coming Down) is strongly influenced by ensemble play and funk borrowings. The Latin-emphasized La Fuente Del Ritmo forms the prelude to the final number Every Step of the Way , composed by Michael Shrieve . This had Every Step of the Way of the Joe Zawinul -Komposition In a Silent Way derived. Hadley Caliman is employed here as a flautist and plays his solo with an intensity that is reminiscent of Jeremy Steig . Tom Harrell put together an orchestra and wrote an arrangement that includes references to Las Vegas Tango by Gil Evans and Sketches of Spain by Miles Davis.
At the same time, the album marks Santana's turn to Indian spirituality. The inner cover of the LP featured a quote from guru Paramahansa Yogananda from the Metaphysical Meditations :
- The body melts into the universe
- The universe melts into the soundless voice.
- The sound melts into the all-shining light.
- And the light enters the bosom of infinite joy.
Impact history
Although Santana with Caravanserai was initially unable to continue the extraordinary sales success of the three previous albums, the album reached number eight on the Billboard 200 charts. The concerts on the following tour were also well attended. In the long run, the album achieved platinum status due to the good sales figures .
Reviews
The album received excellent reviews in Rolling Stone and other journals. Sometimes the album is considered to be the most exotic of all Santana albums. Alex Henderson gave the album the second highest rating in Allmusic . It is one of Carlos Santana's most beautiful works. It is "daring", "inspired and very ambitious". Carlos Santana contributes soulful and contemplative guitar solos, "even if Caravanserai misses the immediacy of [the debut album] Santana or Abraxas ".
Track list
- Eternal Caravan of Reincarnation (Rutley / Schon / Shrieve) - 4:28
- Waves Within (Rauch / Rolie / Santana) - 3:54
- Look Up (To See What's Coming Down) (Rauch / Rolie / Santana) - 3:00
- Just in Time to See the Sun (Rolie / Santana / Shrieve) - 2:18
- Song of the Wind (Rolie / Santana / Schon) - 6:04
- All the Love of the Universe (Santana / Schon) - 7:40
- Future Primitive (Areas / Lewis) - 4:12
- Stone Flower ( Jobim / Santana / Shrieve) - 6:15
- La Fuente del Ritmo (Lewis) - 4:34
- Every Step of the Way (Shrieve) - 9:05
Musician
- Carlos Santana : lead guitar (2-4,8,9), guitar (5,6,10), vocals (6), percussion (1,8)
- Neal Schon : guitar (1,3-6,8-10)
- Gregg Rolie : organ (2-6,8,10), piano (6), vocals
- Michael Shrieve : drums (1-6,8-10), percussion
- José Chepito Areas : percussion, congas (7), timbales (2-4,6,7,9,10), bongos (8)
- Douglas Rauch : bass (2-6), guitar (2,3)
- Tom Rutley : double bass (1,6,8-10)
- James Mingo Lewis : percussion (1,8,9), congas (2-10), bongos (7), vocals (6), piano (9)
- Armando Peraza : percussion (8), bongos (9)
- Douglas Rodrigues : Guitar (2)
- Wendy Haas : Piano (1.8)
- Hadley Caliman : saxophone (intro) (1), flute (10)
- Rico Reyes: vocals (6)
- Lenny White: Castanets (6)
- Tom Coster : E-Piano (9)
- Tom Harrell : orchestral arrangement (10)
Web links
- Review of Alex Henderson's album Caravanserai at Allmusic . Retrieved August 22, 2011.
- Robert Christgau
Individual evidence
- ^ Contribution in the Examiner to the early Santana albums
- ↑ a b Review of the album Caravanserai by Alex Henderson at Allmusic (English). Retrieved August 22, 2011.
- ^ Norman Weinstein: Carlos Santana: A Biography . Greenwood Publishing Group 2009, p. 47
- ↑ Louise Chipley Slavicek: Carlos Santana . Chelsea House Publishing 2006 ;, p. 74
- ↑ by Louise Chipley Slavicek: Carlos Santana , S. 75, vlg. also Norman Weinstein Carlos Santana: A Biography , p. 47f.
- ^ A b c Norman Weinstein: Carlos Santana: A Biography , p. 48
- ↑ a b c d Interview with Michael Shrieve ( Memento of the original from September 21, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Norman Weinstein: Carlos Santana: A Biography , p. 49
- ↑ Discussion of the album in Prog Revues ( memento of the original from September 3, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Joachim E. Berendt: A window from jazz: essays, portraits, reflections . Fischer Taschenbuch, Frankfurt am Main 1978. ISBN 3-596-23002-0 , p. 51
- ↑ a b Louise Chipley Slavicek: Carlos Santana , page 75
- ↑ Pat Browne: The Guide to United States Popular Culture , p. 706
- ^ Floyd Orr: Timeline of America: Sound Bytes from the Consumer Culture , 142
- ↑ cf. Jim McCarthy, Ron Sansoe: Voices of Latin rock: people and events that created this sound . 2004
