Santana - Santana III

Embracing the concept that all of the members should share their musical ideas, Santana added two crucial components to his band: Schon, discovered at the age of 15 playing in a Palo Alto club, and Thomas "Coke" Escovedo, who during the sessions temporarily replaced ill percussionist Chepito Areas, and whose percussive assistance helped define the album's feel. With Schon in the fold, Santana strives for the unknown, and yet, manages to stave off the numbing excesses that define much of the period's output. From the opening "Batuka," peppered with Schon's stirring guitar lines, to the sensitive "Everything Is Coming Our Way," infused with a mesmerizing Hammond organ underpinning that supports Santana's vocal pathos, the record teams with inventiveness. Involving albeit accessible concoctions of funk, jazz, rock, blues, and soul run throughout the set. Spanish-styled flavors infuse a majority of the material, ranging from the salsa piano on "Guarjira" to the distinctive "No One to Depen