Santana (album)

'Santana' is the eponymously-titled debut album released 1969 of the San Francisco rock group, led by guitar player Carlos Santana. The album features what many believe to be the classic line-up of the band with Carlos, Gregg Rolie (organ, vocals), David Brown (bass guitar), Michael Shrieve (drums), Michael Carabello (timbales, congas) and Jose 'Chepito' Areas (timbales, congas).

It is an outstanding release of largely instrumental music, recorded by what was originally a purely free-form jam band. At the suggestion of manager Bill Graham, the band took to writing more conventional songs for more impact, but managed to retain the essence of improvisation in the music. The album was destined to be a major release, given a headstart by the band's seminal performance at the Woodstock Festival in August the previous month. The single 'Evil Ways', taken from the album was a Top 10 hit.

Track Line-up:

1. Waiting
2. Evil Ways
3. Shades Of Time
4. Savor
5. Jingo
6. Persuasion
7. Treat
8. You Just Don't Care
9. Soul Sacrifice
10. Savor
11. Soul Sacrifice
12. Fried Neckbones

The last three bonus tracks on the CD release are of the band playing at the Woodstock festival.