Spanish Tinge

The album Caravanserai marked a change of direction for Santana from "blues/rock band with bongoes" towards a more jazzy and spiritual direction. Even over such a long career as they have had, I think it remains a peak. The band has weaknesses, they never seem to have thought it worth trying to recruit a decent singer for instance. But it can be quite a joyful experience when they are on song. Carlos has his cliches that keep recurring in his playing but there is always a pleasing melodic undertone provided by the Spanish tinge that characterises the band. What was side one of the original vinyl version of Caravanserai is a more or less continual segue representing some kind of daybreak or sunrise. There's an effective cover of the Antonio Carlos Jobim song Stone Flower too but it is the two closing tracks, La Fuente Del Ritmo and Every Step Of The Way, where the jazz influence really takes off and which give the album its' status. They are two impressive pieces of music by any standards.