October 1974 - Borboletta
It's been an unusually long time since my last release in April as my next album came out in October! About a year since "Welcome", Santana released their sixth album "Borboletta" in October of 1974. As has become the norm for Santana lately, there are more line-up changes. Keyboardist Richard Kermode and singer Leon Thomas, who both only just joined last year, have left the band as well as bassist Douglas Rauch who had been on the last 2 albums. This leaves Carlos Santana on guitar, Michael Shrieve on drums, Tom Coster on keyboards and José Areas and Armando Peraza on percussion. Original bassist David Brown returns to the band in a move I approve of and they also recruit new singer/keyboardist Leon Patillo. This album was heavily influenced by Brazilian artists Flora Purim (who featured on one song on "Welcome") and Airto Moreira and they both feature on a few songs on this album. The album's name is Portuguese for "butterfly" and gets it's name from Purim's album "Butterfly Dreams". It's another jazz-heavy Santana album, and I'm excited to dive in!
Side two begins with "Practice What You Preach" as slow guitar and organ make for a cool opening and Carlos plays some great stuff! The rest of the band joins in and it ends up forming a normal Santana verse. Brown plays a catchy bass line and Patillo's voice sounds great again; I think he seems a great fit for Santana. Carlos continues to play some sweet guitar and he takes it away for a great solo at the end of the song, but they cut the song off mid-solo. If you follow this blog you know this annoys me to no end! Was there some reason you couldn't end it after he was doing playing amazing music? Grr. Patillo wrote the next song "Mirage" and he plays some cool piano while synthesizer by Coster sounds great taking the lead. His singing in this one is good as usual, but the chorus is a little boring with his oh-ing. Peraza plays some cool congas throughout and Carlos unsurprisingly delivers a sweet guitar solo. Patillo does some wordless vocals scat-style, but it just doesn't sound very good, especially in the mood of this song. It has some cool moments, but overall not one of their better offerings. Track 9 is called "Here And Now" and Broussard features once again with some more great saxophone as this song starts similar to last year's "Going Home" with lots of cymbals and percussion and the band all adding their own bits to this instrumental madness. It leads right into "Flor De Canela" which has some awesome conga playing by Peraza. Coster plays some trippy organ in the background as Carlos leads the way with some slow guitar. It sounds great with the really fast percussion and this also segues right into the next song "Promise Of A Fisherman", a cover of Brazilian artist Dorival Caymmi, and the sweet congas/bongos continue! Flora Purim contributes wordless vocals to this one and her high oh-ing does fit the mood nicely. Coster keeps the pace with some slow piano while Carlos solos overtop of the relaxed vibe, doing a great job! Coster takes over lead and plays a cool electric piano solo, then he switches over to Hammond organ for some more fantastic stuff! He may not be Gregg Rolie, but Coster is a pretty freakin' good keyboardist. Coster and Santana take turns soloing in this 8-minute instrumental and we are the beneficiaries of their battle. They both play some really great stuff and Peraza is playing some crazy percussion as well! Moreira, not Shrieve, plays drums on this song and he's doing a pretty great job as well. A really great song that is definitely my favourite off the record. The album ends with the title track "Borboletta" and Moreira wrote this song and performs it entirely by himself: it's just him playing various percussion and singing in Portuguese. I'm not a huge fan of the singing, but the percussion is trippy at the beginning, and becomes pretty cool by the end. A very odd way to end the album though, no Santana members played at all!
That is the end of "Borboletta" and I really enjoyed this jazz-heavy Santana album. Broussard's saxophone was a great touch and while there's a couple lesser songs, most of them I thought were pretty good, especially "Promise Of A Fisherman". But how does it compare to their previous albums? I liked it better than their previous 2 albums "Welcome" and "Caravanserai" but is it good enough to crack the barrier of that first album? I don't think it quite reaches those heights and so their sixth album will land in 4th on my list. Who knows what Santana will look like by their next album, but I'm sure there will be some cool music.
Side one starts with "Spring Manifestations (Sound Effects)", a
1-minute instrumental written by Purim and Moreira. They both contribute to the many sound effects including lots of percussion and even some animal-sounding noises. Up next is "Canto De Los Flores", another instrumental with a slow beat and led by the percussion duo. Coster plays some trippy piano in the background and there's also what sounds like a flute for a bit. Coster takes over lead with some cool electric piano and this song has a very relaxed vibe. Track 3 is called "Life Is Anew" and has lots of cymbals to open as we hear Patillo's voice finally. His singing style is similar to Thomas from last year and his high voice is pretty good. Patillo plays piano on this song as well and it's pretty catchy stuff. Shrieve keeps the pace with some nice drums and after the second chorus we hear an organ solo by Coster that's pretty good. This leads into our first guitar solo and Carlos doesn't disappoint, delivering a classic solo that sounds pretty freakin' good. The great guitar continues until the end of this pretty cool song. The next song is "Give And Take" and it has a great rhythm section throughout the song as Shrieve, Areas and Peraza combine for some cool drums. Carlos plays a slow, catchy riff and Patillo's deeper voice sounds really good! Coster plays some cool piano overtop and Brown plays a cool bass line as well. We hear some sweet conga playing and the drums in this song are off the charts! We also hear some fantastic saxophone from guest Jules Broussard who also guested on "Welcome". His sax takes over the end of the song, and he plays some really excellent stuff as the this song slowly fades out. The next song is titled "One With The Sun" and is a cover of a Jerry Martini song. A nice bass line by Brown carries the beat as Carlos plays some cool guitar overtop. Patillo's singing is pretty good and he adds some cool piano to the mix as well. Carlos plays a solid short solo, then Coster plays a solid organ solo containing some good stuff. Once he's done it's Carlos' turn again as he really turns it up from here until the end with some awesome guitar. The side closer is "Aspirations" and Peraza plays some cool, quick congas as Coster plays some slow, drone-y organ to start this instrumental song. Broussard features on saxophone once again and his slow playing sounds pretty sweet. The sax is the lead instrument the whole way and once it speeds up we hear some really fantastic stuff! He just keeps going overtop of the fast beat and this is definitely a cool jam.
1-minute instrumental written by Purim and Moreira. They both contribute to the many sound effects including lots of percussion and even some animal-sounding noises. Up next is "Canto De Los Flores", another instrumental with a slow beat and led by the percussion duo. Coster plays some trippy piano in the background and there's also what sounds like a flute for a bit. Coster takes over lead with some cool electric piano and this song has a very relaxed vibe. Track 3 is called "Life Is Anew" and has lots of cymbals to open as we hear Patillo's voice finally. His singing style is similar to Thomas from last year and his high voice is pretty good. Patillo plays piano on this song as well and it's pretty catchy stuff. Shrieve keeps the pace with some nice drums and after the second chorus we hear an organ solo by Coster that's pretty good. This leads into our first guitar solo and Carlos doesn't disappoint, delivering a classic solo that sounds pretty freakin' good. The great guitar continues until the end of this pretty cool song. The next song is "Give And Take" and it has a great rhythm section throughout the song as Shrieve, Areas and Peraza combine for some cool drums. Carlos plays a slow, catchy riff and Patillo's deeper voice sounds really good! Coster plays some cool piano overtop and Brown plays a cool bass line as well. We hear some sweet conga playing and the drums in this song are off the charts! We also hear some fantastic saxophone from guest Jules Broussard who also guested on "Welcome". His sax takes over the end of the song, and he plays some really excellent stuff as the this song slowly fades out. The next song is titled "One With The Sun" and is a cover of a Jerry Martini song. A nice bass line by Brown carries the beat as Carlos plays some cool guitar overtop. Patillo's singing is pretty good and he adds some cool piano to the mix as well. Carlos plays a solid short solo, then Coster plays a solid organ solo containing some good stuff. Once he's done it's Carlos' turn again as he really turns it up from here until the end with some awesome guitar. The side closer is "Aspirations" and Peraza plays some cool, quick congas as Coster plays some slow, drone-y organ to start this instrumental song. Broussard features on saxophone once again and his slow playing sounds pretty sweet. The sax is the lead instrument the whole way and once it speeds up we hear some really fantastic stuff! He just keeps going overtop of the fast beat and this is definitely a cool jam.
Side two begins with "Practice What You Preach" as slow guitar and organ make for a cool opening and Carlos plays some great stuff! The rest of the band joins in and it ends up forming a normal Santana verse. Brown plays a catchy bass line and Patillo's voice sounds great again; I think he seems a great fit for Santana. Carlos continues to play some sweet guitar and he takes it away for a great solo at the end of the song, but they cut the song off mid-solo. If you follow this blog you know this annoys me to no end! Was there some reason you couldn't end it after he was doing playing amazing music? Grr. Patillo wrote the next song "Mirage" and he plays some cool piano while synthesizer by Coster sounds great taking the lead. His singing in this one is good as usual, but the chorus is a little boring with his oh-ing. Peraza plays some cool congas throughout and Carlos unsurprisingly delivers a sweet guitar solo. Patillo does some wordless vocals scat-style, but it just doesn't sound very good, especially in the mood of this song. It has some cool moments, but overall not one of their better offerings. Track 9 is called "Here And Now" and Broussard features once again with some more great saxophone as this song starts similar to last year's "Going Home" with lots of cymbals and percussion and the band all adding their own bits to this instrumental madness. It leads right into "Flor De Canela" which has some awesome conga playing by Peraza. Coster plays some trippy organ in the background as Carlos leads the way with some slow guitar. It sounds great with the really fast percussion and this also segues right into the next song "Promise Of A Fisherman", a cover of Brazilian artist Dorival Caymmi, and the sweet congas/bongos continue! Flora Purim contributes wordless vocals to this one and her high oh-ing does fit the mood nicely. Coster keeps the pace with some slow piano while Carlos solos overtop of the relaxed vibe, doing a great job! Coster takes over lead and plays a cool electric piano solo, then he switches over to Hammond organ for some more fantastic stuff! He may not be Gregg Rolie, but Coster is a pretty freakin' good keyboardist. Coster and Santana take turns soloing in this 8-minute instrumental and we are the beneficiaries of their battle. They both play some really great stuff and Peraza is playing some crazy percussion as well! Moreira, not Shrieve, plays drums on this song and he's doing a pretty great job as well. A really great song that is definitely my favourite off the record. The album ends with the title track "Borboletta" and Moreira wrote this song and performs it entirely by himself: it's just him playing various percussion and singing in Portuguese. I'm not a huge fan of the singing, but the percussion is trippy at the beginning, and becomes pretty cool by the end. A very odd way to end the album though, no Santana members played at all!
That is the end of "Borboletta" and I really enjoyed this jazz-heavy Santana album. Broussard's saxophone was a great touch and while there's a couple lesser songs, most of them I thought were pretty good, especially "Promise Of A Fisherman". But how does it compare to their previous albums? I liked it better than their previous 2 albums "Welcome" and "Caravanserai" but is it good enough to crack the barrier of that first album? I don't think it quite reaches those heights and so their sixth album will land in 4th on my list. Who knows what Santana will look like by their next album, but I'm sure there will be some cool music.
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