INNER SECRETS

Items ordered by ending time | Showing only 100
Show all SANTANA Inner Secrets items on eBay

Visit eBay search:'prog rock' for items
Sell your SANTANA items on eBay !

No release results - showing artist results instead

Sort: Recent best-seller | Results cached

Visit Amazon tag:'Progressive Rock' for more prog rock

3.5 stars really!!!

As the decade is drawing near, Santana was moving more out of his pure jazz-rock era, probably realizing the style was starting to exhaust its possibilities. The album does veer a slight bit towards the funky (and even a bit disco) with a typoical Spencer Davis touch with Greg Walker's Winwood-styled vocals.

While the album starts out surprisingly on a Traffic cover of Dealer (good but not as good as the original) and ending on a cool Spanish outro, Move On is now a typical Santana track that mixes Winwood-souled vocals with that typicvally aerial latin-fusion the group had developped over the last four years. The surprisingly funky (dare I say almost disco- ish) One Chain is hardly insufferable though, but the more calm but still funky Stormy is rather bland.

Side 2 starts out with another Winwood classic followed by a harder Open Invitation reminding a bit the early-days Steve Perry Journey, but nothing infuriating either. The Lady/Holiday couple is bringing us back towards Amigos, while the funky Facts Of love is again flirting with a funky Winwood influence.. The closing percussive Wham! is almost a return to the first three albums albeit slightly modernized, and might just be my fave on the album.

By then end of the album, one can only be a tad irritated at the too-numerous Winwood references from Spencer Davis to Traffic, but this is clearly due to Dennis Lambert's production also as he collaborated to three songs also, earning a co-credit for each. Not one of Santana's most original album, not one of his worst either. Only really flawed by the heavily-slanted singing, this remains a good Santana album, just not an essential one.

Inner Secrets spelt out the real change in Carlos Santana's directing of Santana the group. Here we go again on the late 70's merry -go-round ' adapt or die' reality that these groups were faced with. Santana survived and to some extents even better than the other bands as they blended the latino/rock/jazz fusion into a more 80's directed AOR sound. Who cares, the trade off was worth it as Santana proved on at least 5 or six further studio releases. Inner Secrets was the first major bold step in changing direction. Some erstwhile progressive followers may think this was the end of Santana, IMO that is totally wrong as the late 70's even through to the late 90's yielded superb material from this band.' One Chain' is the main single of Inner Secrets and it is absolutely superb. The quality of which outweighs the commercial edge.' Open Invitation' and ' The Facts Of Love' are other great songs. Greg Walker really shines on this album in the vocals department and CS continues to shapeshift his guitar to whatever guises he sees fit. Great album 3.5 stars full of positive subteties of even better days ahead.

During almost ten years, Santana has delivered several great albums and a few good ones. I'm afraid that with this one, we enter into a rather long obscurantism period. Santana going soul / disco ? Yes man, it is possible ! How could such a great band turn into such a (poor) joke ? This is quite a mystery for me.

I have been found of Santana all the way through : discovering them with "Abraxas" in December 1970, being completely blown out with their "Soul Sacrifice" rendition at Woodstock (I heard this one in February 1971 for the very first time). I even could enter their jazz-rock period with not so many problem.

But this one is just beyond my abilities. Should it have been good disco ! But no, it is real crap all the way through. The worse is probably reached with "One Chain" and "Stormy". What a pity !

To be honest, "Life Is A Lady/Holiday" is the first track that I, as an old Santana fan, can afford (although Carlos tries again to re-create for the seventh time now a clone for "Samba Pa' Ti"). Alas, it is way too short and cut abruptedly.

The closing number "Wham!" is the second good track of the album (again too short).

Santana would have been inspired in producing a single which would have been great ! Vocals were never really a trademark for Santana. There is way too much in here. This is for masochists only. One star. Avoid it as the plague.