SACRED FIRE (LIVE IN SOUTH AMERICA)

"Muy buenas, estamos encantados y inspirados de estar en su presencia. Antes de comenzar con la vibración de la música queremos recordarles que en este momento si toman el tiempo de ver con el corazón, no con la mente, vamos a ver que estamos rodeados, completamente rodeados de ángeles. Lo vemos, lo sentimos bailando, siempre bailando en el cuerpo".

Hence the title "Angels All Around Us" of this philosophical intro. Carlos had turned into a rather mystical person (but it is not new : I saw the band live in 1973 and 1998 and there were lots of "love" or "god" messages (too much to my taste) between numbers.

These are the introductory words for the master to the audience. Although the CD refers to Live in South America, its DVD brother clearly specifies a recording in Mexico, and the CD is more than probably also recorded there since track list are almost the same (but the liner notes of the CD is not really specific on this point).

So, there is really no best place than Mexico to record a Santana live album, right ? Mexican people are really bound to their roots (tortilla, guacamole, chiles etc.) much more than Europeans for instance (my wife being Mexican, I could experienced this fact since...1985). So it must have been a very emotional time for Carlos to triumph in front of his fellow countrymen (women).

IMO the last sixteen years have been very difficult in terms of quality output for Santana (and for his fans, I can tell you). When you see the tracklist of this live effort one is relieved : not the slightest shadow of these very poor numbers. This clearly demonstrates that Carlos must be pretty much aware of the music level he has produced in those days...

The first two numbers of the album are "Spanish" oriented (which is rather normal) : "Vive La Vida" is a good latin-rock number while "Esperando" (Waiting) is a reggae number with rather poor mixed lyrics (English, Spanish) : "Santana Pa' Mi, Santana Pa' Ti, pero que rico, que rico Santana". Not really great a start, to say the least. As far as I know, they were unrealeased Santana numbers at the time.

All the other numbers belong to the best Santana repertoire except "Make Somebody Happy" which has awful vocals (this is alas a trademark since Gregg left in ... 1973) but a fantastic guitar solo will save it from the disaster. Most of the tracks come from "Abraxas" and "Santana III". No "Caravanserai" one unfortunatley and two from their first album.

Some numbers are really fabulously played.

The best examle is "Guajira" : this good track from III is transformed by a magical guitar solo backed with great percussions. It is one of the highlight here while it was average in its studio form.

Although the keyboard sounds weird at times, the suite "Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen" is superb. Extended quite a bit, it features a great finale. "Toussaint L'Overture" is as great as the original. "Samba Pa'Ti" always provides me the same emotion although, again, the keyboard is rather disturbing here. It features also a bit of "Brazil" like in the "Lotus" version.

One of the many variation of this emblematic theme "Europa" is on par with the mother song. Carlos makes his guitar cry and tranports the listener to the borders of sensual delight (but again those stupid keys almost ruin it). "Jingo" is rather average.

The major dissapointment is of course the poor version of their greatest number : "Souls Sacrifice". It starts as the Woodstock one with the "Crowd Rain Chant" for a few seconds. The first two minutes are OK, but then it enters into such a poor phase (a vocal one, during "Soul Sacrifice". Can you imagine ?). From then on, the track is unrecognizable. The percussion part is rather emasculated and this enactment is really bad. Where are you Mike ? Where are you "Chepito" ? I simply adore this number but it is really incredible that they rendered it so poorly here.

This live album comes like a great breath of fresh air after such a long period of uninspired studio albums. Still, bearing in mind that some numbers are quite average and that "Soul" is disastrous (really), I will rate this album three stars.