Just as on their previous release, Caravanserai, Welcome sees Santana complementing their Latin rock sound with a jazz feel. Although there aren't any bonafide classics here like "Evil Ways" or "Black Magic Woman", the music and lyrics on Welcome embrace spirituality more than their music had previously. Also worth noting is that while Caravanserai must be listened to its entirety to fully digest, Welcome is more of a song-based collection. The opening "Going Home" continues the Santana trend of the instrumental opener providing the feel for the rest of the album. In this case, the organs provide a majestic churchlike feel before piano and Carlos' ringing guitar lines provide a feeling of peace. This kicks right into the funky "Love, Devotion and Surrender", a track where Carlos, Wendy Haas, and Leon Thomas share vocal duties, with each of them adding a little more emotion as the song progresses. "When I Look Into Your Eyes" is a love poem put to music with a dated keyboard outro while the excellent "Yours Is The Light" features near operatic vocals from Flora Purim. "Light Of Life", with its strings and majestic vocals from Thomas, is also a highlight. As for the instrumentals, both "Mother Africa" and "Flame Sky" are two of the band's best with the former featuring a killer sax solo from Jules Broussard while the latter contains wicked solos from both Carlos and guest guitarist John McLaughlin. The original closing title track projects a similar feel to its opener, one of eternal peace. The bonus track, "Mantra", has a very chaotic feel, similar in intensity to "Flame Sky", and complements the album well. Although not quite as cohesive as their first four albums, Welcome is a strong musical statement that still blows most of today's music, including Santana's more recent output, right out of the water.

Welcome is Santana's Fifth studio recording album; Nothing like Santana I, Abraxas or Santana III; yet a pure state of art (Latin Jazz Rock fusion) musical release.

After his great success in his first 3 releases, Santana begins to discover new musical routes hand in hand with the Great guitarist John Mc Laughlin.

They release this CD hand in hand with "Love, Devotion and surrender".
Back in 1973, both albums were disregarded by most of the radio stations and even by most of Santana fans, who expected a more Latin Rock albums.

Obviously Carlos Santana was deviating from his original Latin Rock roots sound and taking the Jazz Rock fusion path.

Back to "Welcome"; if you are a Santana guitar fan, you will be pleased listening to this album today; it did not age one single minute.
If you are into Jazz, Rock and Fusion, this album would fit as a real Jewel in your musical collection.

Last and not Least; If you like this CD, I believe you would probably enjoy the following releases as well:
1. Love Devotion and Surrender by Carlos Santana and John McLaughlin
2. Caravanserai by Santana
3. Illuminations by Santana
4. Devotion by John McLaughlin

Welcome to the great Jazz Fusion sounds and music; Highly recommended.

Continuing the path that Caravanserai started on, Welcome is what jazz fusion really is all about. Released in 1973 between two world tours, Welcome showcased Santana's ability to play excellent music, even after Gregg Rolie and Neal Schon left the band. This album shows a high level of maturation in the band's music. Santana went from Afro-Cuban/rock jams, to highly sophisticated compositions.
The "latin" feel is virtually gone in this album. "Only Samba de Sausalito" and "Yours Is the Light" show a hint of latin music in them. Nevertheless, all the songs on the album are very good. The highlight of the album, however, is "Flame Sky".
This 11 minute song showcases Carlos Santana and John McLaughlin's breathtaking guitar work.
This album is highly recommended for Santana fans and Jazz fans as well. However, if you are new to Santana and you are expecting to hear songs such as "Oye Como Va" and "Evil Ways", you might want to get this album a little later, after you have familiarized yourself with Santana's music. You also might want to get Caravanserai first too.

Welcome gets four, not five, stars for this reason only: it is the second part of what is, in retrospect, a three-album documentation of Carlos Santana's period with the guru Sri Chinmoy. This period began with Caravanserai, followed by Welcome then Borboletta. To appreciate Santana's growth during this period, one must take these three albums together as a single body of work (and Columbia should consider a special release in which they are packaged that way).

The Caravanserai-Welcome-Borboletta triple play was a departure from the initial Santana incarnation that began with Santana's debut (Evil Ways, Jingo, etc.)and ended amid the tension and hard feelings that surrounded the recording of Santana III (Everybody's Everything, No One to Depend On, et. al.). The highlight of that debut period was Abraxas.

But unlike Caravanserai, Welcome and Borboletta (actually 4, 5, and 6 in the complete Santana discography), only one of the early Santana albums are today necessary, and that is, of course, Abraxas.

Not so Caravanserai, Welcome and Borboletta, and though they have never been champions in terms of numbers of albums sold, they collectively represent sustained vision and Santana's best work. Each are vital for those interested in Carlos Santana's career, one that would sputter soon thereafter (the music would flare to molten intensity at times as Amigos and Moonflower would prove). The result was a perplexing and maddening two-decade slump that did not end until the release of Supernatural, finally a full-force achievement in terms of artistic clarity and mature pop music vision.

One wonders if Carlos Santana will ever create as audaciously again.

The overall sound on this CD is lush, breezy and very much a record to be played during the summertime. The vocals of the great Leon Thomas haunt one and Santanas guitarwork is very restrained. On one track it's unleashed. "Flame Sky" is a guitar battle between Carlos & John McLaughlin and is set just around a basic E minor/F major 7th chord progression...very simple..that's until the solos fly and both guitarists float in outer space! McLaughlins classic machine gun,rapid fire riffs will scorch the hair on your head.
Definitely one of the highest points in the careers of both men.
A stunningly beautiful album throughout that is once again inspired largely by the music of the great John Coltrane.