Fans of early Santana will love this. It has great versions of Santana standards such as Jingo, Soul Sacrifice, Persuasion and Treat. It also has some rare tunes which I don't think are on other Santana albums such as Fried Neckbones, Chunk A Funk and Conquistadore. The songs are mostly lengthy jam-style tunes with plenty of improvisation. Freeway alone is 30 minutes long, but doesn't hardly seem like it. I only have a couple of complaints about this release. Soul Sacrifice is awesome as always, but actually has very little guitar soloing. Fortunately, Gregg Rolie's organ soloing makes up for it. It's still not as good as the awe-inspiring woodstock version. Second, the absence of Mike Shrieve, future Santana drummer. The drummer from these performances isn't bad, but not as great as Mike Shrieve. Petty complaints aside, this is a great CD which fans of Santana's peak era ('69 to '72) will love. Anyone who likes jam band music (early Allman Brothers, Phish) will enjoy this also.

Six months before recording their great debut album and 21 years before his recent world wide sucess, Carlos Santana, Gregg Rolie and band played their hearts out for four nights at the Filmore West in December of 1968.

This album is not only a great Santana album but one of the great live albums of the 60's. I often agree with the Amazon staff but their review here is way off. This CD contains 9 songs four of which would show up on the debut album and 5 were unreleased until now.

My favorite song on the CD is the totaly different version of "Treat" here than on the debut album. Gregg Rolie's piano introduction is great. It is easy to forget how magical Carlos Santana and Rolie were togeather. Of the unreleased songs "Conquistadore Rides Again" is a highpoint. Great version of "Persuasion" too.

Amazing sound for a 60's recording but Columbia Legacy always seems to do a great job. Forget the various live albums by The Doors, The Byrds, Joplin and the Airplane. This one ranks with Dylan live at The Royal Albert Hall, Hendrix and Redding at Monterey and the Stones at Madison Square Garden. That it was unreleased Until 1997 is all the more remarkable because most unreleased rock albums should stay that way. Enjoy!

I disagree with the "professional" (see Bateman, above--or rather, don't see)--THIS is the Santana I fell in love with in high school, THIS album shows the fire, the chops, the consummate sense of the music. It may be "of" its time, but I believe it's timeless. The new album is good, sure, but NOTHING for me beats "Santana" or "Abraxas" (first 2 albums). But this one complements them nicely, and shows the pure joy of making (what was then) a new sound without regard for its commercial possibilities--and LIVE! If you like the early stuff, get this earlier stuff. If you like the new stuff, this is better!

When this 2-CD set was released, I jumped at the chance of having a pre-Woodstock recording of Santana. Unfortunately, far from the jubilation expressed from other reviewers, I found it to be a major disappointment. While the sound quality is excellent, and Carlos Santana and Gregg Rolie are in fine form, the backup sounded relatively bland to me. Being a percussionist myself, I must point the finger solely at Bob "Doc" Livingston, the drummer.

While it's nice to have a documentation from his tenure with the band, and his playing is solid enough (with a decent version of "Jingo"), to me there was a "sameness" to his playing, relegating his role of time keeper rather than leading and propelling the band to higher places, which only started happenning after Michael Shrieve replaced Livingston. Listen to "Soul Sacrifice" (for one example). Just compare his playing to Shrieve's from the Woodstock performance (which, frankly BLOWS AWAY this collection) and you'll see what I mean. Every drummer that succeeded Shrieve carried on this tradition. To me this is a big reason why Santana is so successful (though definitely not the ONLY one). If Livingston continued with the band you would be looking at a very different Santana band indeed!

If you're new to Santana, check out "The Best Of Santana" then get their first three CDs (Santana, Abraxas, and Santana III), and if you want their live stuff, really any other live Santana CD will do.

Three stars for Carlos' and Gregg's immense talent! Otherwise, there are MUCH better releases out there.

Keep the peace.

As others have said there is only a drummer and a conga player, so for Santana standards, it is weak on the percussion level, but if you are a fan on the band, especially the first three albums, I think you will enjoy this album a lot. For me it is worth just for the long version of "Treat" and "Fried Neckbones" which sounds so much better than those on the bootlegs. To me this is "hippie rock" at its best, better than any Dead or Airplane I ever heard.