THIS A GREAT INSTRUMENTAL ROCK ALBUM WITH THE 3 SANTANAS IN TOP FORM. EVERY SONG IS GREAT WITH EXCELLENT BLISTERING GUITAR SOLOS AND RYTHYMS IN THE TRADEMARK SANTANA STYLE.THERE REALLY ISN'T A BAD SONG ON THIS CD AND IT'S NICE TO HEAR THE GUITARS SINGING INSTEAD OF VOICES. A MUST HAVE FOR THE CARLOS SANTANA FANS.

I like this cd because it definately stays away from the corny vocal based tunes Santana had been making for some time, and unfortunately continues to make. Most of the songs were written by Jorge Santana and he proves himself to be a competent song writer, but the soulful guitar playing mostly keeps it above musak or fusak. The first song transmutation is kind unusual and leans toward speed metal.My favorite tune is definately thoughts, it make me feel like I'm parasailing on a clear day in Seattle,I have not felt that since Caravanserai. El aranjuez has a nice feel, but I really don't like that antiseptic sounding synthesizer effect. El brujo and the trip are for guitar freaks, and it ends with the beautiful morning in Marin.Maybe Carlos will give us real fans something more in this vein again.

IF YOU ARE A SUPERNATURAL FAN, YOU MIGHT NOT LIKE THIS.

This was released in 1994, before Santana would go on a 5 year recording break and then resurrect his career with Supernatural. It is 52 minutes long and the sound quality is excellent. Except for one track, this is an instrumental CD.

The CD features Carlos Santana, his brother Jorge and their nephew Carlos Hernandez. Jorge was in Malo in the seventies. Malo sounded much like Santana, but was more instrumental oriented.

The best stuff on this CD is driven by Jorge Santana. The CD starts out great and ends great. It is powerful, slightly hard latin rock. There is a little discordant jazz mixed in. It is similar to the sound of Caravanserai, Welcome and Borbarella days.

The CD isn't perfect. After the first track, there are several tracks that are almost boring. It is the same kind of music that Santana had been putting out for years and was getting a little tired. It is that soft latin tinged instrumental. It was good at one point, such as on the beginning of Europa, but it is getting a little stale.

Also, Carlos Hernandez is no where close to the talent of the Santana Brothers. He resorts to those cheap guitar tricks of the eighties and nineties, pioneered by Eddie Van Halen, but ruined by every guitar hack to come out of the last part of the century.

This CD came in the midnineties, when Santana was getting back on track. After being a blockbuster pioneering Latin act in the late sixties/early seventies, Santana switched to jazz. I think he was at his creative best, but it became his least popular period. In the late seventies and all through the eighties, Santana moved to pop. Some of the albums during this time were just horrible, athough there were a few that he did as a solo act were OK. In 1990, he started getting back on track with Spirits Dancing in the Dark, the fantastic Malagro and this CD. But, he could not regain his popularity, as the public had forgotten who he was. then, in 1999, he came out with his duet smash, Supernatural. Unfortunately, he tried to repeat the duet formula on his next two CD's and fell flat. In those cases, all of the musicians just phoned in their work.

Three members of Carlos Santana's family come together to make this great cd, the cd by Carlos, his brother Jorge, and their cousin is a great instrumental find. The cd features all three of these guys trading off licks on their guitars. Great Album!

I think this is perhaps the best work Santana has ever done. There are no lyrics. He does his singing with his guitar. The range of style varies quite a bit from one track to the next. Track 4 is quite romantic, track 3 has a beautiful hispanic beat, track 8 sounds like a combination of Van Halen and RUSH. I cannot wait for their next CD. You owe it to yourself to listen to this CD. Don't miss out on this masterful work of art.