"Not ready for prime time," one reviewer writes, forgetting to remind us that "prime time" is the TV slot for middle of the road, "accessible" programming. Instead, let's say this is completely ready for cable.

This CD rocks because it reveals the band as it wanted itself to be in its raw form. Consider this sugar in the raw compared to Satana's relatively over-produced processed sugar of the later studio albums. If you're using to dumping white sugar in your coffee, it'll take some getting used to.

Well, there's good news and bad news. First the bad news - they didn't find their groove on these sessions - they're kinda stiff. The good news - they didn't stop practicing. There's still hope for all of us frustrated musicians. The first Santana album (with the lion cover) is almost the same line-up, some of the same songs, and from the same time period, but what a difference. For early work, I prefer "Live at the Fillmore 1968 [LIVE]"; a year earlier, a few different musicians, but performing live seems to have loosened them up. BTW, what ever happened to Dave Brown (bass)? He laid a great foundation.

The lineup for this release is the same as the first 3 Santana releases on Columbia, and these are indeed demo studio sessions recorded in 1969. By far what we have here are mostly instrumental jams of a young band trying out their chops (only two songs have lyrics). They are neither as polished or powerful as they would soon become, but you can see the style and potential here. So if you are into 1960's San Francisco-Style Acid Rock Jams, this is a great album.

The sound quality of all but the last 3 songs is pretty good and clear for the period. For some reason the last 3 songs sound like out of a bootleg. But you still get a solid 90 minutes of good jamming!