Santana - Welcome

KC's Azteca post brought up a discussion about the merits of Santana (see the comments for that post) - I mentioned 3 early 70's albums (Caravanserai, Welcome and Borboletta) which contained a more jazz, fusion and spiritual musical direction. The change of some band members plus additional guests gave these albums a new and experimental soundscape. Consequently, they proved to be the lowest selling records in the Santana canon. I love that !
Personally I cherish those 3 albums and they were very much part of my late-teens soundtrack - For those familiar - this is the 2003 Remastered cd with an additional track 'Mantra'. For those unfamiliar - give it a listen and judge for yourself - There are many reviews on the net and most are glowing - Check it out...

"Santana has always fused the spiritual with the secular and Welcome is as close as the guitarist has ever come to the former with no regard for the latter. Welcome yielded no hit singles and was never conceived as an album rock radio would play. This is Santana's John Coltrane/A Love Supreme moment: creating transcendent, reverent, passionate music conceived and executed by a virtuoso artist without the slightest trace of concern for commercial considerations"  (Jeff Winbush - All About Jazz).

Musicians include : Carlos Santana - guitar,vocals Michael Shrieve - drums Jules Broussard - sax  Tom Coster - keyboards Richard Kermode - keyboards Leon Thomas & Flora Purim vocals ...