In Santana we trust

Havana Moon & Blues For Salvador are both very solid records. They're 'solo' albums, wish he'd do more of this kind of work instead of the commercial dreck he's been putting out for too long!

Besides 'Havana Moon' and 'Blues For Salvador' he made 3 other interesting solo records when he was calling himself Devadip Carlos Santana (ala Mahavishnu John McLaughlin). The best IMO was 'The Swing Of Delight'. Although he used various other musicians on the double album, the highlight was that he primarily used the members of Miles Davis's 2nd great quintet; Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, Tony Williams, and Wayne Shorter! Of course, while 'Caravanserai' can be considered the only Fusion recording by the Santana band, his hardest hitting Fusion record was his collaboration with Mahavishnu John McLaughlin; 'Love, Devotion, & Surrender'. The Santana band record that rarely gets any love is Santana III. To me it's as good as Abraxas, the only time the band had TWO lead guitarists, a very young, but extremely smokin' Neal Schon, who went on to make it big in Journey. Being an aging latino hippy;), I always loved Santana as it was the perfect mix of Rock, Latin, with some Jazz overtones. I really can't listen to his music anymore. His 'formula' since 'Supernatural' has been the same and it bores me to tears. He's making more money than ever so I'm happy for him, but his music has stopped evolving and the worst aspect is that so has his guitar playing.

If you really want to talk obscure....if you're a fan of the original Santana band sound here's 2 records you might want to check out. The 1st being original Santana keyboard player Gregg Rolie's 'Roots'. Recorded in 2001, sounds like what the band might've sounded like had they stayed true to the original concept. The 2nd is 'Abraxas Pool'. Recorded in '97, this record features all the members of the original band minus Carlos (Neal Schon's on gtr!).