New Santana Album "Africa Speaks"

This will be my last and final post on "Audiogon"; some will be happy, some will be sad, but I'm moving on.

I'm making this post in honor of "Carlos Santana", one of the greatest musicians of my generation, and I say this with the authority vested in me as a music lover.

"Woodstock"; in August of 1969, Carlos Santana let the world know who he was and what he could do with a guitar; from that time on, he only needed one name "Santana".


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqZceAQSJvc


"Epiphany" is defined as an appearance or manifestation; Santana was both, he was the appearance of a guitar deity, and the manifestation of "Latin Rock"; plus, for me personally, a trip into another reality.

"Abraxas" Singing Winds, Crying Beasts; I wore out three LP's of that album, and presently own 1 new LP, plus 2 CD's; to say that I like that album is an understatement.


      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xskk5q1DL6A&list=PL4B040D6EA1342931


Santana had "it", and he still got it.

onhwy61
In the rock/pop world if you don’t use large amounts of compression across the entire mix, your song will sound weak and wimpy when it follows a track that is heavily compressed. The compressed track will sound louder, punchier and more alive when compared directly to the uncompressed track. Technically the process is compression/limiting. They chop off the signal peaks and then raise the average signal level. It’s like having an amp that goes to "11".

>>>It’s the difference between loudness and dynamic range. If the music doesn’t have dynamics it’s just elevator music albeit loud elevator music. That’s why you have to turn the volume UP for uncompressed tracks. The overly compressed tracks sound MONOTONIC not DYNAMIC. Teeny boppers love it, though. 😍😍😍

I bought both lp and cd and in my opinion the music sucks and the recordings are not that great
Santana can do lot better check out Shape Shifter 

Orpheus10, it would be a shame, to not have you here. Your contributions have always been appreciated by me, even if I disagreed at times. On another thread, I put forth a question to the other posters. It went like this. " Given an opportunity to listen to a typical, junior high school jazz ensemble, in Carnegie Hall, with you being in the 1st 10 rows, OR, Miles Davis, with some of his quartet members, in an acoustic space, no better than an airport bathroom, which would you prefer ? ". I do not recall if anyone responded to me, but, without being disrespectful to the junior high band, I selected the MD quartet, not caring where they performed. Some of us, use the music, to listen to our equipment, and some of us, use the equipment, to better listen to the music. Most of my favorite music is compressed, to various degrees, such as Africa Speaks, ( actually, compared to being at a live, unamplified musical performance, once it hits the microphone, it is over ). I understand this, and feel, my system, allows me to hear more of the " music ", and I can pay less attention to the recording quality. All recordings, do not sound like a Chesky production ( it would be nice if they did ), but I know, many audiophiles, who ONLY listen to recordings, such as these. I can, and do, appreciate a recording, that is stellar in it’s recording production, but I will continue to listen to all of my recorded music, because it is all about the music. One last point. Many folks posting on this  thread, feel their systems are the wonders of the audio community, but little do they know, the speakers they use, exhibit compression. Please, stick around, and see, all of the posters, who respond to my post here. Enjoy ! MrD.

@orpheus10 

Hey I totally get where you are coming from, many of the responses left me cold as well. I agree with you 100% about Abraxas - one of the all time greatest rock albums.

I also agree with you about Africa Speaks - sounds good to me,  Carlos has the fire back on that one. It’s quite the achievement and testimony to Mr. Carlos Santana to be making music all these years. 
Enjoy the music ! Take care of yourself.