New Santana Album "Africa Speaks"

Well I streamed this again late last night on Qobuz hires.
Was very relaxed and receptive.
Still think it is overly compressed and lacking in air and dynamics but.....

Yes there is some pretty fine guitar playing and it does have a cohesiveness to it that has possibly a longer term appeal than my first go round indicated.

Would I buy the album? No I would not but it is now in my Qobuz fave list.

I think it might do better on a decent headphone setup.

We’ll mark you down for sitting on the fence. 

I just wish this fence was not a spiked one!

My CD was delivered by a pony express rider who was flagged down by one of "Miss Kitty's" girls along the way; hence, it took awhile for me to get it.

This thread would be incomplete without my final evaluation, and that required the physical CD. Unfortunately, I agree with the "audiophiles" about the recording downfalls of this CD; however, I give the music an "A", that's because I began listening to music with a complete rig that came in something that looked like a "small" suitcase; consequently, it's easy for me to separate the music from the recording quality.

Although I found the title to be slightly misleading, the music was pure "Santana" and I enjoyed it. I hope Santana gets this message and never again records such a sorry CD from a technical point of view.

The cd is selling on the Bay, new, for under $5, inclusive with shipping. I do not stream yet ( I am still looking into it ), but the cd, sounds good on my system. The music....., wow. I know it is a very processed studio album, but as I said many times in my posts, it is the music that matters, and Santana, being a favorite of mine for 50 years, did not let me down. Enjoy ! MrD.