Santana – Borboletta

The inclusion of percussionist Airto & Flora Purim drove a slightly more streamlined Brazilian sound w/ ages of great beauty that float along on dreamy waves of Latin tinged jazz-fusion enhanced by Carlos’ smooth fluid guitar tones (who was heavy into the influence of Guru Sri Chinmoy by this time), driving percussion & drumming & melodic bass lines (Stanley Clark/David Brown) creating a sweet mystical feel.
An explosive mix of fusion & experimentation.

Sounds stunning, huge wide sound stage with great depth, Very good dynamic range, as good as if not slightly better than my minty 1st UK pressing

A record I bought years ago whose cover design was based on some inlay art done on the front of his then main guitar, a Gibson L6-S custom that was all over this record. I listened to this record obsessively in the days after my father ed away. Many of the songs seemed to have almost a christian rock approach to the lyrics (even though I heard the tune Mirage on AOR radio at the time). Musically it's a mix of the fusion direction he'd been going on for a while then a mix of hard rock (Give and Take - the most "rock" oriented tune on the record), a kind of light tropical jazz (Canto De Los Flores), light pop (Life is Anew, One With The Sun), gospel (Practice What You Preach) but the meat of this record is the instrumental improvisational aspects and probably the main reason this record is still of interest in 2024: "Aspirations" is a showcase for sax player Jules Broussard (a player who is featured on several different Santana records) which is driven by Stanley Clarke's driving bass playing alongside the similarly interesting drums of Mike Shrieve and the perpetual rising organ playing of Tom Coster. From there we have a sort of suite that comprises the last 15 minutes of the record and probably the attraction for the fans of "Santana as Musician" - the tracks "Here and Now", "Flor De Canela", plus the interesting cover of Dorival Caymmi's "Promise of a Fisherman" (but rearranged in Santana-fusion style - it hardly bears resemblence to the original at all except for the melody) and closing out with the title track "Borboletta" which is a showcase for percussionist Airto Moriera (his wife Flora Purim shows up on the record too). For those wondering if there's enough trademark Santana guitar to warrant interest I'd say yes but it's rather interesting that he pares it back some on this release. There's no guitar at all until 8 minutes into the record. "Aspirations" has no guitar at all, neither does "Spring Manifestations" or "Borboletta". Kind of an unusual choice for someone whose guitar is the main attraction for most of his fans. It's also notable as it's the first Santana record with a Moog Synthesizer on it, "Mirage" and "Give and Take" have melody lines played on that instrument. I could see some people who liked the first couple of Santana records asking where's the beef but the jamming gets pretty furious during the big suite at the end of the record and the hard rocking "Give and Take". This record is notable in that it's sort of a conclusion of a trilogy of fusion records (Caravanserai, Welcome and this one) because the next record "Amigos" goes for a more uptempo commercial mainstream latin-rock sound. So those who don't dig this one might like the next one better. I've liked this record for years. Mainly because I bet his record label was going "WHEN is he going to get off this pseudo-spiritual kick?" Well, pretty soon as it turns out.

Picked this up years ago because the cover was stunning and finally listening. Dang this is a great album!

Promise of a Fisherman.......Something else just wow....! This is a perfect addendum to the best of Santana!

Top drawer Santana album, a high point. The follow up album, Amigos, isn't half the album this one is. Though that one pleased the lable more I assume.

One of the greatest Santana albums of all time. Mind boggling stuff. The musicianship is extraordinary, the song writing is over the top, and Santana's guitar work will leave your jaw on the floor! An exploding volcano of progressive rock, fusion, Latin and funky jazz, all expertly served and great production values as well.