Many complaints have been lodged against this album including comments regarding the extra length of songs, the constant noodling, the missing presence of Carlos Santana, the want of an overall melody, and poor voice quality.
To commence with, the duration of the songs is excellently chosen. And consider it or not Supernatural fans, each call is well planned out.
Most reviewers who receive a kick with this album's length don't like love to start with, and trust that Carlos keep inside the boundary of his late 60's and late 90's hit making three minute song machine. The immensity of Lotus is its power to make all of Carlos' beautiful melodies and extend them each into a completely new creation.
Despite the extensive duration of songs on Lotus, there is no excessive noodling. Each solo has a central rhythmic and melodic structure that was exploited to carry in a second what can never been repeated. Unlike earlier Santana albums, Carlos allows other musicians (i.e. excellent keyboards and Latin percussion) to express beautiful melodies over a pallet of amazing chord progressions and fast rhythms. In addition Carlos is in his best recorded form, from the subtlety displayed on Samba Pa Ti to the incredible Incident at Neshabur. Lotus is pure genius if for naught but the second disc of material. Carlos' guitar tone on Lotus is everlasting in its power to express cleanly when played gently and raise up when played with great passion.
Lotus is one of the one greatest achievement in guitar playing in price of Santana's ability to rule and understand the musical powers of the guitar. No other guitarist I have heard (Jimi, Django, Allman, Clapton, Beck, and even McLaughlin) has unlocked the secret of a melodic, singable solo more whole than Carlos Santana did on this record.
In regards to the recording quality and mix, I think it to be one of the best live album ever made. This album is not meant to go up-front like a studio album or get dozens of crowd noise like live albums made in the late 70's till now have. Lotus is meant to sound endless and bound with great warmth. The mic positioning, engineering, and mixing is top notch. Every instrument is balanced and every nuance is audible and clear. If you have never tried to mix a last album, you would never know how difficult it is to attain the charge of heat and tonal quality Lotus produces.
Lotus is about the top of recorded music of all time. Many days after "Smooth" is forgotten, future generations and historians will depend upon Lotus as one of the most significant achievements in modern music history.
No comments:
Post a Comment