Santana's Caravanserai was recorded at Columbia Studios in San Francisco, California between February and May 1972, and released on October 11, 1972. It was produced by Carlos Santana and Michael Shrieve. This was the band's fourth studio album.
The album was inspired by Carlos Santana's growing interest in spiritual
themes and jazz improvisation, influenced by artists like Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders. 'Caravanserai' was the first of Santana's "spiritual trilogy" along with 'Welcome' from 1973 and 'Borboletta' from 1974.
As Carlos began to fall under the influence of Indian spiritual leader Sri Chinmoy, he was encouraged to use his music not for commercial gain but to express his spirituality. Thankfully this only manifests itself in the form of song titles like "All the Love in the Universe" and "Eternal Caravan of Reincarnation". How many perfectly good Return to Forever albums were spoiled by ramblings about dolphins, butterflies, and Transcendental Meditation (TM)? (for the record, I've been practicing TM twice daily since 1970)
Be that as it may…
'Caravanserai' has no hit singles, and was deemed "Career suicide" by Columbia Records head Clive Davis. Carlos was likely tired of doing covers ("Oye Como Va", "Evil Ways" and "Black Magic Woman") and focused on music. That and there wasn't a radio friendly songwriter in the band. Clive Davis was wrong (again), and the album reached the Billboard Top 10. However, I can clearly remember many people who only listened to Rock were disappointed, as they wanted a continuation of Santana's first three albums.
Caravanserai is a highly produced album that incorporates phasing, backward tapes, and occasional brass sections. The production is so well-executed that you can listen to it repeatedly without growing bored or disinterested. I’ve been listening to it since its release, and I often discover new things that I hadn’t noticed before. The cohesion here is truly commendable.
For the freeload, what have you been listening to over the past few days?
I've put 1090 editions of Do The 45 onto a 256GB stick and been blasting them in the car.
ReplyDeletehahaha
Delete*punches Dave playfully on upper arm*
Delete1090 x 30 = 32,700 songs. I knew I was good at math.
DeleteI go with 16,000 songs on a 128GM, but I can see a 256GB in my future....
DeleteEmly Star
ReplyDeleteLeftovers
The Rummie Zummies
DoleBy Chance
Pleasure Ground
The Dactaris
The Grabbits
Dixo Wankers
and...
The Kewi University of Swing
Beethoven’s three Razumovsky String Quartets, Op.59.
ReplyDeleteThe symphonies of Malcolm Arnold
The Steppes -Drop of the Creature & Enquire Within.
Gbrand
Hello everyone, I've been listening to all sorts of things. Some disco-funk samplers, Odyssey, Taylor Hound Dog, Chopin (4 Scherzos, which were really lovely), and Rex Gildo, as well as Gitte Haenning, both huge names in the German Schlager scene of the late 60s and 70s. Gitte Haenning is still active today... Have a nice afternoon, best regards, Mike
ReplyDeleteHere are several, no particular order
ReplyDeleteMiles - Saturday at the Blackhawk
Talking Heads - Fear Of Music
Until They Burn Me - A Carnival Of Reveries
Triumvirat - Illusions On A Double Dimple
Horace Silver - Finger Poppin'
Little Feat - Waiting For Columbus
SociaLybrium - For You For Us For All
Snarky Puppy - 04/26/2026 Nashville
And lots more
Also, side note, not a vegetarian but I frequently stir fry in a carbon steel wok from Chinatown in San Francisco purchased in 1984. (I noticed that you mentioned yours, elsewhere). Been TM'ing since 1975 twice daily. Thanks Babs
ANON RF: Nice list! I've listened to Waiting For Columbus at least once a month for years.
DeleteI've been mostly revisiting.Coltrane '58: The Prestige Recordings box set—a treasure trove of beautiful melodies, played with exquisite emotion.
ReplyDeleteSome weird stuff that comes up randomly on the flash drive....Artie Shaw's "Besame Mucho," the Members "Solitary Confinement." I've also been trying to decide if I like Mikaela Davis...and also the Stooges Mo-Fi of their first album.
ReplyDeleteThe new Sturgill/Johnny release, a bunch of Jaimie Branch, Tyshawn's "Monochromatic Light", the new Imarhan & Tinariwen, and I'm on a pre-digital Gregory Isaacs kick (again! still!)
ReplyDeleteAntonio Carlos Jobim - Tide
ReplyDeleteGil Scot-Heron - It's Your World
Blossom Dearie - Give Him the Ooh La La
Django Reinhardt - Gypsy Jazz
Charlie & The Tropicales - Ce Beguine
Oscar Peterson - Live in Bremen 1961
Diana Krall - Look of Love
Harry Belafonte - Calypso
Fanou Torracinta - Gypsy Guitar from Corsica
Wayne Shorter - Adams Apple
John Coltrane - Giant Steps
Horace Parlan - Speakin My Piece
Jorge Ben - Jorge Ben
ANON RF: Another swell list! Can't get enough Oscar Peterson! And lovely Blossom, may she RIP.
DeleteThe Peterson lp is from Lost Recordings. Someone was selling a used copy and I rolled the dice on it - its in very good shape and a great listen. Blossom is one of Ms Mac's favorites (I'm a fan, too).
DeleteSUSS - I saw them last night at Mojave Gold in Yucca Valley
ReplyDelete"ambient country music" from NYC:
https://suss.bandcamp.com/
Easy listening music for me at work these days...
~ Jon in Cali
Prince Lasha & Sonny Simmons, the Pretenders and Blondie box sets, and the Deep Modern Jazz from Japan compilations.
ReplyDeleteANON RF: Lou Rawls; The Dead; Hatfield & The North; Ben Webster; Country Joe & The Fish; bit of Mothers; Ozric Tentacles; Paul Butterfield (tippo d hat to Farq); some Mozart; some Marin Marais; bit of Incredible String Band; Cherry & Coltrane (ta Babs); Debussy; Scottie Lafaro... et al
ReplyDeleteIt's May Day, there are protests, so we've been listening to lots of protest music new and old in preparation...good thing the woman I am married to still has a set of pipes like an angel...I sing as quietly as I can and hope there is a guitar or something/anything with frets I can fuss with...there's more good stuff than I remember, mas o menos, and also remember, if you tolerate this, your children will be next.
ReplyDeleteI'm right there with you, no school, no work, no shopping!
DeleteCharlie Parker - ‘One Night In Birdland’
ReplyDeleteRahsaan Roland Kirk - ‘Bright Moments
’ Rolling Stones - ‘Some Girls’
Tito Puente - ‘El Rey Bravo’
Sonny Rollins - ‘The Bridge’
Elmore James - ‘Singles As & Bs’
Neil Young and Crazy Horse -‘Zuma’
Steely Dan - ‘Pretzel Logic’
Charlie Haden - ‘In the Year of the Dragon’
Grateful Dead - ‘Reckoning’
Joni Mitchell - ‘Turbulent Indigo’
Audience recordings from Dylan's current tour, a little Springsteen, a little Pogues.
ReplyDeleteI've been listening to CDs, deliberately eschewing other forms which are available. Right now, it's a one-disc I made from "Smiling Phases," the two-disc Traffic collection. Before that, it was "Anthem of the Sun" by The Grateful Dead.
ReplyDeleteD in California
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteAbigal Lapell, Joshua Burnside, Marc Broussard, Larkin Poe, Barry Kerr (!!!), Santana, that Miles Davis Festival (did i get that here?), Heather Nova, and on and on. I have a "what's here now" thumb drive of things i recently have downloaded and listen to it when i'm driving around town. I've learned to keep it to atound 15 discs.
DeleteCaravanserai. No, really. I drafted a Perfect Tens piece on it. It's the Everest of albums. The spiritual tri-ology; this, Welcome, and Borboletta have remained a constant source of beautiful bliss (stop sniggering at the back there SHUTUP I say SHUTUP) since I first bought them on vinyl. Caravanserai never, ever, gets old. Always sounds new and alive. An astonishing achievement. And it worked for me at a low period in my life (waking up crying, all that C&W bullshit) when nothing else would. The lyrics for this type of material are always problematic - what are the songs actually about? - but it's a mistake to listen for literal meanings. It's the positive vibes behind them we need to open ourselves up to, not the inevitably cheesy Hallmark vocabulary. Something else - for a guitarist-led band, he keeps a lower profile than you might expect on these albums, he's not filling every crack with a flurry of notes. He's integrated into the music, and even lets Neal Schon outshine him on Song Of The Wind.
ReplyDeleteI've been listening to CDs, deliberately eschewing other forms which are available. Right now, it's a one-disc I made from "Smiling Phases," the two-disc Traffic collection. Before that, it was "Anthem of the Sun" by The Grateful Dead.
ReplyDeleteD in California
I feel a Traffic post coming on.
DeleteI first read that as Tragic.
DeleteLink
ReplyDeletehttps://workupload.com/file/wGMyCdYHVZ7
In the corner of the living room, there's a table radio on the floor "ON" 24/7, listening the music stations of CBC/Radio-Canada, ads-free.
ReplyDeleteMore specific, I go to Steve Hoffman music blog, and peruse among 12,000 threads. Now, I'm following "Party Like It's....1964-1968"... the golden age of AM radio, 3 TV stations, muscles cars & the Beetle. Fun to read and click on songs of my youth.
I’ve been mainly listening to early 70’s King Crimson, with a little Sun Ra and Fela Kuti here and there.
ReplyDeleteCaravanserai is my favourite Santana record because it has no hit singles, over familiar tracks can sometimes ruin an album for me.
I listen mostly to radio, something about Miles Davis and John Coltrane (both are 100 this year!).
ReplyDeleteAnd great concerts: Peter Erskine Trio, Sylvie Courvoisier Quartet, and at the UNESCO International Jazzday: Schulkowsky / Baron / Yoshihide.
Caravanserai rules! I saw an ad recently on TV for some new med where a guy goes to a record store and plops a vinyl copy on the counter, so it must still resonate somewhere.
ReplyDeleteAlso saw link to an SACD version someplace, but the link was dead. You usually have the newest versions. Is this the original or upgraded, which I'd LOVE to hear, if it exists ( & Borboletta & Welcome...)
I have SACD upgraded to @193, if Babs can't get it together ....
DeletePS-- I was a 2011 MFSL version at Plain & Fancy. I tried to ask for a re-up. but can't seem to connect...
DeleteFarq: I'll take waterver I can get! Beggars can't be choosers, as mu mama said...
Delete...the keyboard has been drinking, not me...
Delete"I was a 2011 MFSL version" — So what version are you now, and why did you change?
DeleteThe freeload is a nice flat transfer, if you don't like it, you can always return the unused portion for a cheerful refund.
I've got the original cd (the vinyl is long gone), but any upgrades are usually welcomed. Sorry if I'm a pain in the ass to ask, just love the music!
DeleteHere's the SACD Caravanserai, upgraded to @193hz (multithread encoded):
Deletehttps://workupload.com/file/vCfftz8ykAk
Thanx, Farq. & didn't mean to piss you off, Babs. Love your site, & stories & shares. BTW, my mom & dad & grandma were all from New York, too, back in WWII...
DeleteNot even close to pissed off notBob - no worries.
DeleteI've been processing downloaded archive files so the listening tends to be quite eclectic. So I've listened to some Mike Nesmith and the First National Band, some Dub from Lee Scratch Perry & The Upsetters and a contemporary Surf related band called 'Spitwater' who have an interesting take on the Chantays 'Pipeline' amongst others.
ReplyDeleteAn album I’ve been returning to ever few months ever since its release back in the day:
ReplyDeleteHans Reichel - Bonobo Beach [FMP, 1981]
https://pixeldrain.com/u/F3TSCi1o