I hope you're feelin' better

Q.� I've been listening to Supernatural by Santana, and I'm told they are not the new band I thought they were, is that true

< are a long way from new�- A.� Supernatural is the band's 23rd studio album, and they go back as far as the Woodstock Festival that saw off the end of the hippy 1960s

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Q.� Twenty-three albums�- which is the best one

A.� Well, 23 band albums, there are loads of collaborations and live offerings as well, but apart from the multi-Grammy winning Supernatural, probably the finest example of Santana's work is their second album Abraxas.

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Q.� Why that one

A.� Because it refined the early raw power of the band's eponymous initial release, and it drew a sound map of Latin rock that has stood the test of time for more than thirty years.

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Q.� What defines 'Latin rock'

A.� The description Latin (short for Latin American) rock covers the style of music that was pioneered, and has since been championed by Carlos Santana and the Santana band, throughout its various incarnations. The essential ingredients begin with the rhythm. Latin rock has its rhythmic roots in Cuban and Spanish musical origins, with a strong samba or rumba rhythm underpinned by various percussion players�- congas, bongos, timbales, vibraphones, as well as the standard electronic rock instrumentation.

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The ingredient that Carlos Santana has made particularly his own is the swooping sustained fuzzed Gibson-esque guitar sound that characterises all his work, including the recent chart smash Smooth which is as fine an example of Latin rock as you can find.

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But back to Abraxas�- here the stand out tracks are Fleetwood Mac's Black Magic Woman and Latin percussion supremo Tito Puente's Oye Como Va, with its booming bass and spiky organ underpinning the Spanish lyric.

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Q.� Is it all strict rhythmic music on this album �

A.� By no means. Abraxas was conceived and recorded in San Francisco in 1970 when experimentation was a highly prized concept. The fusion of rock, jazz, and Latin music on this album was seen as a laudable attempt to soundtrack the cultural melting pot that was that city at that time.

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The churning Incident At Neshabur was an extended workout for the band to explore freeform improvisation that showcased the superlative musicianship that has always characterised the various line-ups of the band from then until now. Samba Pa Ti is virtually an instrumental love song, slow and languorous, before loping into a gentle Latin canter, with Carlos Santana himself slowly unwinding his own elegant and understated guitar style that perfectly fits the piece. Following is organist Gregg Rollie's hymn to a broken love affair Hope You're Feeling Better, where is lyrical anger and cynicism is underlined by the screaming guitar from Santana, and the thunderous percussion and bass sounds from the rest of the band.

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Q.� Are there any weak tracks

A.� Perhaps El Nicoya strays over the line of indulgence without the firmly structured musical boundaries to prevent if from becoming a meandering Latin jam session, but that's a small price to pay for being able to hear where an entire musical genre began.

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Rolling Stone magazine commented that Santana's Abraxas may do for Latin rock what Chuck Berry did for blues music, and although that would be an impossibly lofty ambition, the continued viability of the sound created here, and extended throughout the next thirty plus years, proves that this was far from some faddy new hippy idea.

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Q.� Does this mean that all the other albums are this good

A.� That's a matter of taste. Over the years, the personnel of the Santana band has fluctuated considerably, but the first album is a fiery shot in the arm of languid hippydom at the turn of the decade, Abraxas is the finest example of Latin rock there is, the third album carries on in the same vein, with the addition of boy genius Neal Schon on second guitar. It is called Santana, the same as the first album, so it has come to be called Santana 3 to avoid confusion. Album four, Caravanserai, sees the band drifting further into the jazz improvisation areas that characterised various albums from then on, but these four albums are an excellent introduction into the Latin rock sound.�

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The particular guitar sound and tone that Carlos Santana has made his own has surfaced on any number of other albums by other musicians�- Gary Moore, and Slash from Guns 'n' Roses must possess Abraxas, and devoured it while learning to play.

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Q.� What's next ������������

A.� By returning, in effect to his roots, and making his most successful album ever with Supernatural, Carlos Santana must realise, as do his many fans, that the sounds generated by the Abraxas album are the straight-ahead uncomplicated rhythmically solid sounds that his audiences love, so perhaps his next album will be more of the same. Is 'Abraxas Revisited' taking shape in a Californian studio even as we listen to the sounds of 1970 Here's hoping.

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Andy Hughes