"Amigos" is the seventh studio album from Santana. The album contained a minor US hit single in "Let It Shine".
By the release of Amigos, the Santana band's seventh album, only Carlos Santana and David Brown remained from the band that conquered Woodstock, and only Carlos had been in the band continuously since. Meanwhile, the group had made some effort to arrest its commercial slide, hiring an outside producer, David Rubinson, and taking a tighter, more up-tempo, and more vocal approach to its music. The overt jazz influences were replaced by strains of R&B/funk and Mexican folk music.
"Amigos" features two solid instrumentals, the most noteworthy being "Europa," one of Carlos' trademark guitar works. Starting with pretty high-pitched twangs, it evolves into a potent solo in the Santana tradition. The group also displays its musical talents well in "Take Me With You." For the rest (except for an interesting flamenco intro on "Gitano"), "Amigos" represents the beginning of the slippage from Santana's top-notch studio album work that began after "Borboletta" and has continued to this day (with the exception of the studio cuts on "Moonflower", released shortly after "Amigos"). Tom Coster's keyboards are radiant enough, and Armando Peraza still does it with his bongos and conga, but the song quality and overall instrumentation do not measure up to the old standards. They reflect a shift to more-plain-sounding or less-refined Latin verselines and music or so-so funk, to later become mediocre at best.
Track listing
1. Dance Sister Dance (Baila Mi Hermana) (Leon Chancler, Thomas Joseph Coster, David J. Rubinson) - 8:15
2. Take Me With You (T. Coster, L.N. Chancler) - 5:27
3. Let Me (T. Coster, C. Santana) - 4:51
4. Gitano (A. Peraza) - 6:13
5. Tell Me Are You Tired (T. Coster, L.N. Chancler) - 5:42
6. Europa (Earth's Cry Heaven's Smile) (C. Santana, T. Coster) - 5:06
7. Let It Shine (D. Brown, R. Gardner) - 5:43
Released: March 26, 1976
Recorded at: Wally Heider Recording Studios, San Francisco
Genre: Latin Rock, Jazz Fusion
Length: 41:14
Label: Columbia
Producer: David Rubinson
Personnel
Carlos Santana – vocals, guitar, percussion
David Brown – bass
Tom Coster – keyboards, vocals
Armando Peraza – percussion, vocals
Greg Walker – vocals
Ivory Stone – vocals
Julia Tillman Waters – vocals
Maxine Willard Waters – vocals
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