Santana – 1977-11-22 – Akita, Japan (SBD)

Santana

1977-11-22

Kenmin Kaikan

Akita, Japan

Soundboard Recording

320 kbps

Artwork Included

01. Arise Awake > Light Versus Darkness > Jim Jeannie

02. Transformation Day > Victory

03. Dawn

04. Zulu

05. Let The Children Play > Jugando

06. Black Magic Woman > Gypsy Queen

07. Dance Sister Dance (Baila Mi Hermana)

08. Europa

09. Gitano

10. The River

11. Batuka

12. No One To Depend On

13. Evil Ways

14. Oye Como Va

15. I'll Be Waiting

16. She's Not There

17. Savor

18. Toussaint L'Overture

19. Oneness

20. Soul Sacrifice

21. Flor D'Luna (Moonflower)

22. Transcendance > Band Introduction

Santana – 1977-11-22 – Akita, Japan (SBD)

Like so many other rock artists, Santana played at Live Aid in 1985 to help raise funds to end the famine in Africa.  He is also a member of WhyHunger's Artists Against Hunger & Poverty.

Today's post goes back 8 years before Santana's appearance at Live Aid. In October 1977, Santana released Moonflower, a double album that included both live tracks from their 1976 European tour and new studio material recorded in San Francisco. The disc also mixed musical styles, incorporating not only the Latin and blues-rock styles of the late 1960s and early 1970s, but also the experimental and spiritual jazz fusion sound that characterized the band's mid-1970s work. This dichotomy of styles and material, which could have resulted in an incoherent mess of an album, instead were seamlessly blended to produce a critical and commercial success. Moonflower’s studio tracks included a cover version of the Zombies' 1960s hit song, She's Not There, which was was released as a single and peaked at number 27. The song was the first Santana recording to hit the Top 40 on the Billboard charts in 5 years, since No One to Depend On reached number 36 in 1972. The album went to number 10 on the charts and was eventually certified platinum. It would be 22 years until another Santana album accomplished both those feats, when Supernatural went to #1 on the charts and was certified as 15 times platinum in 1999. This soundboard recording from November 22, 1977, 39 years ago today, from Akita, Japan, catches Carlos about a month after the release of Moonflower. Download this one to hear Santana live on his last tour before his studio work began to take a more album oriented rock approach in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s.