Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

Santana Greatest Hits Blu-ray Movie Review

His spirit is ready, willing and able.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman February 11, 2012

The history of what has rightly or wrongly been termed Latin Music in the United States is rather colorful, from the World War II era to our present day. Back in the forties and fifties, Latin stars were often just slightly outrageous, with oversized personalities and a not inconsiderable amount of shtick in their repertoires. This was the era of the fruit- headed Carmen Miranda and the gregarious band leaders Xavier Cugat and Edmundo Ros. The Latin rhythms of the day were usually tied to popular dances like the Samba, Rhumba and Mambo. Latin music became almost a parody of itself in the late fifties with the advent of the “Exotica” subgenre, which often blended batteries of percussion instruments with natural birdsong and other goofy sonic elements. Things took a rather decided swing back to coolness with the advent of the Bossa Nova, which was actually nascent in Brazil at about the same time that Exotica was sweeping the United States, but which took a couple of years to matriculate northward, especially after several American musicians journeyed south and started bringing back the compositions of such iconic composers as Antonio Carlos Jobim. Though Stan Getz is often credited with being the “first” to blend the understated elegance of the Bossa Nova with more of an American jazz aesthetic, there were actually several other, at that time lesser known, performers whose attempts pre-dated Getz’s, including Paul Winter, who released a couple of excellent Bossa Nova albums in the early sixties. Actual honest to goodness Brazilians came to America as well, including for a legendary Carnegie Hall performance in late 1962, which saw the first stateside performance of an artist who dominate the second half of the sixties with his artful blend of Brazilian rhythms and composers with American jazz, pop and rock elements, Sergio Mendes. Mendes managed to score an impressive number of Top 10 albums and singles through 1969, but his star had started to fade somewhat when one Carlos Santana walked on the stage at Woodstock in 1969 and took up the torch of blistering rhythms and Latin ideas, this time in a much more rock oriented framework than audiences had ever experienced before.

Those blistering rhythms and battery of percussion instruments are on display right off that bat in this 2011 Montreux Festival concert, but there’s another element in play which is just as important. Though Santana started his career pretty much as “just” a rock guitarist, albeit one working within a certain niche framework, he soon started to dabble in more spiritual pursuits, perhaps fostered by his association with Columbia’s other megaselling seventies guitarist, Mahavishnu John McLaughlin. Though few would probably put Santana at the same purely technical level as McLaughlin, Santana’s questing, yearning sound seemed oddly complementary to McLaughlin’s more quicksilver approach, and the two collaborated on Love, Surrender, Devotion, an album which sought to mix both musical titans together in a stew that also included references to John Coltrane and Mahavishnu’s spiritual leader, Sri Chinmoy. (Few younger people are aware of this, and even some older folks don't remember, but Santana's first Columbia album cover created quite a stir at the time of its release, as what appeared to be the face of a lion actually revealed some "hidden" aspects when it was looked at more closely.)

It’s that spiritual aspect that perhaps sets Santana apart from other rock guitarists, and Santana’s beautiful, almost sine-wave like tone, often seems like a vibrational pathway to some sort of divinity. Santana has lost little of his flash or fire with increasing age, and as he specifically mentions when he introduces his own Black Magic Woman, his fantastic drummer wife Cindy Blackman Santana, he has a greater clarity and joy in his life now than he ever did before, something he attributes to Cindy’s presence. His large band here, including multiple percussionists and a brass section, sounds fantastic and adds incredibly propulsive energy to this well selected set of tunes. Santana has rarely left the limelight since his late sixties eruption on the music scene, and this concert proves there’s no reason to think that his primacy won’t continue for years to come.

Carlos’ band on this concert includes: Raul Rekow, congas, percussion and vocals; Karl Perazzo, percussion and vocals; Benny Rietveld, bass; Dennis Chambers, drums; Tony Lindsay, vocals; Andy Vargas, vocals; Bill Ortiz, trumpet; Jeff Cressman, trombone; Tommy Anthony, guitar and vocals; David K. Mathews, keyboards; Cindy Blackman Santana, drums; Derek Trucks, guitar; and Susan Tedeschi, guitar and vocals. The band’s playlist includes:

• Spark of the Divine
• SOCC
• Back in Black
• Singing Winds, Crying Beasts
• Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen
• Oye Como Va
• Maria, Maria
• Foo Foo
• Corazon Espinado/Guajira
• Benny and Cindy Solo
• Jingo
• Carlos Speaks/Novus
• Europa (Earth’s Cry, Heaven’s Smile)/I Want You
• Batuka/No One to Depend On
• Duende/Open Invitation
• Make Somebody Happy/Right On Be Free
• Evil Ways/A Love Supreme
• Sunshine of Your Love
• Smooth/Dame tu Amor
• Soul Sacrifice/Dennis Drum Solo
• Samba Pa Ti
• Into the Night
• Love, Peace and Happiness/Freedom

Santana Greatest Hits Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Santana Greatest Hits: Live at Montreux 2011 is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Eagle Rock Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080i transfer in 1.78:1. These Montreux concerts typically look very sharp on Blu-ray, at least those from the last couple of years or so, and this Santana outing is no exception. Aside from some very minor posterizing which crops up due to some incredibly robust red and blue lighting, which bathes the entire stage in overwrought hues, this is a very sharp and appealing looking high definition presentation which pops especially well in the many close-ups which capture Carlos and his incredible band in a very up close and personal way. Fine detail is exceptional in these close-ups, so much so that you can virtually count the freckles on Cindy Blackman Santana's face during her guest appearance on a couple of numbers. Midrange and far range shots are a tad murky by comparison, and some of the extremely wide angle shots which capture the entire huge audience are hampered by a lack of shadow detail in the backgrounds if not outright crush.

Santana Greatest Hits Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Santana Greatest Hits: Live at Montreux 2011 has the standard three audio options that grace most of these Eagle Rock releases. Two lossless options are offered, an uncompressed LPCM 2.0 stereo mix and a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround mix, as well as a standard lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 surround mix. Both of the lossless options sound fantastic on this release, and the 5.1 mix adds incredibly spaciousness as well as a much more noticeably punchy low end. The huge array of percussion instruments gives this track an incredible presence in the lower registers, and the good news is despite the heaviness of the sound, there's absolutely no murkiness whatsoever. Santana's crystalline guitar cuts through the sound mass efficiently and with breathtaking clarity. The band has a rather large coterie of vocalists, and the balance between them and the band itself is excellent throughout. Brass is bright and colorful, the bass punches mightily, and keys add a lot of color as well. Fidelity is brilliant throughout the track, and while there's isn't huge dynamic range here, there's nuance and precision in abundance, and Santana fans should be very well pleased with the results.

Santana Greatest Hits Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Carlos Santana Interview (1080i; 20:16) finds Carlos waxing a little philosophical about vibrations and energy as he stares out at the light infused water surrounding Montreux.
• Cindy Blackman Santana Interview (1080i; 10:19) talks about her background with Lenny Kravitz and how she met and began working with Carlos.
• Behind the Scenes (1080i; 5:05) has some cool footage of the environs surrounding Montreux and Carlos and band arriving at the event set to "Oye Como Va."

Santana Greatest Hits Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Santana Greatest Hits: Live at Montreux 2011 is a wonderful chance to see an incredible icon of modern rock music still shredding with a great deal of force and energy. With a really fantastic (and large) band backing him up, Carlos may not explore any really new territory here (and in fact a couple of his solos are pretty much verbatim redos of his recorded versions), the sheer fire and elegance of the sound of his guitar can still excite and move an audience, as is shown undeniably by the reaction he gets from a large an appreciative Montreux crowd. This concert runs the gamut of Santana's long and distinguished career, capturing everything from those early hits from the late sixties and early seventies to Carlos' latest chart entries over the past few years. The concert is very well captured by a battery of cameras, many of which seem to be almost in the laps of the some of the players, adding a really enjoyable and visceral aspect to the concert. With good looking video, great sounding audio and some pleasing (if not especially bountiful) supplementary features, Santana Greatest Hits: Live at Montreux 2011 comes Highly recommended.