Welcome - SANTANA***

Going Home/Love Devotion & Surrender/Samba De Sausalito/When I Look Into Your Eyes/Yours Is The Light/ Mother Africa/Light Of Life/Flame Sky/Welcome

Welcome heralded a change of direction for Santana away from Latin rock towards jazz fusion. However, the move brought about a sudden drop in the chart placing of their albums in the USA. (US:25 UK:8)

“A significant change of direction, the band now seems to be a Latin jazz band through and through. Still jamming and the guitar remains beautiful but I prefer the recordings that preceded this one.”

“The Latin rock band has disappeared and been replaced by a Latin jazz band. Welcome finds Santana playing music from samba to jazz-funk via jam session station. From the first notes of Going Home to the soothing finale that is John Coltrane's Welcome, it is clear that this is a different Santana.”

“Sounds like the further line up changes inspired even more experimentation from Santana with his guitar taking a back seat to different vocalists, more keyboards, percussion and a varied sound that moves from soft pop, funky instrumentals and Coltrane referencing jazz fusion with great ease.”

“Overall Welcome is an enjoyable release by Santana that might be slightly too diverse for it’s own good, and therefore suffers a bit in the consistency and flow department, but ultimately still comes off as a quality product.”

“Santana with a whole new jazz fusion style, and very mature. This is great music, and I find it odd that many Santana fans do not like this equally well as the stuff they started out with.”

“If you're looking for a good fusion record, this isn't it. If you're looking for a good Santana record, this isn't that either. If you're looking for an OK record with a style all its own that occasionally gets lost in its own pretensions and gets its grounding from guitar solos, then this is the record for you.”

“This is the first Santana album after Carlos got into his religious/mystic stage. It is quite a departure from other material by the ‘group’, although he does have a number of solo albums along the same lines. It is more of a jazz fusion than the traditional Latin beat. I found it to be an excellent merger of the two styles.”