Santana ~ Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen 1970 Extended Meow Mix

Carlos Santana holds the distinction of waiting 30 years from the chart debut of his first single "Jingo" 1969 to 1999 when he got his first #1 single "Smooth", making him the MOST patient man on earth! Remember when the rest of the world caught on to him and his LP Supernatural? I was thrilled to hear he was back and man did not disappoint and it all started with their electrifying performance at the original Woodstock in 1969.

His talent has always been apparent to me even when I was 10. It just transfixed me like Pink Floyd did later on, the guitar work on both were the best I had ever heard up to then. My neighbors were teenagers and they were rockin' to classic rock back when it was just rock. They played Santana's break though album, "Abraxas" with its daringly sexy artwork and even sexier music underlined by the latin rhythms of three songs from that album "Evil Ways"(#9)"Black Magic Woman" (#4) and "Oye Como Va" (#13) that were released in 1970 and set the rock world on fire driving the "Abraxas" album right to the #1 on the album heap.

He was born on July 20, 1947 in Autlan de Navarro, Mexico into a musical family, his father was a mariachi musician who encouraged his son to learn how to play violin at 6, then guitar when he was 8. Hell, I was collecting Matchbox cars from the hardware store down the road when I was 8, and oh yeah earplugged into my AM transistor pocket radio.

While in high school he formed the Santana Blues Band, who became just Santana when they signed to Columbia Records. They also did Woodstock, then stayed with Columbia until they signed with Polydor Records in 1992. He by then had amassed ten Top 40 singles roughly one a year from 1970 to 1982 that proved he had a loyal audience. He went from Latin to pop without losing his identity or integrity by keeping the Latin influences alive in his songs. His contract with Columbia was up for renewal and Santana chose move on to Polydor Records.

Then he was off the charts until 1999 when Clive Davis agreed to sign Santana to a contract and the man treated his new client with the respect he deserves and helped to make him a superstar. But then, some of us older kittens remember him from his fiery rendition of "Black Magic Woman", a song written by ex-Fleetwood Mac founder guitarist Peter Green. Fleetwood Mac was at the time a blues band and they had the chops! Their version of "Black Magic Woman" came out in 1968. The beat reminds me of the best UK pop rock like The Zombies "She's Not There" and "Albatross" remains a summer favorite of mine.

I decided to go with ending the song with the upbeat Gypsy Queen for one extra great guitar solo to finish it. I thought about Sade's "Smooth Operator/Red Eye" 12" and how it did the same. That might be on the remix list now that I think of it..