Santana - Tanglewood Music Festival, Lenox, MA, 8-18-1970 | Albums That Should Exist

 Santana - Tanglewood Music Festival, Lenox, MA, 8-18-1970

Paul says: A few days ago, I was contacted by a person who goes by the name of Jon. He had a 1970 Santana concert all ready to go, with audio editing, cover image suggestions, and even write-up notes. I had no plans on posting an album like this, but since Jon dropped this into my lap so wonderfully, it's a no-brainer for me to post his work. So here it is. Thanks, Jon. 

By the way, this was part of a series of four concerts that promoter Bill Graham did in this Boston area venue in the summer of 1970. I've suggested to Jon that he post the others, since they're all available as soundboard bootlegs, and they involved lots of great musical acts (the Who, Jethro Tull, Chicago, etc...). Jon says he's going to work on it, so knock on wood on that.

Here's his notes. Take it away, Jon: 

Formed in San Francisco in 1968, Santana was a product of the psychedelic rock era which produced Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service, and Big Brother and the Holding Company (Janis Joplin). Santana often shared bills at the Fillmore West (formerly the Carousel Ballroom) with one or more of the above bands. Originally a "jam band" in the mold of the aforementioned groups, the group began to expand its focus to commercially accessible songs at the encouragement of Fillmore impresario Bill Graham. A breakthrough performance at Fillmore West in June 1968 garnered them a Columbia Records contract. They recorded their first album in May of 1969.

Debuting for the greater public at Woodstock on August 16, 1969, Santana released its first album just six days after the legendary festival, but finally found its footing on a national stage after the film's release. After the momentum of their legendary Woodstock set, Carlos Santana and his band were redefining rock with a unique fusion of Latin rhythms, blues, jazz, and psychedelic fire. 

In 1969, Bill Graham looked at Tanglewood, the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Tanglewood was an open-air theater in the Berkshires, near Boston, with seating for 5,000 and more space for audience who chose to lie in the grass. In contrast, the Fillmore East in New York City would only hold around 2,700. As an experiment, Graham organized a single show as "The Fillmore at Tanglewood" for August 12, 1969, featuring B.B. King, the Who, and Jefferson Airplane, bringing the entire Fillmore East production and stage crews, including the Joshua Light Show using backdrop projections, mere days before Woodstock.

After its unexpected success, Graham organized more such shows in the summer of 1970. This, the fourth and final show with contemporary rock in an outdoor classical music setting, opened with the Voices of East Harlem (a youth choir with rhythm section) and jazz-soul artist Miles Davis with his current electric-era septet. As the headliner, Santana demonstrated why it became one of the most exciting live acts of the era. 

The set contains music from the 1969 debut Santana, from the as-yet unreleased second album Abraxas, and from the still-developing Santana III album. After that third album in 1971, Santana (the band) would begin to lose the "single mind cohesion" that is so apparent in this performance, replacing it with forays into jazz as the band increasingly became Carlos' backup group before its breakup.

This performance at Tanglewood shows the band at its peak, pushing the boundaries of rock music. After a year of growing together in a national spotlight to understand each other on stage with a mere nod of the head, the interplay among the musicians here is sublime.

My hearing of three recordings of this show reveals that there was almost no speaking between songs, just a natural flow of music. My audio edits removed blips and silent gaps between songs from the prior poor edits of others, as well as deleting useless fades which broke up that natural flow that the audience heard in Tanglewood. 

This album is an hour and 15 minutes long.

01 talk by Bill Graham 
02 Batuka - Se a Cabo
03 Black Magic Woman - Gypsy Queen
04 Oye Como Va 
05 Incident at Neshebur [Instrumental] 
06 Toussaint L'Ouverture [Instrumental] 
07 Evil Ways 
08 Hope You're Feeling Better 
09 Treat [Instrumental] 
10 Savor - Jingo 
11 Soul Sacrifice [Instrumental] 
12 Gumbo [Instrumental] 
13 Persuasion 
14 talk by Bill Graham 

(all tracks Santana) 

My favourite line-up and in their absolute prime!

Santana - Soul Sacrifice | Live at Tanglewood (1970)

Santana - Full Concert [HD] | Live at Tanglewood (1970) in 12 chapters