Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Santana Available Now
I may be going out on a limb here, but to these ears, the best pressings of Santana’s third album have more Tubey Magic than any other Santana album we’ve ever played.
Tubey Magic in this case means you not only get all the richness, sweetness and three-dimensionality that the term implies, but also amazing transparency.
There’s no smear to the sound, no veil to peer through — you just hear into that huge, deep soundfield of the studio with nothing between you and the musicians.
They’re all right there in the studio together; there’s no question this record is practically a live recording. It has the feel and energy of a recording where everyone is in the room at the same time, much like the first Santana record. That gives the sound AND the music a very special quality that’s hard to create any other way.
A True Demo Disc
This is a true Demo Disc in the world of rock records. It’s also one of those recordings that demands to be played LOUD. If you’ve got the the big room, big speakers, and the power to drive them, you can have a LIVE ROCK AND ROLL CONCERT in your very own house. When Santana lets loose with some of those legendary monster power chords — which incidentally do get good and loud in the mix, unlike most rock records which suffer from compression and “safe” mixes — I like to say that there is no stereo system on the planet that can play loud enough for me. (Horns maybe, but I don’t like the sound of horns, so there you go.)
C’mon, You Say That About All Your Favorite Records
I know you’ve heard me say this before, but I need to make something clear about this music. It doesn’t even make sense at moderate listening levels. Normal listening levels suck all the life right out of it. You can tell by the way it was recorded; this music is designed to be played back at LOUD levels, and anything less does a disservice to the musicians, not to mention yourself.
Further Reading