Santana - Multi Dimensional Warrior 2-CD Collection w/ vocals and instrumentals

This is the first historic Santana collection to present music spanning three-plus decades from all three major labels: Columbia, Polydor/PolyGram, and Arista/BMG. The 2-CD Collection features one disc of vocals and second disc instrumentals - all tracks personally selected by Carlos Santana.

Multi-Dimensional Warrior on amazon.co.uk

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A decade after their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame (in January 1998), the hypnotic power of Santana - to mesmerize crowds of tens of thousands in the world's biggest stadiums, or to cast the same spell on a single listener in their solitude - continues to be one of the enduring and mysterious pleasures of the band's music. That meditative power has coursed through Santana's recordings for four decades, but has never been the exclusive focus of any one collection - until now.

MULTI DIMENSIONAL WARRIOR is a unique project, with every track personally selected and sequenced by Carlos Santana to create an engaging journey through a soundscape of moods and feelings. In an unprecedented concept, disc one comprises 14 vocal performances chosen from albums spanning the 1970s, '80s, '90s, and '00s, while disc two comprises 14 instrumental performances from albums covering the same years. MULTI DIMENSIONAL WARRIOR is the first anthology to include tracks from the band's three major label associations: Columbia, Polydor/ PolyGram, and Arista/BMG.

With just three exceptions, all of the albums represented on Disc One are different than the albums represented on Disc Two. Carlos Santana supervised new overdubs to five tracks on the set. He personally added guitar to "Spirit" and "Right Now," Santana band member Chester Thompson contributed piano to "Let There Be Light," and Barbara Higbie added harp to "Praise" and "Let There Be Light."

History swirls around Santana, signed to Columbia Records by Clive Davis in late-1968. They began recording in January 1969, although the follow-up sessions of May 1969 were the ones eventually used for their debut self-titled album. That came out on August 19, 1969, the day after the end of the Woodstock Music & Arts Fair, where they performed on Saturday afternoon. WARRIOR includes one of their oldest signatures, "Samba Pa Ti," the B-side of their fourth single, "Oye Como Va," from the second Santana album, Abraxas (1970).

At the far end of the Columbia timeline are the final three albums to bear the Santana name - and the only three albums on WARRIOR to be represented by one track each on disc one and disc two. Early 1987's Freedom - which reunited original band members Gregg Rolie on lead vocals and keyboards (after his 1975-85 founding stint in Journey), drummer Mike Shrieve, and percussionist José 'Chepito' Areas - is the source for "Praise" and two instrumentals, "Bella" and "Love Is You."

At the end of 1987, Carlos Santana delivered Blues For Salvador, his final Columbia solo album, which won his first GRAMMY Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. WARRIOR includes the closing title instrumental, as well as the opening vocal medley of "Bailando/Aquatic Park."

A long hiatus ensued before Santana released its final Columbia studio album in 1990, Spirits Dancing In The Flesh. That album's opening track, "Let There Be Light," featuring lead singer Alex Ligertwood (Santana's longest-running vocalist, from 1979 to 1995), is the appropriate opening track of WARRIOR. An instrumental track from Spirits, "Full Moon" appears on disc two.

Santana's two decades at Columbia Records encompassed some 25 studio and live album releases, comprising band albums and solo projects by Carlos Santana. On the vocal side, WARRIOR also revisits Festival (1976, with "The River"); Moonflower (1977, with "I'll Be Waiting"); and Beyond Appearances (1985, with "Brotherhood," "Spirit," "Right Now"). On the instrumental side, WARRIOR includes tracks from Marathon (1979, "Aqua Marine") and Zebop! (1981, "I Love You Much Too Much").

Santana had a brief but productive three-year stay at PolyGram, starting with the May 1992 release of Milagro. The album was dedicated to two close friends, Miles Davis and long-time Santana manager and booking agent Bill Graham (who died respectively in September and October, 1991) and contained tributes to four of Santana's inspirations, John Coltrane, Gil Evans, Marvin Gaye and Bob Marley. From that album, WARRIOR offers four vocals on disc one: "Life Is For Living," "Saja/Right On," and two Santana originals, "Somewhere In Heaven" and "Your Touch."

Attention focused on the Milagro album as Santana toured through 1992 and mourned the April '93 death of César Chavez. Later that year, Sacred Fire, a live album was released. Santana returned in 1994 with a final PolyGram album, Brothers, essentially a trio collaboration by Carlos, his brother Jorge, and nephew Carlos Hernandez. Three of its instrumentals are included on WARRIOR: "Blues Latino," "En Aranjuez Con Tu Amor," and "Luz, Amor y Vida."

A five-year hiatus from recording followed, ending in 1999 with the release of Supernatural. It was Santana's first album for Arista Records, and a welcome reunion with Clive Davis, who produced the album with Carlos. Supernatural was an industry phenomenon - 15-times RIAA platinum in the U.S. alone, where the album spent 102 weeks on the Billboard chart including 12 weeks at #1.

Most signifi­cantly, Supernatural generated an all-time record-breaking nine GRAMMY awards including Album Of the Year and Best Rock Album. Among the instrumentals on Supernatural (and included on WARRIOR) is "El Farol," which won the GRAMMY for Best Pop Instrumental. ("El Farol" was also the B-side of the worldwide smash hit single and triple-GRAMMY Award winner "Smooth," co-written by and feat­ur­ing Rob Thomas of Matchbox Twenty).

Supernatural was a hard act to follow - but 2002's Shaman gave Santana a second consecutive #1 multi-platinum album. The album's title alluded to traditional and primitive religious figures who are in touch with the spirit world, an atmosphere that is conjured up with "Victory Is Won," the closing track on disc two of MULTI DIMENSIONAL WARRIOR.

Track List:

MULTI DIMENSIONAL WARRIOR by SANTANA
(Sony BMG/Legacy 88697 10204 2)

Disc 1

1. Let There Be Light Spirits Dancing In The Flesh Columbia 1990

2. Brotherhood Beyond Appearances Columbia 1985

3. Spirit Beyond Appearances Columbia 1985

4. Right Now Beyond Appearances Columbia 1985

5. Life Is For Living Milagro Polydor 1992

6. Saja/Right On Milagro Polydor 1992

7. Somewhere In Heaven Milagro Polydor 1992

8. I Believe It's Time Food For Thought BMG Sp. Mkts. 2004

9. Serpents And Doves Food For Thought BMG Sp. Mkts. 2004

10. Your Touch Milagro Polydor 1992

11. I'll Be Waiting Moonflower Columbia 1977

12. The River Festival Columbia 1976

13. Bailando/Aquatic Park Blues For Salvador Columbia 1987

14. Praise Freedom Columbia 1987

Disc 2

Title From album Label Year

1. Curación (Sunlight On Water)Ceremony Arista 2003

2. Aqua Marine Marathon Columbia 1979

3. Bella Freedom Columbia 1987

4. Love Is You Freedom Columbia 1987

5. Full Moon Spirits Dancing In The Flesh Columbia 1990

6. Blues Latino Brothers Polygram 1994

7. Samba Pa Ti Abraxas Columbia 1970

8. Europa Amigos Columbia 1976

9. El Farol Supernatural Arista 1999

10. En Aranjuez Con Tu Amor Brothers Polygram 1994

11. Luz, Amor y Vida Brothers Polygram 1994

12. I Love You Much Too Much Zebop! Columbia 1981

13. Blues For Salvador Blues For Salvador Columbia 1987

14. Victory Is Won Shaman Arista 2002

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