On the Woodstock Experience, Santana's historic Woodstock performance is captured in its entirety for the very first time, and paired on a double disc with the band's 1969 debut album (often referred to as the "lion album" because of it's striking black and white cover art).
The most striking thing about hearing these two discs together is how close to the vest these guys actually played it. Make no mistake, this is a great performance — it is every bit as electrifying as the version of "Soul Sacrifice" that's become permanently etched into the memories of anyone who has seen the film. It's also just that right touch of a bit more raw sounding.
But the fact is, outside of a few sound glitches in the vocal mix (which seems to be a recurrent problem with this series), in hearing the two discs back to back, there just isn't that much difference between them. Well, at least outside of the occasional onstage banter ("we're in New York, right?").
That said, the band scorches its way through their allotted fifty minutes here. The percussion unit — led by drummer Michael Shrieve and also featuring the congas and timbales of Jose Chepito Areas and Micheal Carabello — in particular is quite remarkable. There really has never been anything quite like these guys either before or since — a fact all the more amazing when you consider Shrieve was just a teenager at the time.
As on the original album, the song "Evil Ways" merely serves as a sort of pop tune bridge between the furious sounding stew of percolating Latin rhythms heard here. Above all of this, keyboardist Gregg Rolie and bassist Dave Brown (whatever happened to that guy, I wonder?), get in their share of tasty licks. But this is pretty much Carlos Santana's show, and the great guitarist proves why he went on to be considered one of the best ever in spades here.
Article comments
1 - El Bicho
"Shrieve's drum solo on "Soul Sacrifice," however, remains the real show stopper."
Quoted for Truth.