Santana – Santana (Numbered Hybrid SACD)

An Intoxicating Blend of Afro-Cuban, Jazz, Psychedelic, Blues, and Rock: Santana’s Self-Titled Debut Ranked #149 on Rolling Stone’s List of the Greatest Albums of All Time

Mastered from the Original Master Tapes: Mobile Fidelity’s Numbered-Edition Hybrid SACD Corrects Long-Time Channel-Reversal Error and Captures Full Dynamic Range of the Music

Santana’s self-titled debut album announces the arrival of a new guitar god. Made during the legendary bandleader’s most fruitful and creative period, the timeless 1969 set functions as an accessible entry point into the tangy worlds of Latin music by way of an intoxicating blend of Afro-Cuban percussion, jazzy tempos, exotic leads, bluesy riffs, and psychedelic accents.

Mastered from the original master tapes, Mobile Fidelity’s numbered-edition SACD overflows with information, textures, and colors. The result: Spacious, airy, and you-are-there sonics. In addition to correcting the imaging, Mobile Fidelity’s collectible version captures the full tonal range of Santana‘s guitar and nuances of his distinctive touch. It all brings you closer to the music and enhances your emotional connection to this stellar work.

Separation between Santana’s fluid fills, spicy solos, and broiling grooves and pianist Gregg Rolie’s soulful Hammond organ runs allows the music to come alive with a newfound freshness and radiance. Songs simmer, with each passage bursting forth with vibrant color. Just like the equally essential follow-up Abraxas, Santana also lays claim to one of the biggest (and unfortunate) production gaffes in music history. Until Mobile Fidelity fixed the error with its releases, Santana had never been heard correctly.

For nearly four decades, copies were produced with the left and right channels reversed, meaning that everything was placed in a backwards manner. This even extended to compilations on which individual songs from Santana were included. Rest assured that, in addition to boasting reference audiophile sonics, this hybrid SACD gets all the specifications exactly right.

Bound by natural chemistry and earthy spirituality, the record’s innovative synthesis of myriad styles goes beyond anything that came before—as well as nearly everything that’s followed. Playing with the finest band that the iconic guitarist ever had, Santana doesn’t water down any exotic roots or simply incorporate mainstream Western styles into a Latin framework. This is a true hybrid, responsible for opening up borders, transcending cultural divides, and, most importantly, exhilarating the senses.

Released just weeks after the band blew minds at Woodstock, the groundbreaking record stands alongside Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew and Jeff Beck’s Beck-Ola as a pillar of rock fusion. Featuring the Top Ten radio smash “Evil Ways” and jam favorite “Soul Sacrifice,” it hasn’t aged a day. 

“In April 2016, this was [Hi-Fi News’] LP of the Month, and whaddya know: The SACD is just as dazzling.”
—Ken Kessler, Hi-Fi News