Carlos Santana: Back on Top [Hardcover]

True Santana fans will question whether or not Carlos ever fell to begin with. However, BACK ON TOP is an appropriate title for those who measure success by commercial standards. Who can question that SUPERNATURAL, and the multiple Grammy awards it brought, was indeed a return to the top for this incredible artist.

Mr. Shapiro's election to follow a chronological sequence in the writing of this book is helpful to the reader. After all, the professional and personal roller-coaster that is Carlos' life can best be felt if the story that unfolds follows the very way in which it all happened. Shapiro did this well.

Things to like about the book include a fairly well chronicled capture of the early years. How the original Santana Blues Band came to be is quite a story. Even those who know the story will find the references to such legends as Bill Graham, Paul Butterfield, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Tito Puente, Willie Bobo, Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton and the Grateful Dead effective in connecting Carlos to legends of Rock, Blues and Jazz. Who else do you know that has this kind of depth to his music pedigree? Such is the attraction to Carlos Santana.

Shapiro also did a decent job in explaining the on again, off again relationship Carlos had with his original band. Reasons for its breakup - and occasional reunions - were conveyed in an easy to follow manner.

Don't look for Shapiro's writing style to represent literary excellence. It's simple and contains a fair number of grammatical mistakes. Further, it's pretty clear the author is/was never a true Santana fan. The book could possibly have been written entirely from research and archives. One can't be certain if Shapiro ever interviewed Carlos. My guess is that Shapiro tossed the book together following a cookie-cutter pattern used in his other similar books on rock stars. For example, he incorrectly assigns the song "She's Not There" to the Festival LP. It was of course part of the Moonflower double album set. The discography at the end is a handy guide, but even it is incomplete. (Shapiro referenced albums and collaborations in the text that never made it to his Discography!)

Lastly, Shapiro weighs in on Carlos' mid-70's trek toward jazz, fusion, melodic/religious tones while playing under the name Devadip. The author states: "Sorry Carlos, I didn't dig the short hair and the white duds." True Santana fans will take exception to this narrow-minded view toward an era of Santana music that classic Santana fans will long revere as his best music.

I lived the Santana years one album at a time. Having seen Carlos play at some 28 concerts I was not sure the story as told by Marc Shapiro would do this incredible artist justice. To be fair, the book passed the test and is to be recommended.

Well if you read the first reviewer and the editors opinion than you pretty much have the essence of the book. I finished this book in two sessios of a few hours one Sunday. Was it the speed reading course I NEVER took? It is simple reading, maybe for simple minds like mine that just want to know more about a man whose story I grew up with. The problem is there are few revelations, a few tid bits but nothing of any substance. So why read it? I dunno, curiosity? You keep turning the pages anticipating something real "juicy", some insight, some rock stories but it just isn't there. It is more like a trip down memory lane on the autobahn, you start and before you know it you're there, done. It seems the author wrote this book by speculating on his research. Sure the life of Carlos is chronicled but much too superficially. The problems with the original Santana members is discussed but most who grew up with Santana are aware of this history. Also reference to drug use is discussed, Carlos's appetite for the mind bending trips on LSD, Mescaline and Peyote, his cocaine days etc. etc. but it is shallow. The groupies and wild times are mentioned then gone. Of some interest is Carlos's brush with his musical idols, Miles Davis, Jimi(if you need to know the last name you shouldn't be reading this) and Alice Coltrane(again if you don't know the wife of who you're in the wrong place). The reader imagines Jimi's swagger and Carlos's fascination when they first meet and for what it's worth the supposed conversation in which Jimi wanted to join Carlos's band. The first part of the book deals with the early days, the second half with EACH and EVERY lp released and the various transformations Santana went through from local musician south of the border to Frisco(I know this irks dwellers of "The City") and the Fillmore , from young hippie to (ooooooommmmmmmmmmmm) Devadip, from househusband born-again to his conversations with his angel Metatron that told him "he would soon be hooked to the frequency of the radio" and ultimately with "Supernatural." There has always been a spiritual side to Santana and the book discusses this as well as his personal demons that he exorcized through therapy. The long strange trip of Santana is chronicled with way too much emphasis to the commercial failure of many lp's. The problem is for many of us this was some of his best work, we were there all along. The private side of Santana, the spiritual side was what many of us were going through and we could relate, life is not always a party. Would I recommend this book? Why not, an average reader could read it instead of the LA or NY Times Sunday edition. I suspect the author wanted to make a quick buck in the new found interest in Santana, tid bits for a new generation. For those of us that were around and whose lives parralled his there is not much here that we didn't already know. I think the writng is geared to young(school years)people so that those from a new generation who have discovered Santana can learn something about his long and at times trying musical career. Does it do justice to his life? Not really, this is not a definitive biography. If you do read this, put on a couple of CD's of Santana but just make sure not more than five as you'll finish the book first.

As a Santana fanatic, I found this book extremely dissapointing. Major chunks are lifted directly out of older material. In addition, there were some major factual errors. One of them that set off an immediate Red Flag was Shapiro naming Fred Catero as "Fred Castro". Catero was the Sound Engineer and was responsible for the phenomenal sound of Abraxas.

Also, the author basically copied an excellent article from Ben Fong-Torres--formerly with Rolling Stone--word for word.

To get the same exact information provided in this book is to simply Google Carlos Santana wiki as well as Ben Fong Torres, archived information.

An EXCELLENT book I would recommend is "Voices of Latin Rock," by Jim McCarthy. This book contains original photos, interviews with original Santana band members, including their extended families. There is much more information gleaned out of this last book and well worth the $10.00. Save your money and don't buy Shapiro's book.