Customer Reviews

Oneness (Mlps)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I was amazed none of the Santana-followers took the effort to review this album. Released in 1979, it must be his last of the seventies. And, surely compared to the music he made in the following decade, it's a good one.
Santana is still under the influence of Sri Chinmoy, who introduces the first track by way of meditating. Well, rest assured: it could have been worse. This moody opening gradually takes on a jazzier or funkier rhythm, with songs that sound fresh and sparkling (Jim Jeannie, Transformation Day, Cry Of The Wilderness, Free As The Morning Sun), haunting (Oneness) and even downright kitsch (Silver Dreams). The guitarplaying may be trademark Santana, but it never becomes the routinejob Carlos displays on many albums following this one. Better still: the master is - with the exception of the boring accoustic track Golden Dawn - in top shape!

Devadip Carlos Santana has merged all the positive energies into this album. It's one of his most original masterpieces. Santana has influenced his talent work with the Indian music and combined world fusion into it at the same time. While we have a range of musicians with this fame including John Mclaughlin, Chick Corea, Miles Davis, Joe Zawinul, Herbie Hancock and Al Di Meola, the Oneness album goes from the depth of his heart and brings out a new and refreshing original sound we have not heard before.

If you are the traditional Santana fan, you will not be disappointed with this album, as you will find his essential value elements embedded in his music composition. I have been looking for this album to arrive in the digital format for many years now. The original CD is mostly not available in the US. But now, it's amazing to have access to this in MP3 format.

In 1979 this album never had a chance. With it's weird title and strange album cover and virtually zero marketing support, the album went straight from the press to the cut out bins. I would never have owned this album if I didn't happen to be in the record store at the time they were playing this over the store stereo. I asked what that was and was literally directed to a cut out bin where a few copies were languishing. I think I paid maybe $3.00 for it. What a find. My favorite song is Oneness. I love the guitar solo and often replay it. The rest of the album is good too. If you are a Santanna fan you owe it to yourself to get this. It's like finding a lost work that you have never heard from his most creative period. Not a perfect album mind you, and I don't care for all the Hinduism either, but at least an 8 out of 10 and worth having for sure.