Product Details

• Actors: Carlos Santana
• Format: Color, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Polygram Video
• VHS Release Date: November 2, 1993
• Run Time: 97 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (56 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6302941466
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #287,439 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

With its location in Mexico City and a dedication to Cesar Chavez, this live Santana set is clearly rooted in Carlos's Chicano heritage. Of course his heritage has been part of Santana's core sound since he blew crowds away with Latin beats, Spanish vocals, and his unmistakably yearning guitar sound in the late 1960s. But here, Carlos takes viewers back to a spiritual point of reference that gains meaning through the music and offers meaning back to the music. The 1993 vintage of the film naturally centers it on the latest of many, many incarnations of Santana. And even though the familiar faces from eras past are gone, the band still stirs up these tunes. Carlos calls on timeworn standards that should be familiar to any fan of the last generation's rock & roll, and the band dutifully churns out "No One to Depend On," "Black Magic Woman," "Oye Como Va," "Samba Pa Ti," "Guajira," and even the 1970s-era hit "Open Invitation." There are highlights aplenty, not the least of which is show-opener "Angels All Around Us" and "Soul Sacrifice." And the video stays largely focused on the music--save for the travelogue cutaways to sites in Mexico. As for Carlos, he plays as if the year were 1968--which is to say that he launched a career with his sound and vision almost fully formed. There has been development for the great one, but here he sticks with his soulful gospel of stirring, uncategorizable (is it world music? Latin rock?) guitar-driven rock & roll. --Andrew Bartlett

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

58 of 60 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The real deal, June 11, 2002

By 

Rezaul Hasan Laskar (New Delhi, India) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Santana - Sacred Fire (DVD)

Forget "Supernatural Live," this is the real deal if you want a live-in-concert DVD that has music from all phases of Carlos Santana's evolving career.

This 18-song, 97-minute offering is the finest visual document of a live performance by Santana currently available on DVD, and till they start releasing his classic shows from the 1960s and 1970s, this is the way to go.

The songs span the heady 1960s ("Jingo" and "Soul Sacrifice" from the self-titled debut album) to the 1990s ("Make Somebody Happy" from the Milagro album that marked the beginning of a comeback cycle that ended with Supernatural).

Add to the fact that the concerts on this DVD were filmed in Mexico City in 1993 while Santana was touring on the strength of his excellent Milagro album, and the presence of Alex J. Ligertwood (in my humble opinion, the finest of many vocalists who have worked with Santana's band), and you have a great package on your hands.

The image is inconsistent, ranging from very sharp to slightly blurry, but that's okay when you consider the DVD comprises footage filmed on videotape almost a decade ago. There is no visible bleeding of colours and the editing is clean, lingering long enough on individual players instead of the totally unnecessary rapidfire cuts pioneered by MTV.

The downsides? You get only LPCM stereo and Dolby Surround 2.0 soundtracks and the video is not 16x9 enhanced. Plus, the DVD has NO extras at all. Makes you wonder if a special eition is in the works!!

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars more than a concert, October 23, 2001

By 

B. Cooke "xbcookex" (Colorado, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Santana - Sacred Fire (DVD)

This is more than a concert -- it's a celebration of music. Santana purists might whine, but I loved the interpolation of all kinds of tunes into Carlos' solos. He throws in all kinds of riffs - "Owner of a Lonely Heart" and "Light My Fire" are just a few -- and you have to pay attention or you miss them. The end result is a whole lot of new life put into some old songs. This is one of the best concerts I've ever seen or heard, and it blows away the Supernatural Live DVD. If you liked the Sacred Fire CD, you'll love this DVD: it has more tracks and some of the tracks are longer.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Santana DVD On The Market Today!, February 8, 2004

By 

Puneet S. Lamba (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Santana - Sacred Fire (DVD)

Until Santana's older performances are released on DVD, this one-and-a-half-hour concert production easily rates as the best that is available on the market today.

No one that has ever enjoyed Santana's music can fail to relish this DVD. And that probably includes you, since that is likely why you are reading this review.

The song selection represents an even mix of nine vintage and nine modern Santana tunes offering an excellent retrospective of Santana's long and illustrious career.

The DVD offers amazingly authentic renditions of the following nine classics: "Jingo" and "Soul Sacrifice" from the self-titled debut album, "Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen," "Oye Como Va," and "Samba Pa Ti" from the second album "Abraxas," and "Batuka," "No One To Depend On," "Toussaint L'Overture," and "Guajira" from the third album "Santana III."

This superbly produced DVD of Santana's 1993 live performance, on home turf in Mexico City, features old hands such as Carlos Santana (lead guitar), Chester Thompson (keyboards), Alex Ligertwood (lead vocals), Raul Rekow (bongos and congas), Karl Perazzo (timbales & cow bell), and a flawless cast of newer Santana members on drums and bass. The performance also features Jorge Santana, the youngest of the three Santana brothers, on guitar.

The filming is competent and includes superb footage of each musician as well as the audience, which clearly appears to be having a wonderful time.