( 4 reviews )
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Posted: Feb 1 2007
The pros are that the book is easy to read and the author writes with enthusiasm. The main issue I had with the book is that the author gets some of the dates of events in Carlos Santana's life wrong. Most people would not mind such inaccuracies, but I do. The lack of research and interest in getting it right lacks professionalism and distorts history. I would instead recommend checking out Leng or Slavicek if you want more meat or just the facts about Carlos Santana.
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( 0 of 3 found this review helpful ) Posted: Oct 26 2005
I never recieved this book. After spending time trying to order the book it was not available. The only reason I became interested in it was because of a promotion amazon ran when I was trying to order another book. Please don't waste my time in the future.
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( 10 of 14 found this review helpful ) Posted: Mar 7 2001
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.
