Caravanserai album cover
Caravanserai

Santana

1972
Columbia

After three hit albums with the Latin-tinged blues-rock band that bore his name, Carlos Santana took a sharp left turn on Caravanserai. In addition to multiple lineup changes, the music shifted from hard rock to gently wafting fusion, and the album was almost entirely instrumental; only three of 10 tracks featured vocals. That left plenty of room for guitar solos and explosive percussion outbursts, of course, and tracks like “Look Up (To See What’s Coming Down),” “All the Love of the Universe” and particularly the nine-minute album closer, “Every Step of the Way” have all the fire and fury of Santana’s earlier material, but with a newfound complexity and expansiveness, including an orchestral arrangement on the latter track by jazz trumpeter Tom Harrell.

Phil Freeman

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