Moonflower
	Produced by Devadip Carlos Santana and Tom Coster
	Released on October 1977
	US CHART POSIITON #10 . . . PLATNUM RECORD . . . UK CHART POSITION #7
	Find it at GEMM
C2 34914 cover [high resolution scan]

T he hybrid Moonflower features some of the most ferocious Carlos Santana soloing on record. The double-elpee set mixes an album’s worth of new studio material with recent live performances from England, France and Germany. By interspersing the two, Moonflower intentionally blurs the line between live and studio, past and present. Two seeds were dropped into the ears of radio listeners: the studio “She’s Not There,” which finds the band reanimating The Zombies’ anglopsych classic with their patented voodoo, and a live version of “Black Magic Woman” that never took root. If I were cataloging Moonflower’s finest moments, the latter would make my list along with “Europa,” “Soul Sacrifice,” “Baila Mi Hermana,” “Jugando,” “El Morocco” and “Toussaint l’Overture.” Not a lot of new material on that list, which isn’t meant to detract from “Transcendance” or “Zulu,” they simply get overshadowed by the magnificent solos afforded the older children. Where albums before and since (Amigos, Secrets) mixed modernity (disco and funk) into their magical brew, the studio side of Moonflower plays its part in producing a Latin infusion I thought lost to time. Where else would you find scorching guitar solos, organ solos, drum solos, conga/bongo solos but a black magical beast of the early ‘70s? In a blind test, I’d put this album at the tail end of Caravanserai and not sandwiched in the funked-up fusion of their late ‘70s work. So feel free to skip past the other Greg Walker albums and run directly to Moonflower. The breathless soloing alone makes this an important milestone in the great Santanic works.

TRACK LISTING

record one

1. DAWN    (Tom Coster) / GO WITHIN    (Devadip Carlos Santana)    2:44
2. CARNAVAL    (Tom Coster/Devadip Carlos Santana)    2:17
3. LET THE CHILDREN PLAY    (Devadip Carlos Santana/Leon Patillo)    2:38
4. JUGANDO    (Devadip Carlos Santana/Jose Areas)    2:04
5. I'LL BE WAITING    (Devadip Carlos Santana)    5:18
6. ZULU    (Devadip Carlos Santana/Tommy Coster Jr.)    3:22
7. BAHIA    (Devadip Carlos Santana/Tom Coster)    1:37
8. BLACK MAGIC WOMAN    (Peter Green)    3:13 / GYPSY QUEEN    (Gabor Szabo)    3:15
9. DANCE SISTER DANCE (BAILA MI HERMANA)    (Leon "Ndugu" Chancler/Tom Coster/David Rubinson)    7:43
10. EUROPA (EARTH'S CRY HEAVEN'S SMILE)    (Devadip Carlos Santana/Tom Coster)    6:06
    
    record two
    
1. SHE'S NOT THERE    (Rod Argent)    4:08
2. FLOR D'LUNA (MOONFLOWER)    (Tom Coster)    5:00
3. SOUL SACRIFICE    (Santana Band)    11:07 / HEAD, HANDS & FEET (DRUM SOLO)    (Graham Lear)    2:36
4. EL MOROCCO    (Tom Coster/Devadip Carlos Santana)    5:02
5. TRANSCENDANCE    (Devadip Carlos Santana)    5:09
6. SAVOR    (Santana Band)    6:03 / TOUSSAINT L'OVERTURE    (Santana)    6:53
   
   CD reissue bonus tracks
   
7. BLACK MAGIC WOMAN (SINGLE VERSION)
8. I'LL BE WAITING (SINGLE VERSION)
9. SHE'S NOT THERE (SINGLE VERSION)

CREDITS

TOM COSTER -- Hammond organ, Yamaha electric grand, Fender Rhodes, Arp Omni, Arp DGX Pro Soloist, Aro Odyssey, Arp string ensemble, vibes, marimbas, mini moog, background vocals, string arrangements
GRAHAM LEAR -- Yamaha drums, percussion
RAUL REKOW -- congas, bongos, surdo, cow bell, percussion, background vocals
DEVADIP CARLOS SANTANA -- guitar, congas, timbales, percussion, background vocals, photography
GREG WALKER -- lead vocals, background vocals
Jose "Chepito" Areas -- timbales, congas, bell tree on live tracks
Tommy Coster Jr. -- Arp Pro Soloist (1.6)
Pete Escovedo -- timbales, guiro, maracas
David Margen -- Fender bass on studio tracks
Pablo Tellez -- Fender bass on live tracks
Tom Vicari -- engineer, mixing
George Engfer -- engineer
Glen Kolotkin -- engineer (1.5)
Rod Thear -- recording engineer
Chris Minto -- mixing
Herb Greene -- art direction
John Paul Jones/Russ Anderson -- graphics
Yoshikazu Shirakawa -- outside and inside cover photography
Don Briggs -- photography
Dennis Callahan, Richard McCaffree, Ethan Russell -- photography

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