I ain't got nobody that I can depend on

Continuing my trip back through the 1971 album charts.

14/11/71 : Santana III - Santana

Our third visit with Santana and, whilst I've not minded them, they're yet to even approach the heights of their '99 offering Supernatural. So let's see how they do here (some 28 years earlier!).

Yeah - I didn't mind this at all. It certainly has a bit of the Supernatural vibe to it, with some similar rhythms and top guitar playing on it. It's interesting that I objected to the noodling on Yes's recent visit because this is also very noodly but I didn't find it at all annoying - and I've got absolutely no idea what part of my brain is deciding there's a difference. The other thing that I found interesting about this album is that I didn't feel it had dated in the slightest - all in all, it was an enjoyable listen and one that would benefit from multiple visits.

We're at #6 in the charts this week on their second week of a six week run, with this being as high as it got. Somewhat unusually, this was its third run of seven it had between April '71 and May '72 - this was the longest, with the others being either one or three weeks, giving it sixteen chart weeks in total. The top five this week were Rod Stewart, Top Of The Pops Vol 20, John Lennon, T Rex and Motown Chartbusters Vol 6 with the highest new entry being Pink Floyd (#9).

Wikipedia tells us, to no-one's surprise, that this is their third album - it's officially just called Santana, but everyone adds the III to distinguish it from their debut with the same title. It's also known as Man with an Outstretched Hand (after the cover art, a reverse variation of an Arthur Lidov painting) - but III seems a snappier title! It's the last album with their Woodstock era lineup (until they reformed for Santana IV in '16) but with the addition of 16 year old Neal Schon, who would go on to be one of the founding members of Journey. Critically, it was well received and retrospectively is considered by some to be their peak before they moved into a more jazz fusion kinda thang. Commercially, it did very well getting to #1 in Canada, Italy, Spain and the US - they wouldn't have another #1 in the US until Supernatural, with that 27 year gap being the longest until Paul McCartney hit the top spot in '18 after a gap of 36 years.

discogs.com tells us you can pick up a decent version for three quid, but if you want a mint Pitman pressing it will set you back £82.76 - I'm pretty certain the three quid copy will do the job well enough though. And it does a good job because I really quite enjoyed this - we're on a decent mini-run here.

21/11/71 - Surprisingly enjoyable

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