Man, when I first heard this on the Woodstock album soundtrack, I was blown away as a kid in the 70’s. I fell in love with Carlos’s tone from that point on which has endured to this day. On that cloudy humid August day in Bethal, NY, Gregg Rolie on keyboards, David Brown on bass, José “Chepito” Areas on percussion, Mike Carabello on timbales, Mike Shrieve on drums along with Carlos exploded into an amazing instrumental jam called Soul Sacrifice. The world was introduced to a new type of music infusing rock guitar with high energetic Latin percussion. Carlos wields that Gibson SG like a sword fighting a fierce beast that echoed across those Sullivan County sleepy meadows
Considering that Santana & Greg Rolie were only 22 years old and drummer Mike Shrieve only 19 years old, it an incredible show of great talent. The band has intense energy that is felt through the recording of the festival. Santana was one of the shining acts of the festival, which is saying a lot considering how many incredible artists performed at Woodstock. Carlos played a Gibson SG Special with P90 pickups which accounts for his partially clean tone, as P-90s don’t have as much beef and output as humbuckers. He later migrated to the Gibson Les Paul’s then the Yamaha’s and finally to PRS’s that all had double humbuckers. What’s wonderful about Santana during this period is they were really a fusion band because not only were they incorporating rock with Latin, but they were adding jazz, world and funk influences as well. This a true must have track for any collection if you enjoy amazing guitar tones from that wonderful era of music freedom!
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