Inner Secrets

Description

Santana Moves Toward the Rock Mainstream: Inner Secrets Features Three Top 100 Singles, Passionate Performances, and Tightened-Up Frameworks

Sourced from the Original Analog Master Tapes and Strictly Limited to 3,000 Numbered Copies: Mobile Fidelitys 180g 33RPM LP Exposes Critical Details and Tones That Make the 1978 Album Soar.

1/4 / 15 IPS analog master to DSD 256 to analog console to lathe.

Carlos Santana refused to sit still or commit to one style during his fantastically adventurous stretch in the 1970s. That prolific decade witnessed his namesake band release nine studio albums, one hybrid live-studio double album, and a triple live set. The groups penchant for exploration and mutation and adopting those constructs into appealing songs that surprise, delight, and inspire flares throughout Inner Secrets, a gold-certified effort that finds the collective reaching heights it would not again realize for another 10 years.

Sourced from the original master tapes, pressed at Fidelity Record Pressing, and strictly limited to 3,000 numbered copies, Mobile Fidelitys 180g 33RPM LP of Inner Secrets presents the 1978 album in audiophile sound for the first time on a domestic reissue. Part of the labels Santana series, this collectible version features quiet surfaces and black backgrounds that help expose the critical details, dynamics, and tones that really allow Santanas music to soar.

As for Carlos Santanas signature guitar voicing, spicy leads, and acrobatic solos? Hear them with newfound definition and enhanced clarity all the better to appreciate the dexterity, vision, and soulfulness on display. Those characteristics extend to the contributions from the other players on Inner Secrets, including Graham Lears invigorating drumming and David Margens foundational bass lines. They form a solid rhythmic foundation capable of veering from disco grooves to moody pop and radio-friendly classic rock.

Home to three Top 100 singles, Inner Secrets marks another turning point in Santanas evolution. It is the bands first project without keyboardist Tom Coster since the latter arrived in 1972. Gone, too, from the lineup is original percussionist Jose Areas. In their places are Chris Rhyme and Pete Escovedo, respectively, with the latter having debuted on the studio portion of the preceding Moonflower (1977). Multi-instrumentalist Chris Solberg counts as the other notable new addition. All three pros play key roles on a work that witnesses Santana moving away from fusion-laden fare and toward mainstream-oriented material.

Obvious evidence of that transformation arrives in the form of four inspired covers, including renditions of Buddy Hollys Well All Right, Four Tops One Chain (Dont Make No Prison), Classic IVs Stormy, and Traffics Dealer with the latter tune soldered into Spanish Rose. Santanas focused approach is also reflected in the structures and lengths of the songs. No track lasts longer than six minutes and 15 seconds. Yet the band packs an array of contagious melodies, complex passages, and passionate performances into the tightened-up frameworks.

In addition to the instrumental prowess, Inner Secrets especially benefits from the singing of Greg Walker. Carlos Santana called Walkers technique a combination of street and church music; street being raw, sexy, warm, and naked; church being spiritual, inspirational, soulful, and sincere. Those elements further punctuate Inner Secrets and ensure the album stands as a bookend to the groups peak era. Wham!, indeed.