SANTANA / SANTANA III (ORIGINAL MASTER RECORDING)

Santana – Santana III (Mobile Fidelity Silver Label 33RPM LP)

The final album recorded with the original Woodstock-era lineup, Santana III captures a band at its most unified, fearless, and alive. Released in 1971, this third outing channels the chemistry between Carlos Santana and 17-year-old guitar prodigy Neal Schon into a rhythmic storm of Latin grooves, jazz fusion, and blues-rock intensity. From the explosive opener “Batuka” to the spiritually charged “Everything Is Coming Our Way” and the cha-cha-fueled “No One to Depend On,” every track brims with virtuosity and collective energy.

Mastered on Mobile Fidelity’s world-renowned system and issued as a numbered-edition Silver Label LP, Santana III breathes with warmth, depth, and realism. The interplay between guitars, congas, and Hammond organ unfolds across a vast, immersive soundstage, revealing every shimmer of percussion and surge of melody. This 50-year-old masterpiece — part of the Elektra 75 celebration — remains a definitive document of Santana’s original vision: boundary-free, spiritually charged, and timelessly alive.