I had a colleague, a young’un who grew up during the 80s, who tried to tell me once that music in the 70s was “all white.” ‘Scuse me? How did he get that? The 70s was when Stevie Wonder broke out of the Motown mold and came into his own. And forget Christina Aguilerra or even Gloria Estefan. We had Santana–the original Latin rock band, and still by far the best.
Here they are in 1986, jamming Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen (Abraxas, 1970). Listen to Carlos Santana’s intro solo–the man is a guitar god:
Oye Como Va–amazing:
From 1998 (there’s a video from 73, but the quality is so bad that it’s distracting), Samba Pa Ti–Carlos at his best. Does anybody even record instrumentals anymore?
When we saw Santana, we were awestruck all night. It’s amazing what beautiful sounds he can create with that guitar.
Ben Calvin says:
The 70s?
Off the top of my head…….
War
Philly TSOP Soul
Ohio Players
Parliment/Funkadelic/Bootsy Collins
Van MaCoy (The Hustle)
Soul Train
Gladys Knight and the Pips
Al Green
Eddie Kendricks
Earth Wind & Fire
Rick James
The Hues Corporation
Barry White
All white? Only if you don’t know anything about the era…….
May 16, 2007, 6:39 pmRobert says:
Robert Randoplh and the Family Band do terrific instrumentals. RR is unique — he plays a pedal steel, combining rock influences with his church music background. He plays like a combination of Hendrix/Stevie Ray Vaughan/Clapton. You wouldn’t believe the sounds he can coax out of that thing. I’d describe it as Pentecostal praise music meets Zeppelin somewhere in the world of mid-70’s funk. Except it’s better than that.
Go have a listen to Unclassified, Live at the Wetlands, or their latest Colorblind. You can find video of them on YouTube and Google video too.
May 17, 2007, 4:08 pmRobert says:
Typo: That should be Robert Randolph.
May 17, 2007, 4:10 pm