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Santana — Santana

What the critics heard when these records were new. Original reviews, release anniversaries and chart histories.

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First release · United States
Album cover: Santana — Santana
Cover source ↗Santana
1969

Santana

Santana

psychedelic rocklatin rockacid rockheavy psych
Hostile review

A landmark the critic called hollow

Released in the US on 22 August 1969. A contemporary hostile review, alongside chart results with their dates.

The verdict at the time

Winner attacked the record as a 'masterpiece of hollow techniques' and a 'speed freak's delight — fast, pounding, frantic music with no real content', comparing its effect to methedrine and finding the playing repetitively unimaginative.

Chart peaks

USA#4Billboard Top LPs1969-11-15 · Original release periodChart source
UK#34Official Albums Chart1970-05-02 · Original release periodChart source
Europe · Netherlands#5Dutch Album Top 1001970-01-24 · Original release periodChart source

European positions are listed by country. Later chart entries are labelled separately.

Sources & context

One critic's opinion, summarised from the original Rolling Stone review of 18 October 1969. The album is now ranked among Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time and recognised as a foundational Latin-rock record.

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