Maps of Music

Caravanserai (1972)

Where the lyrics of Caravanserai take you, and where it was really made.

Santana's fourth album sold less than the band's earlier chart-topping records and stalled at No. 8 on the Billboard 200, yet it later earned Platinum status.

Key places

Where Caravanserai was recorded (1972)

Recording site Soapbox West — Santana recorded the album at Columbia Studios in San Francisco between March and May 1972. The point is set at city-center level, not at the studio building itself. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Caravanserai: fourth album by the American rock band Santana
• Released 11 October 1972 by Columbia Records and CBS Records International
• Produced by Carlos Santana and Michael Shrieve
• Moved the band toward an instrumental jazz rock direction with elements of salsa
• Mixed and released in both stereo and quadraphonic
• Sold fewer copies than the band's earlier chart-topping albums

Background

• A period of transition: the band's last album to feature several key early members
• Tom Coster made his first Santana appearance here, playing electric piano on La Fuente del Ritmo
• The tour spanned the Americas, Europe, Asia and Oceania, from September 1972 to December 1973
• After the tour, Neal Schon and Gregg Rolie left to co-found the rock band Journey

Recording

• Recorded at Columbia Studios, San Francisco, California, March–May 1972
• Recorded and engineered by Glen Kolotkin and Mike Larner

Cover

• Front and back covers show silhouettes of a line of camels marching under a huge, blazing sun

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · es.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Formed in San Francisco, California, in 1966 by Mexican-American guitarist Carlos Santana.
• Named the Santana Blues Band at a January 1967 Fillmore audition; shortened to Santana by the end of 1967.
• Signed with Columbia Records in late 1968.
• The "classic" line-up stabilised in May 1969: Carlos Santana, Gregg Rolie, Michael Carabello, David Brown, Michael Shrieve and Jose "Chepito" Areas.

Members

• Carlos Santana is the only consistent member across the band's history.
• Classic line-up: Santana, Gregg Rolie (organ, lead vocals), Michael Carabello and Jose "Chepito" Areas (percussion), Michael Shrieve (drums), David Brown (bass).
• Brown died in 2000; Areas was not invited to the 2014 reunion.
• Classic line-up members were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.

Career

• Breakthrough at the 1969 Woodstock Festival; the debut album Santana peaked at No. 4 on the US Billboard 200.
• Abraxas (1970) and Santana III (1971) both reached No. 1 on the US Billboard 200.
• Early 1970s experiments with jazz fusion on Caravanserai (1972), Welcome (1973) and Borboletta (1974).
• Amigos (1976) returned the band to commercial success; Moonflower (1977) was its most successful album since Santana III.
• Commercial decline in the 1980s, followed by a seven-year recording hiatus.
• Supernatural (1999) won eight Grammy Awards and sold an estimated 30 million copies worldwide.
• Santana IV (2016) reunited the classic line-up, the first recording together in 45 years.
• Estimated 100 million records sold worldwide.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Rolling Stone (Ralph Gleason, 1976): said the album speaks directly to the universality of man, both in the sound of the music and in the vocals.
• Regarded as an artistic success, but the musical changes that began on its 1972 release marked the start of a fall in Santana's commercial popularity.
• Reached number 8 on the Billboard 200 and number 6 on the R&B Albums chart in 1972.

Reappraisal

• Spanish Wikipedia: many critics regard it as the best album by the group.
• Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums (third edition, 2000): ranked number 609.
• Achieved Platinum status over the years.

Records

• Billboard 200 peak: number 8
• R&B Albums peak: number 6
• Sales below the band's previous chart-topping albums
• Platinum certification over the years

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · es.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Tom Coster made his first Santana appearance on this album and went on to perform with the band for years afterward.
• Once the tour was complete, Neal Schon and Gregg Rolie left to co-found Journey.
• Most of the tracks are instrumental, so the album produced no singles on the hit charts.
• The Q8 quad version swapped Song of the Wind and La Fuente del Ritmo, the next to last tracks on each side of the LP, to even the timing for the tape.
• Remastered in 2003 for re-release on Legacy/Columbia/SME, and released as an SACD in both stereo and quadraphonic in 2022.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · es.wikipedia.org

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