Maps of Music

Inner Secrets (1978)

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

Recorded in Los Angeles in 1978, this Santana album moved away from the fusion sound of its predecessors toward a straight rock record.

Key places

Recorded at Western Recorders (1978)

Recording site EastWest Studios — The album was recorded at Western Recorders in Los Angeles during July and August 1978. The pin marks the studio building. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Inner Secrets: tenth studio album by Santana, released in 1978
• Released October 1978 (release date 1978-10-01)
• Considered a rock album, departing from the fusion of Latin, jazz, rock and spirituality of earlier records
• Nine-piece lineup credited on the album
• Greg Walker on lead vocals; Carlos Santana and Chris Solberg on guitar
• Chris Rhyne on keyboards; David Margen on bass; Graham Lear on drums
• Armando Peraza, Raul Rekow and Pete Escovedo on percussion
• Dennis Lambert credited on clavinet; Mike Boddicker on synthesizer programming
• Original LP issued on Columbia (FC 35600)

Background

• Shift from the fusion phase of Santana's earlier career toward a more commercial rock sound
• Chris Rhyne replaced Tom Coster on keyboards, Tom Coster had replaced Gregg Rollie from the 1973 album Welcome
• Chris Solberg joined the group as a guitarist
• David Margen remained on bass

Recording

• Recorded at Western Recorders, Los Angeles, California, in July and August 1978
• Mastered at The Mastering Lab, Los Angeles, California
• Engineer Matt Hyde, with assistant engineer Gary Boatner

Cover

• Cover photo by Norman Seeff, who also handled design and art direction
• The photo split the nine-piece lineup between the front and back covers
• Front: Carlos Santana with Chris Solberg, Pete Escovedo, Raul Rekow and Greg Walker
• Back: David Margen, Armando Peraza, Graham Lear and Chris Rhyne
• Artwork and cover concept credited to Mick Brigden

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · es.wikipedia.org · www.discogs.com

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

• The Globe and Mail: the earlier fusion-jazz experiments and the Latin and acid-rock influences were evened out on this album, emphasizing Carlos Santana the rocker
• Unlike the fusion of Latin, jazz, rock and spirituality of earlier records, the album was considered a rock album
• The album marked a move toward a more commercial rock sound
• Nine-piece lineup, with the cover photo splitting the band between front and back

Records

• Stormy and One Chain (Don't Make No Prison) were both hit singles
• One Chain reached 53rd and Stormy reached 32nd on the Billboard Hot 100
• Released October 1978, the album reached 27th place on the Billboard charts
• In the Netherlands Well All Right was released as a single and reached number 22 in the top 40
• Dealer/Spanish Rose and The Facts of Love were the only two tracks not released as singles

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · pt.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Most CD releases use an extended disco mix of One Chain (Don't Make No Prison), 7:10, from a 12-inch single, while the original LP version runs 6:13
• The original LP version returned on CD in a Japanese Mini LP sleeve in 2010
• Dealer comes from Traffic's 1967 album Mr. Fantasy, One Chain from a Four Tops song on their 1974 album Meeting of the Minds
• Well All Right is a Buddy Holly song that Blind Faith had covered earlier, and Stormy is a 1968 top-10 hit for Classics IV
• The album cover photo by Norman Seeff divided the nine-piece lineup between the front and back cover
• Keyboardist Chris Rhyne replaced Tom Coster in the band lineup

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · fr.wikipedia.org · www.discogs.com

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