Maps of Music

Spirits Dancing in the Flesh (1990)

Where the lyrics of Spirits Dancing in the Flesh take you, and where it was really made.

Santana's sixteenth studio album reached only number 85 on the Billboard 200, and it was the last Santana album released for Columbia Records.

Key places

Recorded at The Plant Studios (1990)

Recording site Record Plant — The album was recorded at The Plant Studios in Sausalito, California. The source lists this studio as the recording place. The point marks the studio building, not a specific room. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Mixed at Soundcastle (1990)

Recording site Soundcastle — Mixing for the album was done at Soundcastle. The source lists it as the mixing place for this album. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Spirits Dancing in the Flesh: sixteenth studio album by Santana
• Released 15 June 1990 by Columbia Records
• Reached number 85 on the Billboard 200 (Spanish Wikipedia lists 87)
• Last album Santana released for Columbia Records (French and Portuguese Wikipedia)
• Ten tracks, opening with a seven-minute title suite
• Writer credits include Curtis Mayfield for Gypsy Woman and Babatunde Olatunji for Jin-go-lo-ba
• Peace on Earth...Mother Earth...Third Stone from the Sun credits John Coltrane, Santana and Jimi Hendrix

Background

• Core band on this album: Carlos Santana, Alex Ligertwood, Benny Rietveld, Chester D. Thompson, Armando Peraza, Walfredo Reyes
• Guest guitarist Vernon Reid and guest saxophonist Wayne Shorter appear on the record
• Bobby Womack and Tramaine Hawkins take lead vocals as guests
• Stephen King, Orestes Vilato and Raul Rekow also appear as vocalists or percussionists

Recording

• Recorded at The Plant Studios in Sausalito, California
• Mixing also took place at Soundcastle
• Jim Gaines credited for engineering, mixing and production
• Peter Wolf credited for arranging and production
• Devon Bernardoni and Paul Ericksen credited for engineering and mixing
• Sergio Albonico credited as executive producer
• Stephen Marcussen credited for mastering

Cover

• Cover photography by Diego Uchitel
• Design credited to Bob Venosa

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

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

• Released 15 June 1990 by Columbia Records (Spanish Wikipedia)
• Chart entry: number 85 on the Billboard 200 (English, French and Portuguese Wikipedia)
• The French article gives June 1990 as the release month

Records

• Billboard 200: number 85 (English, French and Portuguese Wikipedia)
• Spanish Wikipedia gives number 87 for the Billboard 200
• Discogs lists it as the 16th studio album, released 1990
• Last Santana album released for Columbia Records (French and Portuguese Wikipedia)
• Portuguese Wikipedia also gives 85th place in the Billboard charts

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

Trivia

• Gypsy Woman is credited to Curtis Mayfield, and Jin-go-lo-ba is credited to Babatunde Olatunji on the track listing.
• The Peace on Earth...Mother Earth...Third Stone from the Sun track credits John Coltrane and Jimi Hendrix alongside Santana.
• Bobby Womack sings lead vocals as a guest on the album.
• Wayne Shorter plays soprano and tenor saxophone as a guest.
• Who's That Lady credits six writers from the Isley family and Chris Jasper.
• The album's mixing was credited to two studios, The Plant Studios and Soundcastle.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Maps of Ages ↗ (mapsofages.com)

Privacy · Contact