Is Carlos Santana really all that?

[estranged4life]

GuitarPlayer magazine Carlos Santana is on the cover and the first paragraph of his interview says alot about him having a comfort zone...

GP-Like its predecessor, "Shaman" is a cooperative effort. Did you try to approach this project differently from "Supernatural"?

C.S.-"I'll use Wayne Shorter's beautiful words: "It was completely new and totally familiar."

BTW-There are a couple of GREAT interviews with David Gilmour & Mark Knopfler that seem way more interesting than the Santana interview...I never knew Mark Knopfler was a left handed person...That would explain why he has a great hand for the fret board...Brian J.

[seteca]

Originally posted by estranged4life
BTW-There are a couple of GREAT interviews with David Gilmour & Mark Knopfler that seem way more interesting than the Santana interview...

WOW!!! Two of my favourite guitarists! I spent the past month or so working on an FX-created tone that would be "the best of both worlds" of the MK tone and the DG tone...and it's come out quite well...Madformac will attest that for me (I hope)!

Thanks for the heads-up Brian, I'll be getting a copy of that first thing tomorrow for sure!

[madformac]

Originally posted by estranged4life
I never knew Mark Knopfler was a left handed person...That would explain why he has a great hand for the fret board...Brian J.

Yes indeed, Knopfler, my favorite guitarist, is left handed which is why I guess, he has the power to pull perfect triad bends (three strings at a time) and vibratos plus also has such left hand fluidity and speed.

Having said he is my favorite, it changes between Knopfler, Buckingham, Peter Green and the great Eric Patrick Clapton every day or two.

Seteca's fx generated tone is very good, a bit of Knopfler, Gilmour and Green rolled into one. Slick stuff.

[estranged4life]

what do ya Brits think of his new 2 cd Live release? And what did you think of his performance last Friday at the George Harrison tribute show? Brian J.

[Sarah]

Yep.

First time I heard "Game of Love" I knew it was Santana.

I think he DOES have the emotion.. I think his playing is all emotion, actually. I loooove how he gets REALLY into what he's playing and he just throws his head back, opens up his mouth, and really starts to enjoy what he's doing. He's done that forever..

one of the reasons why he's among the greatest.

(Still love LB.)

As for me, I'm not sick of "Game of Love" yet. Give me another month of heavy FM radio rotation and I might be.. but I'm still just enjoying every track on Shaman: GoL included.


Sarah

[madformac]

Originally posted by estranged4life
what do ya Brits think of his new 2 cd Live release? And what did you think of his performance last Friday at the George Harrison tribute show? Brian J.

I think the new 2CD set is quite good, there are some songs on there, My Fathers Eyes etc that Eric hasn't played that much live so in that respect it was good, the bad thing was the sound mix, not up to the usual Clapton standard (My favorite is the Live In Hyde Park DVD). The other thing that annoyed me a little was the sound of Eric's 00042 EC Martin guitar. The action was set far too low for the stuff he was playing, far too much rattle.
The highlight for me was Billy Preston's performance. His little dance (I have the DVD) was cool too.

Maybe ChiliD could help us because he was probably there on August 18th 2001 at the Staples Center, LA. Chili?

I didn't see the Harrison gig although I did see a bit of the rehearsal on TV. I would have loved to go to the gig but tickets were changing hands for $2000 each! Not really in the spirit of the concert.
I chose to spend the night playing some of George's music (including his very honest "new" album Brainwashed) and remembering what a great player and human being he was.

[chiliD]

Nope, didn't see Eric this past tour...only the third tour I've missed of his since his 461 Ocean Blvd comeback tour in 1974. (the other two...the Ronnie Lane ARMS Benefit tour in the mid 80s; the "all blues" From The Cradle tour in the mid 90s)

I've listened to the 30 second clips of the "OMC, OMD" set at CDNOW; pretty much what I'd expected, except for "Going Down Slow"...THAT sounds like the Splinter Group doing "Real World"!!! (btw, what's with this "CDNOW/Amazon.com" thing? What a way to ruin a good online store).

It was nice to read that Carlos mentioned Peter Green THREE TIMES in this latest GP interview.

There are already a few bootlegged tunes from the Harrison Tribute show in circulation...(about B+ sound quality...audience recording; real echoey)

Tom Petty & Jeff Lynne (Tom singing George's part, Jeff doing a great job singing Roy Orbison's part) doing "Handle With Care"
Ringo doing "Photograph"
Paul McCartney doing "For You Blue" (wow, hearing Paul's voice on this is really eerie)
Paul on ukulele doing "Something" (ala the way he's been playing it on the Driving US tour) then segueing into the full band w/Eric on vocals finishing the song (ala the original recording)

[estranged4life]

there will soon be "A+" quality bootlegs of the tribute show due to it being filmed for a future release...Plus with all the access to www.bootlegzone.com I'm hoping to find it sooner than later...(I'm anxiously awaiting to receive my copy of the great George Harrison/Gary Moore live version of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps"!!!)

I'm also curious to see the it due to the fact that some of people who played the show have a dislike for Clapton and said he was supposedly "Grand-standing" and that their dislike showed up on the stage while playing with Mr.Clapton (Clapton was the "band director")...Their dislike was even to the point that most left the aftershow party before E.C. showed up (He was announced to show, Which he never did.). Aww those big British Rock Hero Ego's...lol...Brian J.

[chiliD]

In Eric's defense, I would imagine that it was an EXTREMELY painful thing for him to deal with. Not that it was any MORE painful than anyone else who participated, but Eric & George were probably closer than George was with his two "Beatle brothers" for the past couple of decades. Hence, Eric's being virtually silent in regards to a public statement since George's passing. I think no matter WHO the "Music Director" at this show would've been, there would've been some hard feelings toward the MD. I mean just look at the egos involved...Sir Paul, Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty, etc, are all BAND LEADERS in their own right and are used to calling the shots themselves. That the show even got off the ground is probably DUE to Eric being the MD and his usual "humility" probably got everyone THROUGH the show...whether there was back-biting going on or not.

Even at both the Queen's concert last summer and the "Concert For NY" last fall, there visibly didn't seem to be any love lost between Eric & Sir Paul...which is probably why they haven't worked together in any major capacity over the years.

[Les]

Originally posted by estranged4life
I'm also curious to see the it due to the fact that some of people who played the show have a dislike for Clapton and said he was supposedly "Grand-standing" and that their dislike showed up on the stage while playing with Mr.Clapton (Clapton was the "band director")...

I read something about that too on the Fox news website a day or two after the show. It's always hard to know how much of this stuff to believe as the writer did a lot of projecting and editorializing, but this is what was written:

Did Clapton Give McCartney Short Shrift?

Much as he worked tirelessly to make The Concert for George a hit, Eric Clapton nevertheless made some enemies Friday night.

In his overzealousness to put on a perfect program, some of the musicians claimed he over-rehearsed them. More than a few noticed Billy Preston's fingers were swollen from putting in eight-hour days, six days a week for nearly three weeks. But apparently Clapton felt that if he was paying Preston he should adhere to the schedule.

Same for the other famed sidemen whom Clapton brought to the show including Jim Keltner, Jim Horn, Klaus Voorman, Ray Cooper, and Emil Richards among them — all names that appear on countless solo Beatles albums.

Jools Holland, the English Paul Schaffer who put together the shows and was musical director, is said to be furious that Clapton didn't thank him from the stage for all his hard work.

Clapton also didn't do much to make Paul McCartney feel good. McCartney doesn't take to not being in the spotlight — he took over both The Concert for New York and the Queen's Jubilee shows, for example.

As a Beatle and a friend of Harrison's long before Clapton, McCartney felt that he should be prominently featured in the show. But after his introduction by Ringo Starr, McCartney's ukulele rendition of "Something" — which he does on his tour — was circumvented by Clapton taking over mid-song and finishing "Something" as a rock number.

McCartney then performed a beautiful version of "All Things Must Pass" and then was demoted to a piano on the side of the stage. I watched him pretty much not strike the keys for the balance of the show, clearly seething over his tertiary role.

Ringo must have known how he felt, because he went out of his way to split from the after-party before Paul and wife Heather arrived. The McCartneys spent the shortest time possible — just minutes — maybe anticipating Clapton's arrival. (He never showed though.)

[estranged4life]

is that the UK press didnt know that Dhani Harrison isnt George's wife but his son and they were eating up the feeling between Eric & the others ("It seems George got younger and the rest of us aged"-Quote of the night from the tribute concert!!!!)...Really funny, And yer right about E.C. & Sir Paul...I like both just wished the "b.s." between them would quit or subside, Because as you said Eric was indeed closer to George than Paul...And he was his brother...Brian J.

[madformac]

I'm really not going to get into an argument on Clapton and McCartney.

However,

I was not very impressed by Sir Paul's scruffy, jean wearing appearance at the Queen's jubillee gig compared to Eric's very smart tailored suit and clean appearance. It's a matter of respect and etiquette on the night.
I just get the feeling Macca thinks he's so big that he can do what he wants. He pushes this "I'm a down to earth" guy yet he never seems to conform to this view. It annoyed me that he decided not to tour Europe but instead added extra gigs to his U.S. tour because of the huge profit in the States he was making compared to a small profit from European shows. The man allegedly has over a £1,000,000,000 so he would rather play for money than for his fans? Looks like it. You would have to ask his accountants.

Eric Clapton has kept a low profile lately. He keeps his family life away from the media (unlike Paul) and as chiliD has said, Eric has not really spoken about George's death publicly and maybe, the aftershow party would have put him in a position where he would have to have talked about his feelings.

About the fact he was making the musicians work very hard in rehearsals, well, I guess this was a very personal thing for him and I'm sure he wanted it to be as well rehearsed and perfect as it could be. I bet Eric was playing eight hours a day and not moaning about it, just like Phil Collins was for the jubillee gig he directed.
Plus if Jools Holland (whom I really admire, amazing pianist and host) wanted a public thankyou from Eric, was he doing it all and giving his time up for George, his memory and his charities or for his own personal gain and recognition?

Also, unrelated to this I do feel McCartney's voice has not been very good this last year or two. Just my opinion on the great songwriting ex-Beatle.

[estranged4life]

"I just get the feeling Macca thinks he's so big that he can do what he wants. He pushes this "I'm a down to earth" guy yet he never seems to conform to this view. It annoyed me that he decided not to tour Europe but instead added extra gigs to his U.S. tour because of the huge profit in the States he was making compared to a small profit from European shows. The man allegedly has over a £1,000,000,000 so he would rather play for money than for his fans? Looks like it. You would have to ask his accountants."

I have to agree that what you said is true. Even though I went to his show I didnt spend any money except for the tickets ($67.50), And I sure wasnt even considering paying $150-$250 for the floor seats (The Rolling Stones tickets are even higher $90-$300) or buying merchandise (T-Shirts $35-$100, Some items were $700!!!)...People who have been fans for years have noticed that he has changed in a neagtive way since Linda passed away...A good example of that is the songwriting credits on the new "Back In The U.S." set; Gone are the classic "Lennon/McCartney" listings replaced with the "Composed by Paul McCartney & John Lennon". He seemed miffed about having to share credit for all these years...Could "greed" be a part of this also?

And I didnt understand why he didnt add any Europe dates to the "supposed" tour, But from what I have read that will be "supposedly" changing very soon (A tentative Europe tour is being rumoured...One show in Benidorm, Spain is soon to be officially announced along with gigs in small settings in/around the UK & Europe)

"I do feel McCartney's voice has not been very good this last year or two. Just my opinion on the great songwriting ex-Beatle."

His voice indeed doesnt have what it had when he toured & recorded the great "Tripping The Live Fantastic" 2 cd set...Also, I honestly think his touring band from '89 & '93 were a more solid musical unit than the current lineup (Robbie McIntosh & Hamish Stuart were a better combo than the current guitar team of Rusty Anderson & Brian Ray.). The new live album is missing something that his previous live efforts have...It's almost like "Painting By Numbers"...

I'm still waiting to see the video to see the video of the tribute show to see why everyone was upset at E.C., I didnt see what he did as wrong at all...George even said in an ol' GFPM November '92 (Great article/interview worth finding and reading-He said the last band album he enjoyed was Dire Straits "Brothers In Arms...To me that's music; good music played well without all the b.s." & he liked the Black Crowes & he also thought Gary Moore "Is brilliant, Just incredible"...) issue that E.C. was his "sort of" musical rehearsor/director for his Japan tour in 1991, So he would know the material more than anyone else and he probably wanted the show to sound great as in tribute of George...Brian J.

[chiliD]

Hmmmm, my opinion about McCartney's current band has done a 180 since the "Concert For NY". When I watched that show, I thought, "WINGS was better than these guys" (I didn't think Wings was all that great live)...but after hearing a couple of great quality bootlegs and seeing the ABC special, I think these guys are the best of McCartney's touring bands (post-Beatles that is). I like Rusty Anderson's guitar playing...have for quite a while (I've met him...long, long ago...he & I have mutual friends in the music biz...so maybe that's tainting my judgement a bit.)

As long as Paul has Wix playing keyboards, though, he pretty much could've gotten those apes & chimps from his TV special to play the rest of the instruments and he'd sound good.

[estranged4life]

"As long as Paul has Wix playing keyboards, though, he pretty much could've gotten those apes & chimps from his TV special to play the rest of the instruments and he'd sound good."...LMAO!!! True, Very TRUE...Paul "Wix" Wickens is THE great keyboardist. Now he has to play 2 keyboard parts in concert since Linda passed away and he does the J-O-B, Brian J.

p.s.-I wonder why the bootlegs & the DVD of the current lineup sound great (Tampa 5/15/02 is AWESOME!!! Still waiting for the 5/13/02 Atlanta to arrive...) but the official Cd release of "Back In The U.S." is missing something? I actually listen to the Tampa show more than the official album...