Post by erik on May 1, 2021 17:53:03 GMT -5
This year's Cinco De Mayo weekend Pop Music Hits Spotlight focuses in on one of the classic Latin-Rock records of the early 1970's, composed by a legend and then remade by another.
OYE COMO VA (Santana; CBS; 1971)— While the form known as “Latin-rock” may have been developed during rock and roll’s earliest inception, though the Champs’ 1958 instrumental smash “Tequila”, and even Henry Mancini’s flavorful score to director Orson Welles’ 1958 cult crime film Touch Of Evil, the form really blossomed during the 1960’s music explosion. Arguably the genre’s biggest practitioner was San Francisco-based, Mexican-born Carlos Santana. He and the band named after him came from the same hippie music scene in San Francisco, and achieved their first big success by appearing at the immortal Woodstock Festival in August 1969; on a less positive note, they were also part of the Rolling Stones’ unfortunate Altamont debacle just four months later. The group’s self-titled debut album, released in November 1969, reached #4 on the Billboard Top 200 Album Chart, and yielded a #9 hit on the Hot 100 in the form of “Evil Ways”. Santana’s second album, Abraxas, was even more successful, topping the Top 200 Album Chart in the fall of 1970. It also gave the band two of its signature hits. The first was an extended cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “Black Magic Woman”, which peaked at #4 in January 1971, and would be Santana’s biggest hit for almost thirty years. The second hit from Abraxas was the Spanish-language song “Oye Como Va”, a highly energetic and exotic cover of the 1962 mambo classic of the same name by the legendary Tito Puente. Despite being entirely in Spanish, it was a record that had the ears of many FM rock and AM Top 40 listeners, as it managed to peak at #13 on the Hot 100 in April 1971, and remained a staple of FM rock radio for decades to come. Although the band went through dozens of membership changes over the next several decades, Santana himself of course remained a constant; both he and his band were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998, the same year as Fleetwood Mac and the Eagles. Meanwhile, “Oye Como Va” was inducted into the Latin Grammy Hall of Fame in 2001, followed by induction into the general Grammy Hall of Fame in 2002.
OYE COMO VA (Santana; CBS; 1971)— While the form known as “Latin-rock” may have been developed during rock and roll’s earliest inception, though the Champs’ 1958 instrumental smash “Tequila”, and even Henry Mancini’s flavorful score to director Orson Welles’ 1958 cult crime film Touch Of Evil, the form really blossomed during the 1960’s music explosion. Arguably the genre’s biggest practitioner was San Francisco-based, Mexican-born Carlos Santana. He and the band named after him came from the same hippie music scene in San Francisco, and achieved their first big success by appearing at the immortal Woodstock Festival in August 1969; on a less positive note, they were also part of the Rolling Stones’ unfortunate Altamont debacle just four months later. The group’s self-titled debut album, released in November 1969, reached #4 on the Billboard Top 200 Album Chart, and yielded a #9 hit on the Hot 100 in the form of “Evil Ways”. Santana’s second album, Abraxas, was even more successful, topping the Top 200 Album Chart in the fall of 1970. It also gave the band two of its signature hits. The first was an extended cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “Black Magic Woman”, which peaked at #4 in January 1971, and would be Santana’s biggest hit for almost thirty years. The second hit from Abraxas was the Spanish-language song “Oye Como Va”, a highly energetic and exotic cover of the 1962 mambo classic of the same name by the legendary Tito Puente. Despite being entirely in Spanish, it was a record that had the ears of many FM rock and AM Top 40 listeners, as it managed to peak at #13 on the Hot 100 in April 1971, and remained a staple of FM rock radio for decades to come. Although the band went through dozens of membership changes over the next several decades, Santana himself of course remained a constant; both he and his band were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998, the same year as Fleetwood Mac and the Eagles. Meanwhile, “Oye Como Va” was inducted into the Latin Grammy Hall of Fame in 2001, followed by induction into the general Grammy Hall of Fame in 2002.