Santana-Santana (III) (1971)
Artist: Santana
Title: Santana (III)
Sell Price: $3.42
Sell Date: 3/29/26
Condition: VG/VG PRO REFURBISH
Discogs Last Sold: 12/28/25 NM/VG+ $9.35
Low: $0.50
Median: $2.38
Average: $2.64
High: $9.35
Current low price: $1.98 VG/no cover
Current Number on Sale at Discogs: 8
Have/Want: 68/64
Where Sold: Fort Worth, TX
Time It Took To Sell: 2 years
Where and When Buught: Ebay lot
Gwiz-gau Grade: A-
Sad To See It Go: No
In it's day this was a US number one album for 5 weeks. This album hit the double Platinum mark in 1986 when multi Platinum certifications started, but on some level it was a bit of diminished returns from the first two. Still, it is the final album of the original Woodstock lineup (at least before their IV reunion album in 2016) and holds up over time. It was the second album to take the Santana title although some imports called it III off the bat to avoid confusion. Carlos Santana had an artist stance that labeling the music with a title limited the music and takes away the focus from the band and the spiritual element of music itself. This held up when categories were imposed into the commercial hierarcy imposed in the 70's following the free form spirit of the late 60's. In many ways this album forshadowed pop success while eschewing formal hierarcy. This philosophy made for his greatest commercial pop success more than a quarter century later with Supernatural after years of using his name brand for less strictly commercial pursuits that maintained an amphitheatre level fanbase and record releases in the major label hierarchy. However, the sense of mystery that took from Latin, Jazz and Psychedelic Rock cultures equally to create a one-of-a-kind commercial entity enabled Carlos Santana to ride a whole career to this day. The artist's slight of hand to create a brand in an evaporating era of anti commercialism by defying something so simple as giving the new set of songs a title.
This "album rock" album actually had a couple top 40 hits that didn't have AOR legs at least to my recollections. Although that was probably still the main audience for Santana's live ticket sales, the records after the jazz fusion ones were firmly in pop territory, so this is not as big a surprise as one might think looking at the album with the psychedelic moonshot cover. The big hit was "Everybody's Everything" which peaked at #12 on a 10 week Hot 100 run and "No One To Depend On" peaked at #36 on a 9 week run. This was thought to be an uncredited adaption of Willie Bobo's "Spanish Grease." You be the judge. Coke Escovedo took credit for it with fellow percussionist Micheal Carabello and issued it as a B-side in 1975 from his Coke album. My guess is they took the credit based on arrangement to what they deemed a standard. Tito Puente got his credit for the album closer "Para los Rumberos." Gene Ammons got his with "Jungle Strut" so it doesn't seem like Santana was going to avoid paying publishing at the level they were at.
This particular 8-track didn't hold the track order or avoid fades: "Jungle Strut" and "Taboo" both got that treatment. Rumberos is in the middle of track 3 instead of ending the album. "Batuka" and "No One To Depend On" still match the 1/2 opening punch of the record.
Overthinking it shatters the Joy of the myth.
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