Description :
Musicians :
Carlos Santana (guitar, percussion), Leon Thomas (maracas, vocals), Tom Coster (organ Hammond, electric piano), Richard Kermode (organ Hammond, electric piano), Doug Rauch (bass), Armando Peraza (congas, bongos, ... [Show more]
Description:
Musicians :
Carlos Santana (guitar, percussion), Leon Thomas (maracas, vocals), Tom Coster (organ Hammond, electric piano), Richard Kermode (organ Hammond, electric piano), Doug Rauch (bass), Armando Peraza (congas, bongos, percussion), José "Chepito" Areas (timbales, congas, percussion), Michael Shrieve (drums, percussion).
- One of the Most Exhilarating Live Albums Ever Released: Santana’s Lotus Documents Indispensable 1973 Performances Distinguished by Passionate Soulfulness, Chemistry, and Inventiveness !
- Mobile Fidelity’s 180 gram 33 RPM (3 LP) Set Features Reference Sound and Deluxe Trifold Packaging Faithful to That of the Original Japanese Import: Strictly Limited to 5000 Numbered Copies, Includes Four Photo Inserts and Two Fold-Out Posters !
- 1/2" / 15 IPS / four-track analog master to two-track DSD 256 to analog console to lathe !
The bizarre legacy of Lotus transcends its status as both the definitive onstage document of Santana’s career and one of the most spectacular live albums ever released. Originally issued in 1974, the triple LP contains exhilarating performances recorded at two shows in early July 1973 at the 2400 seat Osaka Kosei Nenkin Kaikan concert hall. It bears witness to the eight-piece collective playing with a chemistry, inventiveness, cohesiveness, and soulfulness no other Santana lineup would ever surpass. Lotus also remained the only completely live Santana album for almost two decades and took nearly as long to see domestic release.
Sourced from the original master tapes, pressed at Fidelity Record Pressing, strictly limited to 5000 numbered copies, and housed in deluxe trifold packaging faithful to that of the original pressing, Lotus benefits from reference audiophile treatment on Mobile Fidelity’s 180 gram (3 LP) set. Featuring rich tones, smooth dynamics, excellent separation, deep soundstages, and involving presence, this reissue pays tribute to both the virtuosic lineup and the indispensable fusion of Latin- and Afro-Cuban-influenced jazz, rock, psychedelia, R&B, and blues. The complexity of the spiritual passages, demands of the crescendos, delicacy of the calm transitions, electricity of the solos : everything is rendered with superb balance free of harshness, compression, and fatiguing peaks that would otherwise distract from the presentations at hand.
You also get a generous taste of the ambience of the venue, and a definite sense of the interplay and improvisation that transpired as much by feel as by architectural necessity. The weight of the bass, extension of the highs, punch of the mids, texture and reverberation of the percussion : Mobile Fidelity’s organic version of Lotus stakes an immediate claim to demonstration-disc status of how a live recording should sound. And look. Paying homage to the original, this reissue includes four double-sided flat photo inserts and two 24 x 36-inch double-sided fold-out posters. (Note: It does not have an obi strip or red Japanese insert.)
Exclusively released in Japan before it slowly made it across the seas to the United States as a pricey import, Lotus became a hot topic among in-the-know connoisseurs. Hip record stores struggled to keep the record in the bins. Italy, New Zealand, and Europe got their own versions of the in-demand set before the end of 1975. American listeners weren’t so lucky. To satisfy their fix, they had to turn to the imports.
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