About

Filled with harmonious performances that reflect the definition of its title – a place at which ideas, products, and culture are freely traded – Caravanserai marks the start of Carlos Santana's foray into the jazz-fusion territory that would inform his career for the better part of the next two decades. Inspired by Miles Davis' pioneering period work, and aiming to discover and develop inner peace within a musical realm, the guitarist sets off on a quest to find his equivalent of the spiritual dimensions John Coltrane channels on A Love Supreme. The daring move paid dividends: The namesake band's 1972 album landed in the Top 10, sold more than a million copies, and established Santana as a visionary who refused to cater to commercialism.

Sourced from the original master tapes and pressed at Fidelity Record Pressing, Mobile Fidelity's numbered-edition 180g 33RPM LP brims with atmospheric texture, three-dimensional spaciousness, and revealing microdynamics. This collectible audiophile reissue exposes the natural feel of Santana and drummer Mike Shrieve's production, allowing the music to emerge with refreshing airiness, intimate presence, and organic balance. Whether the sound pertains to the brassy reach of a saxophone, bloom of an acoustic bass, intricate wash of an organ, or trailing note of an echo, Caravanserai projects with superb detail and clarity. This is an album whose meanings and scope tremendously benefit from such enhanced closeness, warmth, and tonality. Caravanserai feels at once cosmic, hopeful, bright, festive. Though grounded and centered, its songs seem to float in an otherworldly stratosphere; its liberating passages and pulsing rhythms don't touch the ground. Arrangements point forward and skyward, drawing attention to a higher consciousness and away from earthly pursuits. The effect is beautiful, uplifting, freeing.

The final Santana record to feature guitarist Neil Schon and organist Greg Rollie for more than four decades, Caravanserai displays no hint of the discord that would soon cause the lineup to splinter. Functioning as a unified collective with an all-for-one mentality, the band arrives at intersections at which rock, Latin, jazz, and funk speak a common language. Santana, Schon, Rollie, bassist Douglas Rauch, and company delve into the boundless – and then-novel – possibilities of fusion without exploiting technique, taxing patience, or running adrift. — via Label

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Label: Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab, Columbia
Series: Original Master Recording, GAIN 2™ Ultra Analog LP 180g Series
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Numbered, Reissue, Remastered, Special Edition, Stereo, 180g, Gatefold
Reissued: 2024 / Original Release: 1972
Genre: Jazz, Rock, Latin, Fusion

File under: Audiophile Jazz
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