Amigos in Bloomington, MN

By the release of
Amigos
, the
Santana
band's seventh album, only
Carlos Santana
and
David Brown
remained from the band that conquered
Woodstock
, and only
Carlos
had been in the band continuously since. Meanwhile, the group had made some effort to arrest its commercial slide, hiring an outside producer,
David Rubinson
, and taking a tighter, more up-tempo, and more vocal approach to its music. The overt
jazz
influences were replaced by strains of
R&B
/
funk
Mexican folk
music. The result was an album more dynamic than any since
Santana III
in 1971.
"Let It Shine"
(number 77), an
-tinged tune, became the group's first chart single in four years, and the album returned
to Top Ten status. ~ William Ruhlmann