By the mid 1980’s Carlos Santana had become fed up of trying to please record company executives with by-the-numbers hit records. Having proved to be one of the most ferociously efficient and violently colourful live bands on the planet throughout the 70’s, he was beginning to feel the strain of being in a high-profile rock band. Though fighting to remain vital during the 80’s, changing musical tastes meant that album sales were dwindling and many were losing interest. Santana left his band behind him and made guest appearances on jazz fusion records, which revitalised his love for jamming. In 1987 he released Blues for Salvador, a gargantuan rock/Latin/jazz/ freak-out record.

What makes Blues for Salvador so enduring is the fact that the listener is bearing witness to an artist just letting go. It’s clear from the record that Santana no longer holds any interest in what is deemed to be popular or what will sell records. This is musical expression at its purest. No singles were released from the record and it is clear to see why. The only obvious single in sight would be “Now That You Know” and it’s over ten minutes long. “Mingus” is a minute and a half of the sound synthesisers make when put into a blender. “Deeper, Dig Deeper” sounds like a theme to a buddy-cop film you would never want to see. “Hannibal “starts as a prog-rock influenced Latin jazz jam that devolves into the smoothest of exquisite lounge music.

Santana has gone on to say that this record feels the most personal to him and you can hear that in every bar of the music. Every influence Carlos Santana has ever had has been poured into this giant melting pot of an album and then spun in the only way Santana knows how – with his electric guitar. Whether he is in jazz, funk, blues, rock or Latin mode, his guitar virtuosity is simply unbeatable, his fingers roaming around the neck like a guided missile. It is this willingness to hop across genres and the exemplary musicianship involved that earned this album a Grammy, Santana’s first. There is nothing particularly game-changing or new on this record, but if you can get past the bluster of the eighties production you will find it to be an enjoyable record that does whatever it wants to do.