Product Description

Although it isn't a concept album in the conventional sense, BORBOLETTA has the aesthetic and thematic continuity of one. The lyrical material deals with pop-sheened themes of spiritual and personal expansion, while the album's gorgeous jazz-spirited instrumentals make for more cerebral and challenging listening. The band seals a Brazilian fusion connectionwith the appearance of vocalist Flora Purim and rhythmist extraordinaire Airto Moreira, while soulman Leon Patillo and keyboardist Tom Coster make their first major appearances inthe core Santana lineup.
"Spring Manifestations" opens the album like a meditation in the jungle, with Flora and Airto conjuring up an atmospheric wilderness of sound effects. Elsewhere, the distinct soft groove of the '70s tempers the band's harder crunch of the '60s as the percussion section tames its spikes and the gentle strains of Fender-Rhodes piano dance alongside the sinewy grit of Hammond organ. "One With the Sun" features an urgent-sounding Patillo making declarations of solar harmony at the mic and Carlos shredding through a series of breathtaking guitar solos. His playing showssigns of blooming into greater subtlety and harmonic sophistication on cuts like "Flor de Canela" and "Promise of a Fisherman" with lightning-fast modal-rock runs.

Track Listing

1. Spring Manifestations
2. Cantos De Los Flores
3. Life Is Anew
4. Give And Take
5. One With The Sun
6. Aspirations
7. Practice What You Preach
8. Mirage
9. Here And Now
10. Flor De Canela
11. Promise Of A Fisherman
12. Borboletta

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6647 in Music
• Released on: 1997-02-03
• Number of discs: 1

Customer Reviews

How to make sounds and influence senses.
Advice for those pondering over buying this:

This wasn't the first Santana album I purchased (it won't be the last either) but it sat on my wanted list for quite some time.

Boy do I wish I'd bought it sooner.

The album is book-ended by two very percussive and imaginative pieces, "Spring Manifestations" and "Borboletta". I make no apologies for the following cliches - but the rest of the ambum is a wonderfully colourful, vibrant mix of latin jazz infused funk and rhythm. But that doesn't mean it isn't accessible. Borboletta is not jazz fusion taken to the extreme. Each song flows into the next, driven forward by an incredibly uplifting and dynamic tapestry of drums, congas, and terrific musicianship all over. Santana's searing guitar playing is held in check throughout - being unleashed on only a few tracks. This is no bad thing thought as the rest of the musicians deliver in spades, and the melting pot of styles takes the listener on a real journey into their imagination.

I haven't enjoyed the first listen of an album so much in a very long time. Borboletta is a fascinating experience which is full of colourful, life and and and a joie de vivre rarely found at this level. I agree with other reviewers that the cover art does reflect the beauty (and abstractness) of the music within - but still doesn't quite do it justice. Perhaps some of the magic is also amplified by the distance between Glasgow and Southern California/Mexico - and also by 25 years of change. Whatever it is, it works.

Borboletta is a musical gem. It may be billed as "latin-jazz-fusion-funk-whatever" (!!) - but to me it's simply fantastic music. I would recommend it to anybody interested in expanding their horizons into jazz/latino or fusion for the first time.

Lovely old album with great cover
A super mix of Santana and the cover of metallic blue is worth the money. I havent listened to this record for ages but have you ever heard a bad Santana record?

Santana fusion at its best
After the magnificence of the three Latin albums recorded with the original lineup, and the semi-fusion that heralded the change of direction that was "Caravanserai", Carlos Santana recruited a group of Brazilian musicians for "Borboletta". The trademark guitar is still there of course, but much of the conga-driven Latin urgency of "Abraxas" etc has given way to a smoother, more laid back samba-based groove that somehow mirrors exactly the tropical ornate butterfly cover. The occasional vocal forays - "Life Is Anew" and "Practice What You Preach" are almost jazz-funky in their ambience, as indeed is the beautiful "Mirage" and much of the rest of the album is instrumental - a spritual soundscape guaranteed to lift one easily to a better place. Some of the cuts, such as the first and last ones, are deliberately ambient, designed to enhance the album's tropical, steamy, almost lazy feeling.

Make no mistake, this is musically a great album, and an often overlooked one in Santana's canon which is somewhat undeserved. For all those who rushed out and bought "Supernatural", consider dipping deeper into Santana's work. Begin here. (After "Abraxas" of course!)