Best sounding Santana debut and 3rd album

the sony/legacy reissues sound great...the price is great too.

I agree with Jaybo.

I have the Legacy of both and they are very good from an audio standpoint.

On the subject of Santana does anyone know song and cd where there is a lady singing with him, a duet I believe but not sure he sings..long time since I heard it.

Thanks
Jim

Jim, Flora Purim sings on a number of tracks on "Welcome". There may be others too.

You might try the Japanese Blu-spec Sony releases. I have the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Santana CDs and they sound pretty good.

There is also an Audio Fidelity gold version (relatively recent) of the 1st CD but I have not heard it (may be out of print, not sure).

But most audiophile versions have been Abraxas, which I have owned or heard.

Sounds_real_audio, this is probably it, with Michelle Branch.
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UIojGDIBvI]

12-11-11: Rja writes:

There is also an Audio Fidelity gold version (relatively recent) of the 1st CD but I have not heard it (may be out of print, not sure).

I don't think so. I am a Platinum subscriber and have all the Audio Fidelity Golds.

Regards,

Yeah for the money the 24bit Sony/Legacy remasters are damn good. I have the first three and I'm happy with the sound quality.
The song your talking about is The Game of Love with Michelle Branch.

Metralla,
You are correct sir! It was a Mofi issued in 2008, UDCD773 gold CD of 1st Santana I was thinking of.
There was also a Columbia Mastersound gold CD issued in 1994. I've owned so many Santana CDs that I got confused. 8^)

I owned the Columbia Mastersound gold CD and it was mixed way to hot. I traded it in. I have Santana/Santana on a MFSL vinyl but haven't opened it yet.I have Abraxas on MFSL vinyl and it sounds real good but there are probably better sounding vinyl copies out there these days.

The first album is unique in that it has no compression introduced as part of the mixing process. Very interesting to test volume control with this one, as it seemlessly builds. I have heard it through ATC 150s at 103 to 112 decibels and it is quite stunning at full volume. As such, I love the original issue, from 1969, in vinyl.

I have them both on multiple formats including vinyl...the debut on Columbia masterworks gold cd is very good...the lp is a tad muddy for my tastes...that being said...3rd lp and abraxas orig lps are stunning and plentiful

Onhiwy61, I cleaned and shined my "Welcome" Santana LP in order to hear "Flora Purim". She sounded so young and fresh, I hardly recognized her. It was also nice to hear Leon Thomas on that same LP.

Thanks for a good "heads up".