ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, DEC. 14, 1995
By Steve Newton
Unlike the recent Tom Petty box, this three-CD package doesn’t contain enough previously unreleased material to make it a must-have, but it does feature some of Carlos Santana’s finest moments on guitar, and you know that can’t be bad.
Dance of the Rainbow Serpent focuses on Santana’s (the band) studio output from the ’70s and ’80s, but it also includes selections Carlos played on from recordings by Weather Report, John Lee Hooker, and Babatunde Olatunji.
It’s beautifully packaged and laid out, with some great from-behind-the-stage photos and gorgeous psychedelic cover art, but those on a tight CD budget might want to check the song list on 1988’s Viva Santana! double disc—which is packed with previously unreleased live material—before investing in a lot of tracks they might already own.