Malo – 1972

🇺🇸🎸🔥🎺🕊️ Beware, one Santana can hide another. We’ve already touched on Latin rock here, with Wild Safari, and here’s a second salvo, from the same year. Malo ‘s first album came out in 1972. The band was founded by Arcelio Garcia and Jorge Santana, Carlos’ younger brother. And their recipe is very similar to that of their elder brother. A fusion of Latin groove, jazz, rock and everything else spicy in the same corner. Suavecito is the hit of the album, and curiously the sweetest track on the whole. Everything else is extremely Latin, between mambo and salsa, and smacks of Santanesque inspiration, filled with generous horns and frenetic guitar choruses. The album closes with the nine-minute Peace, a pictorial piece that opens and closes with two nervous rock movements, framing a breath of jazz and acoustic melodies. Malo went on to produce Dos, in the wake of the first album, but with less success despite its undeniable quality. The band’s line-up continued to change, with Arcelio the mainstay. Arcelio Garcia and Jorge Santana both passed away in 2020.