Santana: Lotus - 3x LP 180g 45rpm Vinyl, Numbered, Limited

The bizarre legacy of Lotus transcends its status as both the definitive onstage document of Santana’s career and one of the most spectacular live albums ever released. Originally issued in 1974, the triple LP contains exhilarating performances recorded at two shows in early July 1973 at the 2400-seat Osaka Kosei Nenkin Kaikan concert hall. It bears witness to the eight-piece collective playing with a chemistry, inventiveness, cohesiveness, and soulfulness no other Santana lineup would ever surpass. Lotus also remained the only completely live Santana album for almost two decades — and took nearly as long to see domestic release.

Strictly limited to 5,000 numbered copies, Lotus benefits from reference audiophile treatment on Mobile Fidelity’s 180g 3LP set. Featuring rich tones, smooth dynamics, excellent separation, deep soundstages, and involving presence, this reissue pays tribute to both the virtuosic lineup and the indispensable fusion of Latin- and Afro-Cuban-influenced jazz, rock, psychedelia, R&B, and blues. The complexity of the spiritual passages, demands of the crescendos, delicacy of the calm transitions, electricity of the solos: everything is rendered with superb balance free of harshness, compression, and fatiguing peaks that would otherwise distract from the presentations at hand.

You also get a generous taste of the ambience of the venue, and a definite sense of the interplay and improvisation that transpired as much by feel as by architectural necessity. The weight of the bass, extension of the highs, punch of the mids, texture and reverberation of the percussion: Mobile Fidelity’s organic version of Lotus stakes an immediate claim to demonstration-disc status of how a live recording should sound. And look. Paying homage to the original, this reissue includes four double-sided flat photo inserts and two 24 x 36-inch double-sided fold-out posters. (Note: It does not have an obi strip or red Japanese insert.)

Exclusively released in Japan before it slowly made it across the seas to the United States as a pricey import, Lotus became a hot topic among in-the-know connoisseurs. Hip record stores struggled to keep the record in the bins. Italy, New Zealand, and Europe got their own versions of the in-demand set before the end of 1975. American listeners weren’t so lucky. To satisfy their fix, they had to turn to the imports.

The same year Stateside fans began paying a premium to hear the two hours of magic on Lotus, CBS released Santana’s Greatest Hits — an introductory compilation that went on to sell more than seven million copies. Another 17 years passed before Lotus hit American shelves as a domestic set in the form of two-CD and two-cassette editions. It didn’t become available on domestic vinyl until 2013 on a version that has long been out of print.

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