Layer 281 . . . Demolishing Religion, The Big Questions, Social Class, UKIP, Greens, Will Hutton, Manifestos, Delusion and iPhones

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"Jesus came to demolish religion."

The God slot on BBC1 yesterday - 'The Big Questions' - was pretty entertaining. It was broadcast from the Lord Carpets Academy in, er, Peckham, and had an interesting panel of 4 people commenting on the so-called big questions - "Does class matter?", "Should the Pope resign?", "Do bears shit in the woods?" and "Is the Pope a Catholic?"

On the one hand, I can't bear the ubiquitous mid-Atlantic uber-Catholic apologist Christine Odone, and on the other I'm developing a real liking for Mehdi Hasan, a genuine political progressive and senior editor at the New Statesman. [See Layers 261 & 262]

Also prominent on the programme was that well-known scion of enlightened thinking and proud Bermonsey resident Jackiey (?) Budden, who was clearly on it to provide political balance. It's important on these occasions when social class is discussed on flagship TV programmes to balance the presence of thoughtful and intelligent working class individuals with one or two who represent the stupidest and most ignorant individuals you're ever likely to come across in Peckham and Bermondsey, and indeed the planet. S'entertainin, innit?

Jackie, mother of deceased millionairess Jade Goody, said she's never been in a class. She said class is irrelevant, and in Britain today anyone can be successful. So there - case closed! We can all go home. Thanx Jax lol  :) x

And it's true, of course. All you have to do in today's Britain to get really really rich (which of course renders you classless and enables you to send your kids to a fee paying school) is agree to go on TV, flash your big boobs, and open your big mouth to allow a never ending stream of rubbish to flow out of it. Should the rubbish prove to be stupid enough and hilarious enough to make you a) a laughing stock and b) either hated or loved, then the tabloids will anoint you with a deluge of money and make you a star. Bingo!

In the event that you then become terminally ill and agree to sell the story of your death to the tabloids then you'll become unimaginably rich and even more famous and 'loved'. Or hated. As Oscar Wilde might have said, in Britain today there's only one thing worse than being universally loved or hated and that's not being universally loved or hated. 'Cos then you'll probably just be unknown and poor, especially if you're someone like . . . a Goody.

Examples of Jade's wit and wisdom:

Shilpa Poppadom … Shilpa Fuckawala. [Names she used to describe Indian movie star Shilpa Shetty on British reality TV show Celebrity Big Brother, January 2007.]

You're a fucking loser and a liar. Go back to the slums. [To the same Bollywood star, same programme.]

Your head's so far up your arse you can smell your own shit. [ibid]

I look at her and I wanna headbutt her. [ibid]

I look like a complete and utter nasty . . . I do not approve of the words that came out of my mouth. In all honesty I am disgusted with myself.

She was a victim of bullying and racism. [Admitting to racist bullying  - in News of the World interview.]

Do they speak Portuganese in Portugal? I thought Portugal was in Spain. [On British reality TV show Big Brother, 2002.]

Rio de Janeiro, ain't that a person?  [On Big Brother]

Where is East Angular [Anglia], is it abroad?

What's a sparagus? Do you grow it?

Who is Heinzstein [Einstein]?

Sherlock Holmes invented toilets.

They were trying to use me as an escape goat.

I don't want my kids to have the same miserable, drug-blighted, poverty-stricken childhood I did. [On selling photos of her February 2009 marriage to fiancee Jack Tweed in a countryside hotel outside London for $1 million. A frail and bald Goody was dying of cancer at the time.]

So there we have it. There's no such thing as a class system in Britain. Though it has to be said there's an equivalent amount of fuckwits, racists and bigots in the middle and upper classes - it's just manifested in a different way. [see below]

Jackie succinctly summed it all up by saying, "I don't think there's class whatsoever. You are what you are."

Or what you're not.

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Rope a Pope

The discussion about the pope was also interesting. The concensus seemed to be that the abuse scandal and its attempted cover up has hurt ALL Christians. The pope should never have written about "protecting the Church" by covering up for priests who were known child abusers. The current pope has been part of the culture of secrecy for decades, in his role as head of what's still effectively the Inquisition. "The cult of self-preservation is the most obnoxious aspect," said someone. Compared with that, all the rest of the church's spreading of delusion, brainwashing, the maintenance of ignorance in gullible people, etc, is of limited importance, obviously.

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UKIPs

And talking of delusion and ignorance, which we most certainly are today, the Sunday morning politics programme on BBC1 was also interesting for having on it UKIP's current leader, Lord Pearson of Rannoch. What a complete bozo.

Other prominent UKIP members include  Lord Willoughby de Broke, the Earl of Dartmouth, Christopher Walter Monckton - 3rd Viscount Monckton of Brenchley,  Richard Thomas Orlando Bridgeman - 7th Earl of Bradford,  and, er,  . . . Nigel Farage. Interestingly these people were previously esteemed members of the Conservative party, prior to realising they were UKIPs. And what an interesting government they'd make, should UKIP win a majority.

In 2006 Conservative Party leader David Cameron called UKIP members "fruitcakes, loonies and closet racists". Since it was the Conservative party that had attracted them in the first place this presumably means that current conservative party members are slightly lesser fruitcakes, loonies and racists. Or did the Tory party admit the UKIP defectors regardless of the fact that they were, and are, fruitcakes, loonies and racists? A broad church, indeed.

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Greens 

Continuing with the celebrity bigmouth fruitcake theme I was going to say something about Ruby Wax, another of the guests on the Andrew Marr programme, but frankly, she ain't worth it. Just leave her. She's not a well person.

Caroline Lucas MEP, the current leader of the Green Party, on the other hand, was well worth listening to and is most certainly worth mentioning.

http://www.greenparty.org.uk/policies.html

http://www.greenparty.org.uk/news-archive/3375.html

http://policy.greenparty.org.uk/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Party_of_England_and_Wales

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Will Hutton, as ever, was well worth reading in the Observer yesterday:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/apr/11/economic-recession-recovery

The country's renewal is being betrayed by cheap, paltry politics

The squabble over national insurance is a sideshow. We need to discuss how to overhaul Britain's financial heart

The electorate is not dumb. We know the wealth of the last two decades was fairy dust. We know bankers don't know how to help enterprise. We know the country has to make its living differently in future. We know that requires a mix of belt-tightening and huge investment. We do not see why the public services we rely on should be emasculated while the business and banking leaders who caused the crisis lead lives of unearned opulence. We would like to hear our political leaders talk in these terms. We want the next government to begin the work.

So far it's been a phoney electoral war. Let's hope it gets better fast.

We have, in short, lived through an epic economic mistake culminating in a first order financial crisis. There cannot be a return to business as usual. We need to understand what went wrong, put it right and build on the parts of the economy that have prospered despite the wider madness. This is the test that this week's party manifestos have to pass. We have had far too few original economic initiatives aimed at the right target. We need some fast or this election campaign will descend into farce.

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Modern capitalism is at a moral dead end. And the bosses are to blame

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/apr/04/will-hutton-capitalism

Capitalism will be continue to be demonised while our CEOs refuse to put their own corrupt house in order

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Manifesto Time

And talking of manifestos, the R4 Today presenter introduced an item on today's manifesto launches by saying they've been devised and put together by "the brightest and youngest minds in politics today". Really? He's talking about people like Douglas Alexander, Ed Balls, Ed & David Miliband, etc. Young, yes. But in what sense "bright"? Being intellectually able with Oxbridge First Class Honours degrees does not make someone "bright" in the sense of experienced, wise, original and creative.These people are "bright" but stupid. Economically ignorant, emotionally retarded, spiritually dead, philosophically barren and personally repugnant. Tripping over their own egos and their sense of their own self-importance, they are pathetic minnows compared with the political giants of the past, on whose shoulders they are trying to balance.

These are posh little boys, who have the cheek to laugh at Cameron and his Bullingdon crew for being posh - just because the Bullys went to Eton and they didn't.

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Laurie Anderson has a new show called - Delusion. Should be worth seeing.

'Delusion' is the Buddhist artist’s Diamond Sutra: a shining, heartfelt meditation on the ephemeral pleasures and lasting pains of this existence.

It's smart, funny, emotionally engaging, and flat-out beautiful—in short, everything you’d expect from an artist of Anderson’s stature and reputation.

http://www.straight.com/article-292014/vancouver/delusion-everything-youd-expect-laurie-anderson

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IPhone

Why is the iPhone so bloody bourgeois? I hate the word "apps". I'm sick of seeing the iPhone and its bleeding "apps" plastered all over the back page of my newspaper.

What are these "apps"?

The Starbucks app lets you find the nearest Starbucks and 'create your perfect coffee drink'. No thanks.

The North Face lets you 'plan a trip to the slopes, check current snow conditions and even view local webcams'. Fuck off.

BMW TV lets you 'have the BMW experience at your fingertips'. Experience?

Lego Photo lets you 'transform a photo into Lego bricks before your eyes'. Fucking bonkers. They even suggest you send it to 'relatives and friends'.

'Nike' lets you 'customise your next pair'.

The Financial Times app let you receive current updates on the stock market.

The Sky Sports app brings you 'minute by minute text commentaries on all the top games'. Sad fucks.

The Next Collection - 'the high street comes to the iPhone'. It's welcome to it.

According to the ad, there are 150,000 'apps'. Truly terrifying. 

Repulsive, consumerist, middle class nonsense.
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Layer 280 . . . Santana Again, Who Needs Fathers?, Politics, Shock Doctrine and Democracy

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Brother B's back in the Pacific, living a life of Reilly, experiencing the odd exciting earthquake, and listening to Santana!

Today I found the following piece on Spotify, which sums up very nicely Santana's first album, and its 'Legacy' edition:

The Sony Legacy Edition of Santana's 1969 self-titled debut album is exactly the kind of deluxe treatment that the repackaging and remastering of a classic album deserves.  Fine liner notes by Hal Miller guide the listener through the historical journey of this record. First, there is a stunningly remastered version of the original album, front and center with alternate takes of "Savor" and "Soul Sacrifice" added, as well as a studio jam. Musically, Santana is the spot on the map marking the point where everything came together, mutated, and changed. Here Afro-Cuban son, blues, rock, jazz, and funk collided head on, and decided to become something else. Gregg Rolie's swirling, atmospheric organ provided the sonic root equation. Santana's guitar provided the frenzied flight, and Michael Shrieve's Elvin Jones/Roy Haynes-inspired driving kit work provided a dynamic commensurate with the visceral nature of rock. This was not aided, but made possible and furthered by the percussion work of Joe Areas and Michael Caravello, and anchored to earth only by David Brown's rock-solid, dirty-assed bassing.

Sure, "Evil Ways" was a monster single, but it doesn't begin to tell the story of the album. Interestingly, with the all the bonus material added, the album doesn't even tell the story of the album. What does offer the key is disc two, which includes the band's original studio sessions for the album -- before the addition of Shrieve and Areas to the band. These tracks, almost all of which appeared in different form on the final version, revealed a talented, original, but loosely focused and slightly timid jamming ensemble that put together some compelling riffs and ideas, but hadn't jelled in a studio setting.

Add to this Santana's complete Woodstock performance (with four previously unreleased tracks which took place before the album's release date) and the listener gets floored just contemplating the final release. That in four months, this band had gone from being green and naïve to becoming command performers. This is a remarkable, welcome, and definitive addition to the Santana catalog and raises the watermark for all reissues as well. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide

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D's back home, after a parting of the ways. It's good to have him around again. His dog also arrived here yesterday. Dawg n me took a long walk around the Downs this morning, rejoicing in the Spring sun. Synchronicity moment - met up with a woman walking two Staffies on behalf of her son, D, who was still dossing in bed.

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Who Needs Fathers? BBC TV, produced by Films of Record, a Ten Alps company.

This week's episode was about young men who have lost contact with their fathers, and in particular one who managed to track down and meet a father who last saw him when he was 18 months old.

According to their website,

"Films of Record specialise in tackling difficult subjects, securing access to previously impenetrable institutions and producing challenging and honest films that impact the viewer."

This seems pretty accurate. Three weeks ago, in Layer 267, Oxzen commented on another documentary made by this outfit - Requiem For Detroit. Another brilliant film.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00rkm3y - blurb for Requiem For Detroit

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00rwnrx   -  iPlayer for current programme

The parent company, Ten Alps, have been responsible for other superb documetaries shown recently - last night's Dispatches programme on the London Marathon and its suspect management and finances; the new series that began this week on the Great Ormond Street children's hospital, The Berlusconi Show, etc. Gritty and insightful programmes which these companies can be very proud of. I seem to remember blogging recently that documentary-making is the new rock n roll. It's a lot more entertaining and rewarding than what passes for rock n roll in 2010.

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Back to Politics
The one and only Malcolm Tucker, and his election briefing:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/apr/09/bottom-feeders-battlefield-cider-potheads

Frankly, I think you're getting the wrong advice on the debates. As you know, people who saw Nixon and Kennedy on TV thought Kennedy won, and those who heard it on the radio thought Nixon won. But, really, we don't give a flying wad of wet Daily Express about either of these groups. What we need to know is: what about the people who were sitting through JFK-Nixon on the can doodling specs on cartoon-strip pictures of Daffy Duck and making themselves laugh with the sounds of their own farts? Who did they think won? Most people are not going to see these Bestivals of bore. After all, with the 478 debate rules in place they're going to have all the drama of three middle-aged guys fencing with limp dicks. The only ones watching are going to be the pointless bastards who already know what they think.

We need to get to the people who only hear the rumours. Bottom feeders who get their views via the quotes from the models in the Daily Star. Van drivers who guard their vast ignorance with concealed Stanley knives. Businessmen who like to expose their self-aggrandising cynicism to schoolgirls on the Thameslink. These dumb motherfuckers are the battlefield. Shitheels. Dunderheads. People who when you talk to them it's like shouting through six pieces of double glazing. Potheads, cider drinkers, kids who don't know who Thatcher was and think the NHS grew on a big fucking NHS tree. Wankers. People who count to 11 using their 10 fingers and their head and still get it wrong. This is who we have to get to via the debates. So we are going to have to shout extremely fucking loud.

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My vote is for mayhem

We should embrace the mystery and hilarity of a hung parliament: it may be the trigger for vital constitutional reform

by Marina Hyde

No one knows whether a hung parliament would be good or bad for the country. The cabinet secretary says he doubts the financial markets would be destabilised. Yet yesterday's Telegraph splash read: "Tory win best for economy say top bankers". (I forget precisely who are our "top bankers" these days, but perhaps they'll forgive us if we respond to their economic advice by shrieking with laughter before inviting them to run along now.)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/apr/09/vote-mayhem-mystery-hung-parliament

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As democracy unravels at home, the west thuggishly exports it elsewhere

While the US and Britain slide towards oligarchy, the forced elections in Afghanistan and Iraq have brought no good

by Simon Jenkins

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/apr/08/democracy-iraq-afghanistan-britain-us

The west's proudest export to the Islamic world this past decade has been democracy. That is, not real democracy, which is too complicated, but elections. They have been exported at the point of a gun and a missile to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Tens of thousands of Iraqis have died and millions been driven from their homes – including almost all Iraq's ancient population of Christians. The import of democracy has so far just inflamed local tension and fuelled fundamentalism.

At least in Iraq western troops are leaving the country to its fate. The west's guilt at the mayhem left behind will start to diminish with time.

In Afghanistan, a similar saga has been running for nine years, and is growing ever more tragic. Last year saw the deaths of more Afghans (2,412) and more western troops (520) than since the 2001 invasion.

Democracy in both America and Britain is coming under scrutiny these days. Quite apart from the antics of MPs and congressmen, it is said to be sliding towards oligarchy, with increasing overtones of autocracy. Money and its power over technology are making elections unfair. The military-industrial complex is as powerful as ever, having adopted "the menace of global terrorism" as its casus belli. Lobbying and corruption are polluting the government process. In a nutshell, democracy is not in good shape.

How strange to choose this moment to export it, least of all to countries that have never experienced it in their history. The west not only exports the stuff, it does so with massive, thuggish violence, the antithesis of how self-government should mature in any polity. The tortured justification in Iraq and Afghanistan is that elections will somehow sanctify a "war against terrorism" waged on someone else's soil. The resulting death and destruction have been appalling. Never can an end, however noble, have so failed to justify the means of achieving it.

The high-minded attacks on corruption in Muslim states from London and Washington is futile . . . Nor is the west that clean. Britain showered corruption on the Saudis to obtain arms contracts. The activities of American firms in "rebuilding" Iraq were wholly corrupt.

As Britons go the polls, they should challenge their candidates to justify what is being done in their name. A system of government that they have spent two centuries evolving and still not perfected is being rammed down the throats of poor and insecure people, who are then hectored for not handling it properly. Why should they? The invasions of their countries was not their choice. They did not ask to be a model for Britain's moral exhibitionism. They did not plead for their villages to be target practice for western special forces.

Amid this bluff the only certainty for Karzai is that, one day, Nato will get fed up and leave him to his fate, as it is now leaving Maliki in Baghdad.

Democracy has been greatly oversold.

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More Disaster Capitalism and Shock Doctrine

What's becoming very clear is that whatever the outcome of the general election we're going to get an even bigger dose of what Naomi Klein calls Disaster Capitalism and the Shock Doctrine - the remedies of Milton Friedman and the Chicago school of economics.

Oxzen said this in Layer 188: The Shock Doctrine, Michael Moore, Friedman, Capitalism . . .

http://oxzen.blogspot.com/2009/09/layer-188-shock-doctrine-michael-moore.html

The truth is that the entire planet has been ravaged and raped by over-mighty corporations driven by crazed megalomaniacs and oligarchs that busted into countries around the world after the doors had been beaten down by armies that battered, tortured and killed on the direct orders of mad politicians and supine parliaments.

In some countries, of course, like the UK, there was no need to do any battering – Thatch willingly embraced these ideas – directly from Hayek (Friedman's guru), as it happens – and set about dismantling social democracy: selling off state assets for peanuts, cutting social spending and public services, passing anti-union legislation, deregulating capitalism and the banks, etc, etc. If anyone tried to get in their way – well Mags had no hesitation in sending in the cops to batter the miners into submission and bust their strikes. A lady with a mandate, you see.

http://www.naomiklein.org/shock-doctrine
http://www.naomiklein.org/shock-doctrine/the-book
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shock_Doctrine
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvG0gbvZ4tY
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4231109320246838401#

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Here are some more Klein-related Oxzens to (re)visit;

http://oxzen.blogspot.com/2009/03/layer-129-changing-consciousness-paxo.html

http://oxzen.blogspot.com/2009/01/layer-112-more-balls-spirit-of-east.html

http://oxzen.blogspot.com/2009/01/layer-109-welcome-to-2009.html

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Vince Cable attacks 'nauseating' businessmen over NI letter

Lib Dem Treasury spokesman accuses Tories of 'barefaced cheek' by co-ordinating letter criticising national insurance rise

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/apr/09/vince-cable-business-national-insurance

Businessmen on inflated salaries lecturing the rest of Britain on how to run the country are "utterly nauseating" and "being used" by the Conservative party, the Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman, Vince Cable, says today.

In an interview with the Guardian Cable said of the business leaders: "If they are going to wade into this debate, they do have an obligation to explain how this national insurance cut is going to be paid for and that is where they are failing and they are being used."

He accused the Tories of "barefaced cheek".

More than 80 businessmen, including the executive chairman of Marks & Spencer, Sir Stuart Rose, have signed a letter, co-ordinated by the Tories, saying they oppose the national insurance rise, and believe the government should fund the potential gains through cutting waste.

Cable said: "I just find it utterly nauseating all these chairmen and chief executives of FTSE companies being paid 100 times the pay of their average employees lecturing us on how we should run the country. I find it barefaced cheek."


In the Guardian interview Cable also says Gordon Brown should "hit back" at the businessmen, but is too compromised. He claims: "Brown, having kowtowed to the City for the best part of a decade, and having tried to co-opt captains of industry into the big tent, is in a very weak position."

Cable said that he does not deny national insurance is an issue for businesses, but his remark that they are being used follows claims by the prime minister that they had been deceived.

Cable, the public's current choice for chancellor, according to polls, said it was highly plausible that as many as 120,000 public sector jobs would have to be lost, and suggested that voters were "in for a nasty shock".

He accused the main two parties of spending the first week of the election campaign trying to evade the central issue of how to deal with the structural deficit and urged all three parties to come together after the election to form a "council for financial stability", to agree the timetable and scale of deficit reduction.

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Pope's on the Ropes

Pope hit by fresh allegations of paedophile priests cover-up

Pope failed to defrock paedophile priest in 1985

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/apr/10/pope-paedophile-priests-cover-up


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There was a wonderful little documentary on TV this evening, telling the story of the escape from a PoW camp near Bridgend of 70 German prisoners during WW2.

As soon as the tunnel and the escape was discovered the guards activated Plan X. They went out through the main gates and looked up and down the road to see if they could spot any prisoners running away!

Some of the escapees stole cars but soon discovered they couldn't go anywhere because all the signposts had been taken down.

Some of them planned to steal boats and planes, but failed dismally.

Some of them were quite pleased to be recaptured when they realised a) they were in Wales, and b) returning to Germany might not be the smartest move they could make.

As far as the local population was concerned - "It was exciting! Bridgend wasn't exactly the centre of the universe at that time!"

At that time!
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Layer 279 . . . Santana, a Ferrari, Musical Memories, Spiritual Journeys

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It's a beautiful Spring day, and it's being made even more beautiful by having non-stop Santana on Spotify. I do love Spotify.

It's strange how such beautiful and spiritually uplifting music - and for me there's nothing quite like Santana's brand of rhythmic latino-bluesy-soul-rock for lifting the spirit - can take you off down roads you never even thought to go down.

Having switched on Spotify this morning I was presented with a welcome page from which the Santana collection just leaped out.

I'm currently listening to a brilliant track I've never even heard of  - Fried Neck Bones And Some Home Fries - which is the first track on the second disc of the Legacy Edition of their very first album - recorded in 1969 and never been bettered by anyone ever. This was the album that grabbed your attention with the monochrome cover of a snarling lion's head, framed by its mane, and a great "Santana" graphic down the right hand side. A cover that was in some ways understated, but suggested power and originality and something . . . very different.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santana_%281969_album%29

I'm not sure whether I've written about this before, but the first time I came across this debut album was in the passenger seat of a Ferrari 365 powering and snarling its way with unbelievable speed across France. My then girlfriend, V, was sitting in her minidress in the back seat along with our rucksacks - this being one of the very few 2 + 2 Ferraris ever made in the 1960s, and therefore capable of offering a lift to hitchhikers. What an amazing experience. I've no doubt that V in her eye-catching minidress was the reason we were offered this lift - all the way from Marseilles to Paris. This was a lift, and an experience, beyond belief, beyond my wildest dreams.

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/ferrari-365-gt-2-2.htm

Santana are the Ferrari of the music world. Class, quality, beauty, power, soul, originality, dynamism, excitement, spirit and sheer soaring excellence. Guaranteed to lighten your mood - whatever it may be - and transport you to higher realms. Guaranteed to ignite your passions, move your body, grab all of your senses, and make the day a very good day.

Ferrari 365 2+2 V12

Carlos, the main man, played, and still plays the guitar, like no-one else. If you ever needed a musician to provide a sound track for a cross-continent trip in a Ferrari, then Carlos is your man. He's unbelievable. His contribution to the track called "Chill Out (Things Gonna Change)" on one of John Lee Hooker's albums is staggeringly brilliant. Check out the look on John Lee's face as Carlos does his thing - and he was a man who'd seen most things and was not easily impressed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43yvS6bPZDs

http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=santana+chill+out&hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&hs=65W&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&prmd=v&tbs=vid:1&tbo=u&ei=Hge_S_rlH4bw0wSJ3vmkCQ&sa=X&oi=video_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CB8QqwQwAA

Carlos' virtuoso musicianship was sufficient in itself to make his band a great - a truly great - band . . . but there was so much more on top of that.

Wailing Hammond organ, with improvised riffs swirling their Leslie-amp vibrato-driven way into your skull - check out the live version of 'Savor' on the Legacy edition, as well as Fried Neck Bones.

Phenominal rhythmic work by the bass, kit drums, and the percussion players on congas and timbales - same track and also 'Jingo (live)' and 'Soul Sacrifice' - incredible. Crank up the volume, put on your headphones - do what you have to do to really get into this amazing thing.

On that first album there's not a single track that's less than arresting, original and thrilling. I still feel this way about it some 40 years down the line, so imagine what it felt like sitting in a Ferrari doing 140 listening to a band, and a type of music I didn't even know existed, for the very first time - on a hi-fi sound system the likes of which I didn't even know existed. Such a shame, incidentally, that the cartridge driven system didn't succeed in becoming the industry (tape) standard. Great quality.

This bit is from Wikipedia -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos_Santana

Influences

Around the age of 8, Santana "fell under the influence" of blues performers like B.B. King and John Lee Hooker. He also credits Jimi Hendrix as an important influence.


Spiritual journey

In 1972, Santana became a huge fan of the pioneering fusion band The Mahavishnu Orchestra and its guitarist John McLaughlin. Aware of Santana's interest in meditation, McLaughlin introduced Santana and Deborah to his guru, Sri Chinmoy. Chinmoy accepted them as disciples in 1973. Santana was given the name "Devadip" – meaning "The lamp, light and eye of God." Santana and McLaughlin recorded an album together, Love, Devotion, Surrender with members of Santana and the Mahavishnu Orchestra, along with percussionist Don Alias and organist Larry Young, who both had made appearances on Miles Davis' classic Bitches Brew in 1969.

In 1973, Santana, having obtained legal rights to the band's name, formed a new version of Santana, with Armando Peraza and Chepito Areas on percussion, Doug Rauch on bass, Michael Shrieve on drums, and Tom Coster and Richard Kermode on keyboards.

The group later went into the studio and recorded Welcome, which further reflected Santana's interests in jazz fusion and his commitment to the spiritual life of Sri Chinmoy.

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Sri Chinmoy

http://www.srichinmoy.org/

If you want to be

A reformed character,

Then every day

Keep your heart-lotus

Fresh, beautiful,

Prayerful and soulful.

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http://gulfnews.com/arts-entertainment/celebrity/carlos-santana-s-spiritual-growth-1.604333

By Natalie Long
March 29, 2010

Carlos Santana's spiritual growth

Everything that I do is balanced, said Carlos Santana. The born-again musician said the goal of his music far transcends entertainment.

"When you hit a note, it's easy to give people chills," Carlos Santana tells me.

The Mexican musician is sitting in a booth at the Shangri-La in Dubai, where he's been staying since Thursday . . . not going out, just "reading the books I'm into. I'm reading a book about Desmond Tutu and a book about learning in a tangible way to become more transparent."

"The more transparent you become, there's less of me, myself and my story. Me, myself and my story really get in the way," he says. " - in the way of the message that everyone is meaningful and significant. No one's special. When people think they're special — look at Michael Jackson — you start thinking that your pain is more than someone else's and you need special drugs and a special doctor. I've seen that with all the people that I love, like Marvin Gaye and Jimi Hendrix — they become more special than other human beings - and we're not. You may have more zeros to the right of the cheque, but everyone is equally significant and meaningful."

 

Music-led philosophy

Santana has a well-documented interest in spirituality, as someone whose career started with a phenomenal gig at Woodstock may well lay claim to. He's studied under Indian gurus . . .  and now, it seems he's taken that lifetime of experiences and rolled it into a fascinating, music-led philosophy on life.

"This stuff is really tangible that I'm talking about - not hocus-pocus, mumbo-jumbo or wishful thinking," he says. "It's solid as the foundation of this building, it's gonna hold you. A lot of people ask, what kind of amplifier, what kind of strings, what kind of guitar, what kind of speakers, and I say, you forgot to ask me the most important question: what was I thinking about, feeling?"

Eternity

"I think that the music that I love — what I call the sound of eternity — It's A Wonderful World, Louis Armstrong, What's Going On, Marvin Gaye, Imagine, John Lennon, One Love, Bob Marley — remind you of eternity because they will always be relevant and you stay forever young. I call it the fragrance of the soul, because it's not coming from any other part than from the centre of your heart, the best part of you."

While his record label celebrates a decade since the release of Supernatural (which landed nine Grammys) with a reissue of the album this year, Santana himself is looking ahead . . .

"Everything that I do is balanced. I've made a commitment. It's not a job, routine or labour. It's like offering flowers to people, to ensure your smile is as fresh as possible."

More mind-boggling tracks:

Toussaint L'Ouverture (Santana III)
Jungle Strut (Santana III)
Day of Celebration (Supernatural - Legacy Edition)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rRlBmJiz5k
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCguMx8OO7U&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQJ6xJfTDaE&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5a0OAtzrXE&feature=related 
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