Carlos Santana, the man, the myth the legend. His sound is like no other, and that is clearly heard on this beautiful DVD-Audio. I am happy to say that this features a wonderful multi channel track that just puts you in the middle of the music.

(Da Le) Yaleo starts the album with a Spanish song, which despite my 4 years of college Spanish, I have no idea what it meant. I do know this, the music is beautiful, this song starts the album on a mellow, yet lush note. I could hear Guitar (of course,its a Santana album), choruses, drums, lots of percussion in fact, horns of plenty and all coming at me from all directions.

Love of my Life with Dave Matthews has me actually enjoying a Dave Matthews song here. I have a confession, I never got into his voice, but damn, he sounds good here. Quiet guitars gently accompany that vocal sound that only Dave Matthews seems to be able to create.

Put Your Lights On with Everlast is one of my favorite cuts on this album. I just like the wistful voice of Everlast's singer. Santana's guitar is a perfect accompaniment for him. Guitar riffs echo in the rear channels. there's a darkness deep in my soul, I still got a purpose to serve, so let your light shine deep into my hole

Africa Bamba is another gentle sounding Spanish song that fills the room with gentle rhythms with Santana's guitar cutting through.

Smooth is probably the most well known cut from this album, I still recall it got quite a lot of airplay when this first came out. It sounds even better on the DVD-Audio man its a hot one, like seven inches from the midday sun, I hear you whisper and the words melt everyone, but you're so cool

Do You Like the Way is the song featuring Fugee singer Lauren Hill, and it hits hard. Hill's voice comes in strong and aggressive from the left channel. Backing vocal choruses fill the surround sound stages over a foundations of percussion and guitar.

Maria Maria with Wyclef Jean Ladies and gentlemen turn up your sound systems Good advice for this classic sound, probably the second most airplayed cut from this album. Does it sound better on DVD-Audio? Is Carlos Santana a good guitar player? The backing vocals use the surround sound impressively again, it seems like a singer was singing back ups in each of the four main channels. Percussion echoes in the back. The main vocals and instruments are clearly in the front soundstage though, and do they sound good!

Migra starts off with wailing guitars followed by a primitive sounding chorus full of raw energy. The song builds and grows progressively louder, joined by horns filling the center stage. The Spanish sounding horns then fill out the left and right channels and the rear channels. (reminded me a bit of Miles Davis-Sketches of Spain in that part) Although I couldn't understand a word of this song, it filled me with energy. Throught the song is steady and aggressive percussion and guitar.

Corazon Espinado Alright, I know Corazon is Heart in Spanish, darn I wish I had studied harder. Oh well, it sounds great filling up my living room. Something about love, and no other woman ..

Wishing It Was featuring Eagle Eye Cherry sounded good too.

El Farol begins with a slow steady bass beat, joined by acoustic Spanish guitar, soon replaced by Santana's electric guitar. It's an instrumental that just floats along.

Primavera Hey, that means Spring!, I do remember some Spanish! Oh and it sounded really terrific too, although it didn't really make me think of spring, just pasta. Seriously though, this is another full on jam session with Carlos and friends.

The Calling really sounds great because in one channel we have Carlos, and in the other Eric Clapton! Only some subtle percussion to back these two guitar virtuosos up, and frankly, that's all they needed. These two just sounded great trading guitar licks. About half way through the song, the two are joined by female back up singers singing People, people, people, one love They sounded like a gospel choir. Was the surround sound good enough for me to know which player was which? If I had to guess though, I'd say right channel was Clapton and left channel was Santana. The amplification that Santana uses on his guitar in the other tracks on the album has a definite sound quality to it, and Clapton's guitar playing has a certain defineable quality to it. You listen and tell me what you think!

Day of Celebration is a bonus track which is just more great music playing.

Sound Quality The advanced resolution multi channel track is mastered at 86 kHz 24 bit, so is the stereo track. The album also plays in Dolby Digital Surround for those without DVD-Audio players. Although the center channel wasn't used much, the surround sounds were used nicely to naturally expand the sound stage. Nothing sounded gimmicky here, the rear channels were used to add depth and immersion to the original stereo recording. Many vocals, additional guitars, and percussion was moved to the rear channels to add to that you are in the middle feeling to the music.

Extras Each menu for the songs had bright vibrant pictures that looked Aztec or Mayan. You could also readily access the lyrics for the song, or a photo gallery.

Videos This DVD-Audio also features four bonus videos; Put Your Lights On, Smooth, Maria Maria and Corazon Espinado. The videos are basically the band performing the songs mixed with street scenes and pretty girls, but there's nothing wrong with that. Finally, there is a "Making of" video which is short but interesting enough.

What else can I say? Oh yea, go buy it! Thank you.

Recommend this product?