Amigos is the first Santana album that doesn't attempt to break new ground. The several styles Carlos Santana has delved into over the past decade have been consolidated into a varied, multidimensional album. The early days of happy Latin rhythms, congas and catchy vocal hooks and choruses are represented not only by the not-quite-hidden picture of the band's first album on the cover, but also by the very first strains of "Dance Sister Dance (Baila Mi Hermana)," which opens the album. If you're more taken by the harder, brasher rock of Abraxas and Santana, "Take Me with You" and "Let Me" will suit you better. And the dreamlike, moody intensity of Caravanserai is evoked by "Europa (Earth's Cry Heaven's Smile)."

Throughout, Carlos Santana's guitar wizardry remains as impressive as ever. He constantly darts in, out and through the dense rhythm section, displaying a mastery of lean rock, hot jazz and an occasional dash of quiet beauty. Most guitarists are hard pressed to come up with a single style; Carlos Santana has at least three of which he is master.

I hesitate to call this a safe album, but in a way, that's what it is. Amigos is Santana at its most consistent — perhaps in an effort to win back listeners disaffected by the long delay between albums. For fans, it is indispensable. For new listeners, a treat.

“Is It True”

As the British Invasion reached its peak in 1964, Brenda Lee went from Nashville to London to record one of her hardest-rocking hits, her perky vocal backed by a stuttering, squalling guitar. That guitar was played by session musician Jimmy Page, yet to skyrocket to fame with first the Yardbirds and then Led Zeppelin. "She said to me, 'I've come here to make a record with the British sound,'" remembered producer Mickie Most. "She felt she wouldn't get the same sound in Nashville because they're only just catching up on the British beat group sound of about six months ago."