My Seventies Music

Tag: Palmerston North New Zealand

  • Carlos Santana – “Samba Pa Ti”

    I could listen to Carlos Santana playing “Samba Pa Ti” for hours, and yet for years I didn’t even know what the song was called – I just knew that I loved it!

    Actually I could listen to anyone playing it, as long as they played it well.

    My main Seventies memory associated with this song, off the 1970 Santana album “Abraxas”, is the Awapuni Tavern in Palmerston North, New Zealand.

    We used to go to all kinds of student functions there, but also just to hear whoever was playing. It was quite a way out of town, so you had to make an effort to go there.

    Usually it was worth it…

    So here it is, “Samba Pa Ti” by Santana, the original:

    Here’s a live version of “Samba Pa Ti” in 1988, in Zagreb, Croatia:

    And “Samba Pa Ti” live in Carlos Santana’s home country of Mexico:

    I particularl enjoy the way the song starts off really slowly and then builds to a crescendo.

    Hope you love it too!

    Paul

  • “Rocky Mountain Way” by Joe Walsh

    “Rocky Mountain Way” by Joe Walsh of The James Gang fame has always been one of my favourites from the Seventies.

    Definitely a touch harder than the “America” tune we had yesterday….

    If you’re into blues/slide guitar and all kinds of effects, then this piece from the album “The Smoker You Drink, The Player You Get” is for you.

    In fact I like it so much that I decided to do videos of more than one version today. 🙂

    So first here he is after moving on from The James Gang, with his band Barnstorm, still looking quite young:

    In 1977 Joe played “Rocky Mountain Way” with the Eagles, to whom he brought a somewhat harder touch… (this was the year of their giant hit album “Hotel California”). Unfortunately the video of that one has been removed “due to a copyright claim by Eaglesrecordingcompany”…

    So instead, much more recently, here Joe still shows how it’s done:

    I first heard this song and the album “The Smoker You Drink, The Player You Get” with its iconic cover at a student party in Palmerston North, New Zealand. Actually I don’t remember the rest of the album, but these guitar riffs and the image of the old biplane have stayed with me ever since…

    Hope you like it too!

    Paul

    P.S. While updating the videos I just came accross a collection of over 75 Joe Walsh tracks you might like to check out, including “Life’s Been Good” (warning though, there are ads for things like Heinz ketchup in between some of the tracks!):

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