This was much more of a straight-ahead rock record, but with serious soft rock tendencies. The reliance on covers was nothing new, but the only item keeping this stuff out of complete schmaltz territory was Carlos' soloing. And I really mean it. He should have kept these secrets hidden! I can't quite call it an out-and-out horrible album, because it's generally structured like previous Santana efforts, but the plastic atmosphere really drags it down a few notches. If you don't have to, don't bother.

This was hailed as a comeback record of sorts. The majority of it resembles an updated version of their original sound. The only real difference here is most of the rock elements were swapped over for funk and fusion. It's OK, but have to admit the most memorable item was the repetitive hyper-bass line from "Let Me", which isn't the first time I've noted a similar occurrence on a Santana record. But overall, it's likeable, as the title suggests.

The final record in a trilogy of jazz fusion outings from Santana, apparently. I skipped over the previous one, Welcome, although I guess I could find it through YouTube. But if it's anything like the aimless chaos I heard here, I'll pass. There's a reason why the majority of jazz fusion was dated on arrival.

The hallmarks of the new Jefferson Starship – on this record, like it or not – were Mickey Thomas and "Jane". The rest of the record pretty much goes by the boards, but the 'Ship sounds more energized than ever. Even sort of, well, updated, if you can believe it. This is moderately removed from even the previous effort, with the throwback Balin-led ballads that still had a tentative link to the 60's. The big tradeoff here is the loss of Slick and her idiosyncrasies, but not like she was gone very long, either!

Reasonably similar to preceding JS records yet, for some reason, it received more critical ire. Really? Wasn't there bigger fish to fry? By now Balin cribbed the hit material from friends like Jesse Barish (the hokey-folky big hit "Count On Me", for example), but the album clicks better on less serious material like "Fire" and "Feels So Good". Not blow you away great, but the 'Ship was not running on fumes, either.