Woodstock-era lineup, until their reunion on Santana IV in 2016. It was also considered by many to be the band's peak commercially and musically, as subsequent releases aimed towards more experimental jazz fusion and Latin music. The album also marked the addition of 16-year-old guitarist Neal Schon
to the group.
Release and reception
The original album was recorded at Columbia Studios, San Francisco, and released in both stereo and quadraphonic.
The album featured two singles that charted in the United States. "Everybody's Everything" peaked at No. 12 in October 1971,
FM radio and peaked at No. 36 in March 1972. Santana III was also the last Santana album to hit #1 on the charts until Supernatural in 1999. The 2005 edition of Guinness World Records stated that was the longest gap between #1 albums ever occurring (a record which is now held by Paul McCartney since his seventeenth solo studio album, Egypt Station, topped the Billboard 200 chart on 2018, his first since his 1982's Tug of War). The original album was re-released in 1998 with live versions of "Batuka", "Jungle Strut" and a previously unreleased song, "Gumbo", recorded at Fillmore West
in 1971 which features lead guitar solos by both Santana and Schon.
As was done with the band's debut album, released two years earlier, in 2006 Sony released the "Legacy Edition" of the album, featuring the original album in re-mastered sound, and bonus material:
Three other songs recorded in the sessions for the album
Tracks 1, 5, 11: from the 1998 reissue of Santana III (see above)
Tracks 7–8: previously released on the album Fillmore: The Last Days (recorded 29 June – 4 July 1971, released in 1972, containing performances by 14 different bands)[10]