Borboletta
Studio album by
Santana
ReleasedOctober 1974
GenreJazz fusion
Length49:52
LabelCBS
ProducerCarlos Santana, Michael Shrieve, Tom Coster
Santana chronology
Greatest Hits
(1974) 		Borboletta
(1974) 		Amigos
(1976)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Christgau's Record GuideC+[2]
Džuboks(mixed)[3]
Rolling Stone(not rated)[4]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[5]

Borboletta is the sixth studio album by the American Latin rock band Santana. It is one of their jazz-funk-fusion oriented albums, along with Caravanserai (1972), and Welcome (1973). Non-band albums by Carlos Santana in this style also include Love Devotion Surrender (1973) with John McLaughlin and Illuminations (1974) with Alice Coltrane, Jack DeJohnette and Jules Broussard. The guitarist leaves much room to percussion, saxophone and keyboards to set moods ("Spring Manifestations"), as well as lengthy solos by himself ("Promise of a Fisherman") and vocals ("Give and Take", a funky guitar-led song). The record was released in a metallic blue sleeve displaying a butterfly, an allusion to the album Butterfly Dreams (1973) by Brazilian musician Flora Purim and her husband Airto Moreira, whose contributions deeply influenced the sound of Borboletta. In Portuguese, borboleta means "butterfly".

Original bassist David Brown returned to replace Doug Rauch and vocalist/keyboardist Leon Patillo joined. After the album's completion, drummer Michael Shrieve left, to be replaced by Leon "Ndugu" Chancler, who had guested on parts of the album.

Track listing

Side one

No.TitleLyricsMusicLength
1."Spring Manifestations (Sound Effects)"instrumental — percussion & sound effectsAirto Moreira, Flora Purim1:05
2."Canto de los Flores"instrumentalTom Coster3:45
3."Life Is Anew"Carlos SantanaCarlos Santana, Michael Shrieve4:30
4."Give and Take"SantanaSantana, Coster, Michael Shrieve5:46
5."One with the Sun"Earlyrin MartiniJerry Martini4:20
6."Aspirations"instrumentalCoster, Santana5:12

Side two

No.TitleLyricsMusicLength
7."Practice What You Preach"SantanaSantana4:28
8."Mirage"Leon PatilloLeon Patillo4:43
9."Here and Now"instrumentalArmando Peraza, Santana3:01
10."Flor de Canela"instrumentalSantana, Doug Rauch2:20
11."Promise of a Fisherman"instrumentalDorival Caymmi8:05
12."Borboletta"instrumentalMoreira2:50

Personnel

Airto Moreira and Flora Purim appear courtesy of CTI Records

Charts

Chart (1974-1975) Peak
position
Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)[6] 38
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[7] 9
Canada Top Albums/CDs (RPM)[8] 14
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[9] 28
Italian Albums (Musica e Dischi)[10] 4
Japanese Albums (Oricon)[11] 11
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[12] 13
UK Albums (OCC)[13] 18
US Billboard 200[14] 20

Certifications

Region Certification Certified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[15] Silver 60,000^
United States (RIAA)[16] Gold 500,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

  1. ^ Ruhlmann, William (2011). "Borboletta - Santana | AllMusic". allmusic.com. Retrieved August 28, 2011.
  2. ^ Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: S". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 089919026X. Retrieved March 12, 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.
  3. ^ "Santana - Borboletta". Džuboks (in Serbian). Gornji Milanovac: Dečje novine (6 (second series)): 23.
  4. ^ Palmer, Bob (December 20, 1978). "Santana: Borboletta : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone". Rolling Stone. Retrieved August 28, 2011.
  5. ^ "Santana: Album Guide". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on January 28, 2012. Retrieved April 14, 2012.
  6. ^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  7. ^ "Austriancharts.at – Santana – Borboletta" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved October 27, 2022.
  8. ^ "Top RPM Albums: Issue 3915a". RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved October 27, 2022.
  9. ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Santana – Borboletta" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved October 27, 2022.
  10. ^ "Classifiche". Musica e Dischi (in Italian). Retrieved May 27, 2022. Set "Tipo" on "Album". Then, in the "Artista" field, search "Santana".
  11. ^ Oricon Album Chart Book: Complete Edition 1970–2005 (in Japanese). Roppongi, Tokyo: Oricon Entertainment. 2006. ISBN 4-87131-077-9.
  12. ^ "Charts.nz – Santana – Borboletta". Hung Medien. Retrieved October 27, 2022.
  13. ^ "Santana | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart. Retrieved October 27, 2022.
  14. ^ "Santana Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved October 27, 2022.
  15. ^ "British album certifications – Santana – Borboletta". British Phonographic Industry.
  16. ^ "American album certifications – Santana – Borboletta". Recording Industry Association of America.


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