Havana Moon

Havana Moon
Havana Moon
Studio album by Carlos Santana
Released	April 1, 1983
Recorded	The Automatt, San Francisco, CA
Length	46:08
Label	CBS
Producer	Jerry Wexler, Barry Beckett
Carlos Santana chronology

Havana Moon is a solo album by Carlos Santana, released in 1983.

It features covers of Bo Diddley and Chuck Berry songs and performances by Booker T Jones, Willie Nelson and the Fabulous Thunderbirds, and also Carlos' father José singing "Vereda Tropical", a song Carlos had first heard when his father was serenading his mother following an argument.^[1]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	^[2]
Robert Christgau	B+^[3]
Rolling Stone	^[4]

J. D. Considine of Rolling Stone deemed Carlos Santana recording Tex-Mex music to be a natural fit, and felt that the Fabulous Thunderbirds were ideal collaborators for such a project. He particularly praised the renditions of "Who Do you Love" and "Havana Moon" for throwing in inspired Tex-Mex elements while staying true to the appeal of the original recordings. However, he found the album's roaming to other styles on the six cuts recorded without the Fabulous Thunderbirds to be dissatisfying, remarking, "It's not so much that Havana Moon is inconsistent — although it's that, too — as it is confusing, jumping from style to style as if Carlos Santana weren't sure what he wanted to do. It's nice to see that he's eager to expand his horizons, but it's disappointing that he undercuts his efforts by attempting to cover all the bases."^[4]

Track listing

Side one

"Watch Your Step" (Phil Belmonte, Bobby Parker) – 4:01
"Lightnin'" (Booker T. Jones, Carlos Santana) – 3:51
"Who Do You Love?" (Ellas McDaniel) – 2:55
"Mudbone" (Santana) – 5:51
"One with You" (Jones) – 5:14

Side two

"Ecuador" (Santana) – 1:10
"Tales of Kilimanjaro" (Alan Pasqua, Armando Peraza, Raul Rekow, Santana) – 4:50
"Havana Moon" (Chuck Berry) – 4:09
"Daughter of the Night" (Hasse Huss, Mikael Rickfors) – 4:18
"They All Went to Mexico" (Greg Brown) – 4:47
"Vereda Tropical" (Gonzalo Curiel) – 4:57

Personnel

Roberto Moreno – vocals
Willie Nelson – vocals
Greg Walker – vocals
Candelario Lopez – vocals
Carlos Santana – guitar, percussion, backing vocals
José Santana – violin, vocals
Chris Solberg – keyboards, guitar, vocals
Jimmie Vaughan – guitar
Booker T. Jones – keyboards, backing vocals
Richard Baker – keyboards
Barry Beckett – keyboards
Alan Pasqua – keyboards, vocals
Flaco Jiménez – accordion
Orestes Vilató – flute, percussion, timbales, backing vocals
Kim Wilson – harmonica, backing vocals
Greg Adams – strings, horn
Jose Salcedo – trombone, trumpet
Óscar Chávez – trombone, trumpet
Mic Gillette – trumpet, horn
Lanette Stevens – backing vocals
Emilio Castillo – horn, backing vocals
Marc Russo – horn
Tramaine Hawkins – backing vocals
Stephen Kupka – horn
Gabriel Arias – violin
Francisco Coronado – violin
Raymundo Coronado – violin
Keith Ferguson – bass
Luis Gonsalez – bass
David Hood – bass
David Margen – bass, percussion
Fran Christina – drums
Armando Peraza – percussion, bongos, vocals
Graham Lear – percussion, drums
Raul Rékow – percussion, conga, backing vocals
Alex Ligertwood – percussion, vocals
Cherline Hall – backing vocals

Charts

Chart (1983)	Peak position
Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)^[5]	32
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)^[6]	18
Canada Top Albums/CDs (RPM)^[7]	54
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)^[8]	16
Finnish Albums (The Official Finnish Charts)^[9]	7
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)^[10]	21
Japanese Albums (Oricon)^[11]	33
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)^[12]	6
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)^[13]	6
UK Albums (OCC)^[14]	84
US Billboard 200^[15]	31