ALBUM: Malo (1972)
MVC Rating: 4.0/ $$$$
Wow, look at that cover on this album by a band named Malo.
When I first saw it, I thought of the cover art on Abraxas, Santana’s great second album. Obviously different covers in color and all — but similar in other striking ways, attention to detail, beautiful people from another time and place. Maybe it was the same painter?
I put it on the turntable and what did I hear. A jamming rhythmic Latin-tinged, multi-piece band with trumpets, electric guitar and lots of shake rattle and roll. Man it sounded like early Santana led by Carlos Santana.
So not surprisingly as I checked out the names of musicians, I noticed Jorge Santana. He is, I found out, Carlos’ brother. As an early Santana fan, I couldn’t believe I never heard that. As a decade long dweller in Marin County, California, where Carlos lives and is frequently spotted driving around in his convertible(s) I never knew he had a brother in a band or that I had never heard of the band. Of course I believe, the band no longer existed by the time I got there in 2001. They had a Top 20 hit with Suavecito but you don’t see this album around at least not on the east coast.
Maybe they should have re-thought the band’s name. Malo in Spanish means ‘Bad.’
The Malo album cover is from a painting by Mexican painter Jesus Helguera.
The Abraxis cover was from a painting called Annunciation by German-French painter Mati Klarwein.