Santana, "Live at the Fillmore '68" (Columbia/Legacy, 1997)

The Woodstock festival created quite a few stars, but none burned quite so brightly as Santana. The band was practically unknown outside its native San Francisco when promoter Bill Graham strongly suggested that the Woodstock promoters include Santana on the bill, and later he strongly suggested that Michael Wadleigh include Santana's performance in his film of the event.

Whatever the case, it clicked. The buzz surrounding Santana after its Woodstock turn propelled its debut album, released in September 1969, a few weeks after the festival, to a No. 4 showing on the charts. And its next two releases, "Abraxas" and "Santana III," both hit No. 1.

Some recordings of dubious legitimacy documenting the band's pre-Woodstock work circulated for years before Columbia's "Live from the Vaults" series issued a two-CD set recorded at the Fillmore West in December 1968.

The exceptional-sounding compilation captures an already-polished Santana cruising through four songs that would appear on the debut, plus five tunes that hadn't appeared on previous Santana releases.

Kicking off the album are three later favorites, "Jingo," "Persuasion" and "Treat," all of which are considerably longer than the better-known versions. But the added times are used to great advantage, as the players manage to keep things interesting for extended periods. The real treat is hearing the song of that name, which starts and wraps up with nimble piano work by Gregg Role, sandwiching an intense jam.

"Soul Sacrifice," the band's selection in the "Woodstock" movie, also is a lengthy excursion, although this version is not as fully realized as the filmed one, especially with regard to Carlos Santana's guitar leads. It still makes for an interesting listen.

Rolie sings the blues on a previously unheard tune called "As the Years Go Passing By," and the rest of the set is given over to cool-sounding jams, including the half-hour "Freeway" to wrap up the proceedings.

The lineup for the '68 recording differs from the players at Woodstock. By then, drummer Bob Livingston had been replaced by Michael Shrieve, and percussionist Marcus Malone by the dynamic duo of Michael Carabello and Jose Chepito Areas. But the earlier incarnation of Santana put on a heck of a show, too.