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Salvador Santana Band, "SSB" (Various Business Enterprises, out in February)

Being the son of guitar fiend Carlos, Salvador Santana has a tough act to follow, but he acquits himself nicely on his band's full-length debut. It was also probably a good idea that the offspring didn't pick the guitar as his musical instrument of choice: This Santana is a rapper who plays keyboards.

This Bay Area sextet proffers R&B-inflected Latin rock with a hip-hop flow, and in some places it does sound like old-school Santana (the band) in its second incarnation. A more apt comparison would be Michael Franti & Spearhead or Ozomatli. (Multi-instrumentalist and former Ozo member Jose "Crunchy" Espinoza is a member of SSB, and Ozo trumpeter Asdru Sierra co-wrote and is featured on the call-and-response tune "Why Yo.")

SSB get the party started from the get-go with "Sounds Good," which sounds sort of like Dad's old band (like it or not, Salvador will have to live with beaucoup comparisons). The funky-jazzy "Me & U" follows and doesn't let up. "Imacallya" is Latin hip-hop, but not quite reggaeton, that sounds like something the Black Eyed Peas would attempt, only this is way better.

Two standout tracks are the album closers: "Lo Que Digas Tu" is Latin R&B with a funk-rock twist sung in Spanish, while on "Evil Ways," the kid and his band update and speed-up Dad's classic without totally obliterating the original. The musical lineage shines throughout.

B-Side Players, "Fire in the Youth" (Concord Picante/Concord Music Group)

On its seventh album, this San Diego nine-piece gets even more political lyrically (the funky reggae "Nuestras Demandas"), while exhorting the youth of the world to rise in revolution ("Unplug This Armageddon" and "Pleasure and Pain," a slowed-down jam about youthful "transgressions"). Oh, and you can dance to it.

This is horn-driven Latin funk 'n' roll fused with Afro-beat to create a soulful one-world vibe. If opener "Alegria" (where they invoke Che Guevara) doesn't get you moving, nothing will.

Mostly sung in Spanish, these guys use all their rhythmic tricks: "El Comal" is a jarocho — a syncopated Afro/Spanish style from Vera Cruz, Mexico — "Micaela" utilizes the more muted rhythms of the Caribbean son, and "Mascara," about all the facades one hides behind, puts more funk into the typical cumbia pulse. The title track is a mellow, funky-jazzy meditation with a youth choir filling out the chorus.

B-Side Players share some of the same comparisons (Spearhead and Ozo) as Salvador Santana Band, but a bigger influence seems to be Gypsy troubadour Manu Chao.

B-Side Players headline, as Salvador Santana Band and Cipes & the People open for a show Sunday at the Launchpad, 618 Central Ave. S.W. Doors at 8 p.m. $10 at the door or in advance at launchpadrocks.com or Natural Sound. 21 and over only. 764-8887.

Nightwish, "Dark Passion Play" (Roadrunner Records)

This Finnish quintet specializes in gothic, orchestral metal that's heavy on the percussion. The vocals are mostly female, and they are occasionally operatic. Think a more symphonic Evanescence or Mannheim Steamroller fronted by Enya.

Its first studio recording in three years is a song cycle/concept album of sorts; it opens with "The Poet and the Pendulum," a 13-plus-minute, five-part suite. (These guys are nothing if not overindulgent.)

It can get overbearing and bombastic. And lyrically, it appears as if some of the medieval, self-mythology got lost in translation. It's sung in English, but it can be very stilted.

Highlights include the subdued interlude "Eva," which has a killer guitar solo and comes across like some kind of sorbet to refresh the sonic palate; the speedy, pummeling "Master Passion Greed"; the affecting "Amaranth," where love lies bleeding in its inherent beauty; and the female-male, call-and response of "Bye Bye Beautiful."

Ultimately, the excess — the band employs a 78-member orchestra and a 42-person vocal chorale, in addition to a 12-member choir — pays off.

Nightwish, which is on its first U.S. tour since 2004, makes a stop at the Sunshine Theater, 120 Central Ave. S.W., on Thursday for an all-ages show. Dark metalists Paradise Lost open. Doors at 7/show at 8 p m. Tickets are $20, plus service charges, at Ticketmaster outlets and at the door. Call 883-7800 or go to ticketmaster.com. Smoking and alcohol service in segregated areas.