"Santana follows up his bajillion selling "Supernatural""
Best Tracks: Nothing At All, Game of Love, Sideways
By this time Santana is more of a wonder than he is anything else. To be still able to be popular after so many decades is certainly something very few artists can do.
But obviously he's not really the one that is propelling his career anymore, it's the guests on his albums. Making probably the wisest career move with "Supernatural", instead
of releasing yet another album of guitar solos and Spanish chants he and producer Clive Davis decided to bring in contemporary artists to help propel Santana's artistic
vision and widen his small audience. It worked big time with "Smooth", "Maria, Maria" and "Turn Your Lights Off" which all featured popular artists who had written
great songs.That lightning-in-a-bottle recipe is once again tried on "Shaman", but with half-baked results.
To say the guest list for this album is a bit disappointing would probably be the most accurate statement. Unlike "Supernatural" which mixed both great under-written and popular artists
like Everlast, Rob Thomas, Lauryn Hill, Cee-Lo Green and Product G & B this album features shlocky songs from fading artists like Dido, Seal and Macy Gray, bad rock songs from P.O.D. and Chad Kroeger,
and an uneven collaboration with Placido Domingo. Santana's guitar just doesn't seem to mix with some of the artists therefore throwing leaving Carlos with nothing left to but wail on his guitar
and hopefully get some recognition before the next track. On P.O.D.'s absurd "America" Santana is more of another guitar player in the background until the end where he gives an absolutely awesome
guitar solo that rivals some his best ones yet. His patented distorted guitar licks do blend very with Michelle Branch's "Game Of Love" and perfect the bluesy mood in Citizen Cope's "Sideways". But
the best track on the album is musiq soulchild's "Nothing At All", the song is one of the few songs that truly reflects the artistic integrity that was "Supernatural" and never feels like it was done
just to throw musiq's name out to the public and get a quick paycheck.
Besides "Nothing At All" and the usual old-school Santana songs this album really has no "Smooth"'s or "Maria, Maria"'s. It basically is left to float in the shallow, corporate waters where it came from.
This is unfortunate considering what this album could have been if given the correct artists. We can only hope that they recruit better ones for the next album and pray that they're not just jumping on the
gravy boat.
