Review Summary: Santana has paved the way for Latin artists with his clean guitar and rhythmy feel.
The guitarist in a band has 90% of the time been the most well known person in the band. When it comes down to it, he/she is the most important person in the group. He can make up for the inauspicious component in the band. Carlos Santana is one of those guitarists that defines his music. Not that the other musicians aren’t talented but with any other guitarist this band would not be half as good. His extra clean Latin guitar completes this only one of a kind type of listening. On
Supernatural he displays the leadership and features many young artists to grow in their musical careers with this influential musician.
As I just said he has many featured artists. Over half the songs include features artist. For the most part he does a great job with this. On
Love Of My Life he features a great musician, Dave Matthews from
Dave Matthew’s Band. He does a really good job with the lead vocals. They have perfect chemistry and Carlos fits an awesome clean solo. Another great featured artist is Rob Thomas in the song
Smooth. They once again have great chemistry and Rob’s vocals are very entertaining. In the song
Put Your Lights On he features
Everlast. He isn’t bad but Carlos really could have done with out him. Santana actually gets a lot heavier than usual in this song and he should stay in his own backyard in this one. Speaking of going into a genre that you shouldn’t,
Maria Maria featuring Wyclef Jean, though not a bad song, heads toward Hip-Hop. It still features a catchy acoustic guitar riff and Wyclef has a great Latin voice, but I just think he should have left it alone.
Do You Like The Way features Lauryn Hill and is just full blown Hip-Hop and R&B. Santana doesn’t show much guitar except for the solo, which is pretty good. The song is very repetitive and I’m not too fond of it. Another below average featured artist song is
Wishing It Was featuring Eagle-Eye Cherry. It is very poppy and up-beat. Santana does do some great guitar work but it just isn’t the song for him. When I saw [/l]Eric Clapton[l] as a featured artist in
The Calling I was exited to hear it. Just imagining two of the greatest guitarists ever gives me the chills. It is an okay song but it is a little bit of a let down. The beginning sounds very improvised and it is basically instrumental. I was hoping one of them would sing because I like both of their voices. It is a long slew of legato guitar. After a little while it starts to get structure. This really is a good song to cool down the album.
The best quality about this album is most definitely how clean the guitar is. There are absolutely no scratches or accidentally muffed strings. It is really refreshing to hear such clear as crystal guitar. Each solo is modified to perfection. Even when he decides to start to shred, as he does a lot, he still keeps it picture perfect. A perfect example is
(De Le) Yaleo were he has a clean and fast solo with great guitar during the verses. Another example is
Migra. This energetic song, which sounds like it should be on The Lion King or some other cheesy movie, has perfect guitar with great rhythm. This song truly shows how Santana rolls. Its so energy filled and it makes you want to get up and dance. This feature is what makes him the great guitarist that he is.
But he is only one man! He needs something else to make this album great! Hey I got an idea… a great rhythm section. Well he does have one. They do an adequate job that a Latin rhythm section should do. The drums using a cowbell and tom-toms 90% of the time, the piano doing ecstatic and loud chords, the horns are in unison and very jazzy basslines. They even manage to throw a piano solo in
(Da Le) Yaleo and a very good drum intro in
Migra. They especially do a great part on
Africa Bamba. Every thing is perfectly fit and the horns really stick out. They are most definitely a reliable background section. The only thing I would change would be more activity and them to branch out of the mundane. Though they aren’t the main event they do complete this album.
If you don’t like the clean guitar and great rhythm section, then you’ll love the fact how energetic the songs are. Even when there is a hint of sadness 99.9% of the time they don’t fail to be exiting. Like in sad toned
Love Of My Life and
El Farol it is exiting to the extent that a sort of sad song can be. No matter how or sad the song is it is still very joyful in a way. This has to be one of the best features on this album.
Latin artists have brought us so much when it comes to music. They’ve become so successful in this field. Carlos Santana has pioneered this movement of music.
Pros:
Clean guitar
Rhythm section
Sad songs are still blissful
Great featured artists
Consistency
Cons:
Some featured artist aren’t needed
Wishing It Was
Do You Like The Way
Individual tracks:
(Da Le) Yaleo 4.5/5
Love Of My Life 4.5/5
Put Your Lights On 4/5
Africa Bamba 4/5
Smooth 4.5/5
Do You Like The Way 2.5/5
Maria Maria 3/5
Migra 5/5
Corazon Espinao 4/5
Wishing It Was 3/5
El Farol 5/5
Primavera 4/5
The Calling 4/5
4/5
