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CD reviews

Supernatural

Santana - Supernatural Audio CD

A fair review of the Santana "Supernatural" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Santana reviews here, or go back to the Santana tabs.

Band: Santana
Title: Supernatural
Rating:

Release Date: 1999-06-15
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: (Da Le) Yaleo 2: Love Of My Life (Featuring Dave Matthews) 3: Put Your Lights On ( Featuring Everlast) 4: Africa Bamba 5: Smooth (Featuring Rob Thomas) 6: Do You Like The Way (Featuring Lauryn Hill & CEE LO) 7: Maria Maria (Featuring The Product G&B, Produced by Wyclef) 8: Migra 9: Corazon Espinado (Featuring Mana) 10: Wishing It Was (Featuring Eagle Eye Cherry) 11: El Farol 12: Primavera 13: The Calling (Featuring Eric Clapton)

Good, but not worth 12 grammies
He does have his moments with the material he doesn't do with other artists. I will say that Carlos Santana can still belt out a good guitar, but this wasn't as great an album as I was expecting. The songs like "De La Yarbo", "Africa Mamba", and "Primavera" were solid nuggets of jazz/fusion. Not saying that the material he did with other artists wasn't great. He has some moments there too like: "Love Of My Life" with Dave Matthews, "Maria Maria" with Wyclef, "The Calling" with Eric Clapton, and "Put Your Lights On" with Everlast. The 90's for the most part weren't kind to Carlos as Columbia, and Mercury both kicked him off their labels. He was fortunate to team up with Clive Davis again on Arista, and make a tremendous comeback that he did. However, it was overblown. I personally hate "Smooth" as it got too much airplay I feel. I still feel that Santana was at the top of thier game in the 60's and mid 70's. Yes some people felt as though he went off track with "Caravanseri", but I don't. I feel that Santana is capable of pulling off jazz/fusion splendidly. I will play "Shaman" to see if he does any better, but for this it's a good stab at a comeback, but not worth the 12 grammies it earned. .

Santana back on top!

Supernatural:
4&5 stars - 831(70%)
1-3 stars - 248
total reviews: 1079.
Amazon reviews for these two are all over the place.
So there must be something to this album if so
many people bothered to vote and write reviews.
Congrats to Carlos for winning so many Grammys.

Shaman:
4&5 stars - 147
1-3 stars - 84(%57)
total reviews: 231
1/4 number of votes, and more less favorable.
But compared to what? If to Supernatural, fine; if to some crappy 80's synth-pop
drum machine albums, or to 70's jazz-fusion albums, I disagree.
I buy Santana to listen to what he is known for: Latin rock, not jazz, or 80's rhythms.
.

Great Album ! Great Company
I purchased it for Father's Day! It came quickly and in great condition (new!). This is an album I had been looking for at the stores, we used to own it, my husband loves it and couldn't find it. .

Not Really Santana
The music on here is pretty good but it just doesent have the same sound as from there first three albums, plus why the heck does it include guest vocals from Dave Matthews and Everlast?, What was Carlos Santana thinking because there vocals bassicly ruined the songs they sung on. Supernaturual is more of a Carlos Santana then a Santana album since it includes none of the orignial members of Santana except for Carlos Sanatana. The albums moods range from jazzy, latin rock, and latin pop. Songs like, "Maria Maria", are horrible and dont even sound like Santana also songs like, "Do You Like The Way", "African Bamba", and "Smooth", just are latin pop songs that do not deserve a place on a Santana album. I still dont get why so many people say this one of the best Santana albums whereas in my opinion its not really that good at all. Yet this album does hold up some gems like, "(Da Le) Yaleo" but thats about it. So if you want to pick up some real Santana pick up there first three albums.

Most Commercial Album of All Time By One of The Trilogy of Guitar

These three geniuses have given us an amazing quantity and quality of music that will be loved forever. The Trilogy of Guitar is Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, and Carlos Santana.

All three have experienced spectacular critical acclaim and commercial success.

But the commercial success of Supernatural is so far beyond anything else produced by the Trilogy that it deserves to be thought about more seriously than to merely say it's fun to dance to.

I've played guitar 35 years, played over 3,000 paid gigs in nightclub bands from 1980 to 1993, play dozens of Santana tunes, and continue to play guitar every day. I have listened hundreds, if not thousands, of times to everything Carlos Santana has recorded. I have been to six Santana concerts.

I have four points. 1. Supernatural is a commercial masterpiece. 2. Abraxas is a musical masterpiece. 3. If you love Supernatural, you'll probably love Abraxas even more. 4. Adding together points 1-3, what I'm saying is that Abraxas is the greatest rock album ever recorded.

Supernatural is Santana's most commercial album by a long distance. Before Supernatural, Abraxas (1970) was by far the most commercial Santana album. Although Supernatural is easier to listen to, especially for younger listeners, Abraxas is much better from the perspective of artistry and rock history importance.

I'm not knocking Supernatural. It's fantastic. It's the only album our whole family, from mom and dad to my ten-year-old twin daughters, can listen to together from the first song to the last. The contributions by the various younger artists are fantastic, and they blend remarkably with the Santana traditions of strong rhythm, danceability, and intensity. Of course Carlos plays the guitar like a demon on every song. And having the one and only Eric Clapton playing straight blues with Carlos at the end is so good I was speechless when I first heard it. Did I just hear a straight blues song by the two greatest living guitarists on the most commercial Album in a decade? Pinch me. On every song, whether he's just strumming a simple chord or playing a shredding solo, Carlos's beautiful tone and expressiveness are as magnificent as ever. So all in all, Supernatural deserved all the Grammys it received.

Nevertheless, Abraxas is a MUCH more powerful, beautiful, and groundbreaking album than Supernatural.

For one, each musician playing with Carlos on Abraxas was a virtuoso in his own right. Gregg Rolie (vocals & keys), Michael Shrieve (drums), David Brown (bass), Michael Carabello (percussion), and Chepito Areas (percussion) were on Abraxas, which was by far the best lineup the band ever had. Each of these musicians has many great recording credits, but each of them reached his peak on Abraxas. Just watch the Woodstock DVD and see for yourself. The Woodstock concert occured before Abraxas was recorded, but the amazing power of this band explodes off the screen. They absolutely destroyed the audience with their power and virtuosity.

Then there is Carlos Santana himself on Abraxas. Santana music has large arrangements with a big percussion section, powerful drumming, thumping bass, and big keyboard parts. And as I say, Carlos was surrounded on Abraxas by true giants of each of these instruments. Any normal guitar player would have struggled to be heard surrounded by such virtuosity. But Carlos Santana's guitar playing on Abraxas is so clear, so confident, so beautiful, so powerful, and has such an identifiable signature to it that it is transcendence itself. When the band finishes a song, you wonder how the other guys kept up with him!

Abraxas has two of the most recognizeable songs in rock history, Black Magic Woman and Oye Como Va. Black Magic combines blues and Latin like no other song before or since, and has the most powerful ending of any rock song ever recorded. Oye Como Va is the most-danced-to song in history. Abraxas also contains Carlos's first of many guitar-solo-love songs, Samba Pa Ti. No other guitarists but Eric and Jimi have played the guitar with such depth and sensibility. The song Incident at Neshabur is as sophisticated as any jazz fusion by Miles Davis or John Coltrane. And there's Se A Cabo, a rhythmic kaleidescope combining Hendrix power chords with the meanest percussion solos I've ever heard.

So if you love to have fun dancing, buy Supernatural. And if you want to get in touch with your most primitive, powerful self and dance like you're in the jungle, buy Abraxas.

You can watch my Black Magic and other covers and originals at:

youtube. com/ajmora.

You can listen to more Santana covers, other covers, and originals as well as read our history and see photos at:

freeverseband. com

Rock on! Dance on!

Albert Mora.

You can see a complete list of all Santana discography, or go back to the Santana tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.