Customer Reviews

Supernatural

5 star:		(619)
4 star:		(216)
3 star:		(76)
2 star:		(80)
1 star:		(89)

 

 

Okay, I've read something like 400 of these reviews so I thought I'd speak up. I've been a Santana fan since the early '70's. My personal preference is for Santana's old jazz/rock fusion albums, (e.g., "Illuminations"[1974], "Borboletta"[1974], "Lotus"[1974], and the impossible to categorize, "Oneness"[1979]). But "Supernatural"[1999] is definitely Santana's best pop/rock album in at least 12 years ("Freedom"[1987]) and maybe 28 years ("Santana III"[1971]). I felt the band's last studio album, "Milagro"[1992], was too diffuse and self-indulgent to achieve greatness (despite some fabulous individual tracks).

I like almost every track on "Supernatural." The Latin rock tracks include "(Da le)Yaleo," "African Bamba," "Migra," "Corazon Espinado"(featuring Mana), and "Primavera"; in my opinion, any one of the last 3 of these is worth the price of the CD. I'd never heard of Lauryn Hill before I bought this album, but I really love "Do You Like the Way"--I didn't much care for it at first listen, but it grew on me. "El Farol" is a sweet, passionate sort of light jazz guitar solo with typical blazing crescendo. "The Calling" w/Eric Clapton is decent, but not great--though both guitarists manage to put out (all-too-brief) moments of sheer wonder. I don't care much for either "Maria, Maria" w/Product G&B, or "Wishing It Was" w/Eagle-Eye Cherry. The pop tunes, "Love of My Life" (featuring Dave Matthews) and "Smooth" (featuring Rob Thomas) are really great tracks. The dark and brooding alternative rock track, "Put Your Lights On" (featuring Everlast) simply takes my breath away. Be sure to wait for the unlisted track after "The Calling."

My chief complaint with the album is that Chester Thompson's keyboard talents are not showcased enough. The percussion section is given ample room to breathe, especially on "(Da Le) Yaleo" and "Migra."

Santana's unique style turns me into one big goose bump; if the music doesn't do that for you, it's not Santana's fault and it's not your fault, either. Despite several reviewers' criticisms about what they perceive as a commercial bent to this album, I find that commercial bent to be a very positive influence on the band's music; this is an extremely tight, well-produced CD--kind of a rarity for Santana. I don't personally see what is so objectionable about an artist reaching out to a wider audience. The first 3 albums by the original Santana band were smash hits and, frankly, I think it's great to hear the band on the radio again with some new music. Anyway, if you find something sinister or just plain unsatisfactory about a band consciously trying for commercial appeal, then be forewarned because that is exactly what Santana and Arista Records set out to do. I think they did a great job.

If you like this CD, you might want to check out "Moonflower"[1977], "Zebop!"[1981], "Spirits Dancing in the Flesh"[1990], or even "Freedom"[1987]; these are some of the better pop/rock Santana albums, in my opinion.

I've read many of the reviews of "Supernatural" and i've yet to see anyone mention something that is obvious to any longtime Santana fan, that is that this is a "Carlos" album and NOT a "Santana" album, regardless of what the cover says.

Carlos has always had his career split into two parts, one as a member and leader of the "Santana" band and one as a solo artist. The albums released using just the name "Santana" have always implied that they are ones with the entire Santana band (and nobody else) playing and singing the music, and although Carlos has changed the lineups in his band many times throughout the years, his band albums always have a distinct sound. In the past, whenever he would want to take a break and do something a little different and play with people outside of his band (such as John McLaughlin, John Coltrane, Herbie Hancock, The Fabulous Thuderbirds etc.) he would always label those projects as "Carlos Santana" albums. Carlos Santana's career has totalled 31 official albums, 24 being "Santana" albums and 7 being "Carlos Santana" albums, (Supernatural should have been the 8th Carlos solo project and not the 24th Santana album) so that makes the ratio around 3/1 in favour of "band" albums over solo projects.

Now, here's why i think the cd was deliberately mislabelled. You see, Carlos reunited with his original producer, Clive Davis for this cd, and in doing so he also switced record labels, leaving his short lived stay at Polydor to join Clive's "Arista" records. Arista would obviously want a "Santana" album to be Carlos's first release with them because the Carlos solo projects, while usually praised by critics, have never sold well. The Santana "band" was always the more successfull part of Carlos's two careers, but in the 90's the Santana "band" has stagnated, releasing only two albums of original material, one a studio cd and the other a live album, there were three other Santana releases in the 90's, but they weren't new band albums, they consisted of a solo project with his brother, a box set, and a previously unreleased live album recorded in 1968 (but that at least featured his far better original band).

The reason for the Santana band's lack of production has been somewhat to do with Carlos changing record labels twice in the decade, but it also had a lot to do with the fact that during this time many of the longtime core band members have changed, they lost or released longtime fan favorite vocalist Alex Ligertwood and replaced him with less talented singers since then, they've also gone through several drummers and bass players, all of whom fail miserably to capture the magic and feel of the "Santana Sound", they just don't have the skill or stage presence that guys from the previous bands did, players like Graham Lear (drums) and Dave Margen and Alphonso Johnson (bass) are sorely missed.

Anyway, Clive Davis and Arista wanted a hit, and what better way to get one than to target todays music buyers (mostly kids) by getting a bunch of todays most popular young artists on the cd with Carlos? it's a no brainer.

Now i'm not saying it's a bad cd, some of the songs are pretty good, the Rob Thomas song "Smooth" has been a huge hit, (10 weeks at #1 on Billboard and still there while i write this) and while somewhat over-rated it's an ok song, and the song with Everlast "Put Your Lights On" could do just as well if it gets a video and the same kind of promotion. There are a couple other good tracks , the instrumentals are always Santana's best tunes on his albums and there are a couple good ones here, but there are also some bad tunes on this cd (Lauryn Hill? Carlos what are you thinking!) but overall it's an ok cd, it's just not a "Santana" cd. All of Santana's current band members play on it but in minor roles, it's not a true Santana band effort and shouldn't have been labelled as one. I'm hoping with his next release Carlos gets back to his roots and does a real Santana album meaning just him and his band on all the tracks. I give Supernatural 3 out of 5 stars as a Carlos solo project, but 1 of out 5 if this is really supposed to be a "Santana Band" album and is representative of what the "new" Santana lineup will be putting out from now on.

My tip to Carlos, now that this cd was a big hit you should have some leverage (and cash) to work with, so how about doing a tour to make the old fans happy?, to start you could rehire Dave Walker and Alex Ligertwood on vocals, then get Graham back on the drums (or better yet Mike Shrieve if possible) get Tom Coster and Greg Rolie back on keyboards, Dave Brown, Alphonso or Dave Margen on Bass, and the percussion section is fine as long as Raul is there. That will restore the "real" Santana sound that has sadly been missing for the entire 1990's and part of the 80's.

Supernatural is without a doubt Santana on the crest of a wave, culling the cream of the music world's singers and incorporating catchy rhythms and of course mind-blowing guitar-playing from Carlos himself. Nearly all the songs here are perfect; the only divots are the lightweight and repetitive AFRICA MAMBA and the ultra-bluesy/latino instrumental EL FAROL. The first three tracks are sheer class, with (DA LE) YALEO employed as a flamboyant mood-setter and featuring a tremendous conga solo from musician Raul Rekow, LOVE OF MY LIFE sung by Dave Matthews, who has the best voice, in my opinion, of all the singers on the album, a gentle ballad that develops into a fast-paced rock song, and PUT YOUR LIGHTS ON written and sung by Everlast, another acoustically perfect slowish track that includes all the same a rock portion halfway through. After AFRICA MAMBA comes the sublime SMOOTH, the worldwide best-seller that needs no introduction as Supernatural's most famous song, and illustrating Rob Thomas' excellent song-writing and vocal talents. Another of my favourites is MIGRA, a fast-paced song with a thumping rhythm and a distinct African flavour to it. It is on this track that Santana excels himself the most, on the guitar as well as on the lyrics that he co-invented with Tony Lindsay. The album also comprises its fair share of slow songs, such as the mostly instrumental PRIMAVERA and the best-seller MARIA MARIA. Oh, and here I'll take the opportunity to make a stand against Wyclef Jean. Great producer he may be in tandem with Jerry Wonder Duplessis, but I wish he would stop intervening in perfectly songs with his mindless and slurred comments. Here he doesn't affect the song that much but having seen him and Pras Michel single-handedly dismantle ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST by my favourite band Queen I was seething. Anyway, moving swiftly on, we come to the immaculate "message song" DO YOU LIKE THE WAY, written and mostly sung by Lauryn Hill who surpasses herself in tandem with Cee-Lo, who I'd never heard of prior to buying this album. CORAZON ESPINADO, featuring Fher and Mana, is alright I guess, but it isn't a patch on other songs like PRIMAVERA. Eagle-Eye Cherry's effort WISHING IT WAS is a pleasure to listen to despite some pretty depressing lyrics. And the only slightly over-par THE CALLING (taking into account the once-in-a-lifetime pairing of Carlos Santana and Eric Clapton it should have been better than the final product) is the gloss on the surface of a truly great album. This would be a good investment to any admirer of the band's style of music as well as R&B, rap and African music lovers.

This album really rocks, and it was a great idea to combine Santana with younger players like Everlast and Dave Matthews. There are a lot of great guitar solos and a variety of different styles of music. While there is a lot of criticism in the customer reviews, I think that is mostly from people who hate it if their favorite artist becomes "mainstream." This is certainly not the best Santana album, but a good addition to the collection. The collaboration with Eric Clapton is really the only disappointment here -- very long and boring song. I would expect more from two of the best guitarists ever. However, Santana sounds as good as ever on many of the tunes, and you have to be deaf if you don't want to rock when you listen to the songs with Everlast, Dave Matthews and Rob Thomas. Enjoy!

In my experience, there have been very few albums that, when I finished listening to the entire album for the first time, I silently thanked the artist. This is an album that you will get HOURS of enjoyment from for many years to come. It is an instant classic.

If there is a musical counterpart (auraltherapy ? ) to aromatherapy then some of the oldie classics provide it for me. As a Beach Boys tune brings back memories of relaxing summer days and Scarborough Fair evokes wood burning fireplaces with whiffs of yeasty, homemade bread, so the guitar riffs of Carlos Santana summon forth nights of dancing and the contentment of being the one who brought the best music to the party. I can feel his guitar from the back of my neck to the "souls" of my feet.

This album is a 2-in-1 bonus which brings the Santana guitar mastery back to my more appreciate ear with his fine solo guitar and hallmark Latin-Afro-Cuban jazz rhythms. I hear it in El Farol, Primavera and African Bamba. I can also sample a range of current musical talent through the use of featured performers - Lauryn Hill, Everlast, Eagle-Eye Cherry. And while the track Smooth with Rob Thomas is the pop-single favorite, pay special attention to Love of My Life with Dave Matthews and Maria, Maria with Wyclef Jean. These are the only tracks where Santana collaborated with the featured artist in writing the song. The Matthews track elegantly blends Santana's jazzy music and Matthews' stylized vocals. Maria, Maria is a slow, rhythmic, smoldering story punctuated with Santana's undefinable Latin guitar wisdom. And as the weather affords open-window car cruising, crank up Corazon Espinado, sing along and ignore the traffic.

And there are days that this CD is the auraltherapy I need. Listen to this and you, too, may know the truth: There is no spoon.

After hearing "Smooth",on the radio i immediately bought this album. And many people are right, the songs can grow on you. I wasn't very impressed. There was only two or three songs that really caught my attention. I think he should of stuck with more latin beats(like smooth). But I do have to give it up to C.S. for using many of today's most predominant recording artists. He does work well w/ a few of them. But many of Santana's earlier albums were much better.

I never really was a Santana fan. I like some of their songs and definitely can appreciate his masterful guitar playing, but I was curious enough about this effort to buy it. My curiosity started when I heard that Dave Matthews contributed to a song. Being a huge DMB fan, I started thinking about it. Then I heard "Smooth". That sealed it for me. I have been so sick of Matchbox 20 for the last year that I didn't really care if they ever recorded anything else or not. Now I'm thinking that Rob Thomas should leave the band and go solo if he can do stuff like this! His voice and Carlos' guitar are a perfect mix! Other favorites are Everlasts' "Put your lights on" (another big surprise), "Migra", "Maria Maria", "Primavera", "The Calling" and of course "Love of My Life". The Lauren Hill song is the only one that annoys me (it would have been better to include on her CD with Carlos guesting). This whole CD brings light into a world that was rapidly becoming a musical void. It transcends style, age, race, and culture to provide a truly positive musical experience.

An album that has graced my collection for six months now, and is first choice when people are over. I am a Santana fan from years ago and when the local radio station started playing tracks from this CD last year I instantly liked it. The guest artists include Eric Clapton, Eagle Eye Cherry and Everlast. Key tracks include 'The Love of My Life' with Dave Matthews, 'Maria Maria' and the brilliant 'Africian Bamba'. This album is guaranteed to get you on your feet, and appreciate what music really is about. ENJOY !

This production is one of Santana's best not only has great songs with other artists but almost all the songs have the classic Santana beat. I compare this album to legendary albums such as Moonflower that I also own, remember Black Magic Woman, well if you like that one you will love Smooth in this CD.

Enjoy it!