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SUPERNATURAL is a testament to the stylistic breadth of Carlos' musical world, to his dynamic communicative abilities, and to the fact that rolling stones truly gather no moss. The man makes a guitar wail like no other. SUPERNATURAL offers a winning context of musical fusion that highlights Santana's unique ability to make that guitar of his cry expressively. Whether he's spraying lyrical notes over a soulful Lauryn Hill composition, trading molten licks with Clapton, or playing spacey blues with Everlast, Santana still has that old 'Black Magic Woman' thing goin' on.
but this disc is defaulted to 5.1 and it's extremely cumbersome and frustrating if all you want to do is listen to the album in higher res on your main stereo setup. Although I generally like the music from this album - the DVD Audio is good example of how the record labels managed to kill this format. I bought this specifically for the higher quality STEREO. 5.1 usually means home cinema (lower quality sound as it's also designed for movies) and in most cases awful 5.1 mixes of the original. If you like this album buy the CD and save yourself the grief.
A great mix of talents. It's Carlos Santana. You can't go wrong with Santana, new or old.
However, it was overblown. 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. He was fortunate to team up with Clive Davis again on Arista, and make a tremendous comeback that he did. I feel that Santana is capable of pulling off jazz/fusion splendidly. Not saying that the material he did with other artists wasn't great.
I still feel that Santana was at the top of thier game in the 60's and mid 70's. He does have his moments with the material he doesn't do with other artists. I personally hate "Smooth" as it got too much airplay I feel. 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. Yes some people felt as though he went off track with "Caravanseri", but I don't.
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.
Amazon reviews for these two are all over the place.Supernatural:4&5 stars - 831(70%)1-3 stars - 248total reviews: 1079. So there must be something to this album if somany people bothered to vote and write reviews.Congrats to Carlos for winning so many Grammys.Shaman:4&5 stars - 1471-3 stars - 84(%57)total reviews: 2311/4 number of votes, and more less favorable.But compared to what. If to Supernatural, fine; if to some crappy 80's synth-popdrum 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.
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