Although a lot of people would argue the last thing the world needed was a Santana revival, that's what we got three years ago with the mammoth success of 'Supernatural'. Figuring if it ain't broke don't fix it, 'Shaman' follows the same formula of band tracks interspersed evenly among guest appearances.
The band tracks allow Carlos Santana to flex his soloing fingers and unleash those distinctive guitar lines. Whether that's a good thing or not depends on your penchant for Carlos' distinctive, echoey axe tones. A similar conundrum is presented at times with his vocals. For example, opening track 'Adouma' has Carlos singing what sounds like a homage to "Me whammy bar", although that could be your correspodent's exceptionally poor Spanish.
On the guest tracks he offers up a more complementary role. R&B starlet Musiq sounds more like Seal on the shuffling, flamenco-style 'Nothing At All' than Seal does on 'You Are My Kind'. Young pup Michelle Branch may well benefit from wider exposure in the same way Matchbox 20's Rob Thomas did, as her track 'The Game Of Love' has "global smash hit" written all over its bouncing pop-rock hooks.
Elsewhere, Macy Gray is at her soulful best on the beat and horn-driven 'Amoré, but rockers P.O.D. stall on the ponderously philosophising 'America'. Dido does what Dido does on 'Feels Like Fire' which, as with Carlos, will float your boat if you like her quivering voice. However, no kind words can be offered to Placido Domingo's appearance on the closing 'Novus', which makes a solid case for rock and classical music to never cross paths again in its overblown pomposity.
While 'Shaman' is less than the sum of its parts and strays into AOR territory too much to ever truly be cutting edge, despite its R&B and Latin infusions, it will, at least in America, sell by the truckload. And, all told, it provides another fairly respectable entry in the vast Santana canon.
