Santana - Supernatural (1999)

Aging rockers have numerous career options as their popularity wanes:

• record songs from the American standards songbook
• re-record their earlier hits with orchestral accompaniment
• record a duets album
• record an 'unplugged' album
• take on a Las Vegas residency
• sell homemade jewelry on Etsy

Santana went with option 3. The genius marketing of this duets album is that it wasn't simply titled "Duets" (signing with Arista and getting hitmaker Clive Davis involved certainly didn't hurt, either). It's one of those perfect summer road trip albums so I have no idea what led me to pick this CD off the shelf on a cold, December morning - wishful thinking, perhaps?

Reading reviews, I've consistently found three silly complaints about the album: 1) Carlos didn't write all the material, 2) the album is inconsistent, and 3) Santana sold out. My responses: 1) so what?, 2) what would you expect with all these guest artists and producers?, and 3) can you blame a man in his fifties for chasing some sort of retirement income? Okay, I'll admit that last part may resemble the current mindset of your humble blogger, but that's purely coincidence. Listening to these cuts reminds me of how little guitar there is in pop music these days which probably means less interest in learning the instrument. What does sensitive-manbun-dude do on the college quad to impress the ladies these days?

It won a few Grammy awards, too:

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: #1

Tracks: 12 tracks, 13 songs, 75 minutes - no brevity here plus a hidden track. Smooth is one of the biggest hits of the 20th century and I gotta admit I still find it catchy as hell. Other picks include (Da Le) Yaleo, Corazón Espinado, and Primavera. Of the vocal tracks, I'll usually skip Put Your Lights On and Do You Like The Way doesn't quite work. The vocal guests are fun and whatnot, but I really love me some rock instrumental tracks and this album doesn't disappoint on that count.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: In the year 2000, I left my job in one school district to take a higher-paying position in a neighboring district. For reasons I can't put my finger on, this album reminds me of that transition. Maybe because it was playing wherever I went that summer. Also, I was going through a cigar-smoking, Afro-Cuban-listening phase around that time and, while this isn't Afro-Cuban music, the Latin-influenced rock grooves certainly played into my wheelhouse at that time.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Ultimate Santana (2007)