Santana: All That I Am
It’s incredibly easy to pass judgement Malcolm-Gladwell-style
You have to give the production of this album some slack in certain respects, the songs seem to be orderered miserably and while Santana is as good and as sharp as ever, his vibrance and soul seem flat in the recordings. Without question, every listener will certainly compare the album to Supernatural as well as his last studio iteration, Shaman. This album differs from the former in that it has fewer of the CD-repeat-button-friendly tunes and more of the pop-variety of Shaman.
The album begins with a heavily latin-jazz flavored number entitled Hermes. The song entitled El Fuego is next to follow and is the Santana-ization of the song La Raiz by Radio Mundial. Not bad, but the wow-chika-chika-chika-chika-wow-wow etc. rythmwork seems cliché and you’d think that an artist as capable and colorful as Santana would do more with such a song. It’s unfortunate, but that song followed by Michelle Brach’s Shaman-esque pop repeat, the seemingly average result of collaborating with Mary J. Blige, then Steven Tyler sets up the listener with the expectation that Santana pale in comparison to his former self and is now the sideshow to the big name vocalists.
Refreshingly, the next couple of songs most notably Twisted with Anthony Hamilton and I Don’t Wanna Lose Your Love with Los Lonely Boys prove that Santana still has the touch and can make the guitar weep, moan, cry, scream, and growl. It simply sounds more like Santana being himself and being complemented by an artist that shares his fire. Many criticize his performance with Bo Bice towards the end of the album, but the song seems to be more a problem of Bice using his smoothest delivery rather than his raspy Southern-rock grasp on lead vocals. Both Sean Paul and Joss Stone deliver a more complex album mixing both reggae and r&b into one smooth song. will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas delivers an interesting reggaetone mix of a composition in I Am Somebody. And certainly last but not least is the almost impressive instrumental entitled Trinity which has the wildly talented Kirk Hammett of Metallica answering the wildly flamboyant and talented slide-player Robert Randolph answering Santana. While the song is interesting it certainly isn’t anywhere as impactful as Europa or Samba Pa Ti.
The final verdict
If you’re a die-hard Santana fan, you shouldn’t need to ask the question of whether to purchase the album; however, most other listeners, and obviously depending on your musical tastes, will most likely find themselves entertained by a couple of songs - Twisted, I Don’t Wanna Lose Your Love, I Am Somebody and maybe Cry Baby Cry or Brown Skin Girl are my recommendations to be added to any iPod or CD mix.
