Santana Aims for Another Home Run with Next Album
As Carlos Santana prepares for this fall’s release of “Shaman,” his highly anticipated follow-up to the 1999 blockbuster “Supernatural,” the rock guitar virtuoso says he feels like a baseball slugger in a key game situation.
“I feel like (home-run king) Barry Bonds, man,” said the 55-year-old Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, who co-founded the band that bears his name in the late 1960s in San Francisco.
“The bases are loaded; I worked with all these incredible artists and singers and performers and engineers. So it’s up to us to walk up to the plate and hit it right.”
If he does, the Mexican-born musician will make rock ‘n’ roll lightning strike twice.
“Supernatural,” which has sold 25 million copies worldwide and won eight Grammy Awards, ended a commercial drought for Santana by teaming him with a variety of contemporary stars, such as Lauryn Hill, Dave Matthews, Wyclef Jean, Everlast and matchbox twenty frontman Rob Thomas, who co-wrote and sang the hit single “Smooth.”
“Shaman,” due in stores on October 15, is similarly populated by guest artists, but Santana is mum when asked for specifics.
“It’s not even letting a little kitty out of the bag,” he said in a recent interview. “It’s a big ol’ cat.”
SHAMANISTIC COMMUNITY
He does, however, note that members of the band Ozomatli played on the album, while opera tenor Placido Domingo also makes an appearance.
Members of the San Diego hard rock band P.O.D. have revealed they recorded a track called “America” with Santana. And Rob Thomas previously said he wrote some of the material on “Shaman,” though he did not expect to perform on it.
Clive Davis, the former head of Santana’s label, Arista, and the architect behind “Supernatural,” assisted on “Shaman,” along with current Arista chief L.A. Reid.
Santana is most excited about the songs, however, and said new tracks such as “Love to the People,” “Aye Aye Aye,” “Novus,” “Fu Fu” and a cover of African singer Angelique Kidjo’s “Adouma” have been well-received by European and North American audiences during the group’s summer tour.
“I have confidence that more than one song will touch you in a place where you say, ‘God, Carlos’s music makes me feel very grateful and happy and exhilarated to be alive,”‘ Santana said. “What we’re interested in, man, is compassion and healing. … “I’m not about show business, man. I’m not entertainment. There’s nothing wrong with that, but that’s not what I do. They sell you a lot of illusion; we offer reality.”
TAKING IT TO THE PEOPLE
Santana also hopes his current U.S. tour — which kicked off July 31 in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and so far has dates booked into October — will spread “a positive vibration” among his fans.
“It’s the opposite of what’s happening in America, which is fear and anger,” the guitarist said. “It’s a very positive thing. We feel very bubbly, very up about life. We have a lot of joy. We have a lot of conviction. We have a lot of clarity, and it’s very contagious.”
He would be happy if that feeling leads fans to buy “Shaman” in the same numbers they bought “Supernatural,” but Santana said he feels “no hesitation or fear or nervousness to compete with ‘Supernatural.”‘
“I’m 55, man, and I’m still participating — not competing — in this arena with Britney Spears and ‘N Sync and Dave Matthews and Lenny Kravitz,” he said. “We’re in it, man, and all we want to do is spread a good feeling and inspire people.”
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