Santana- IV (2016)

Santana- IV (2016)

By: Ghost Writer

It seems that after years of mainstream stardom, popular videos, celebrity duets and superficial bullshit, Carlos Santana has set his mind in music great music again, and that's precisely the goal he is set to achieve on Santana IV, a record that impressively reunites a big part of the legendary Santana band that played the Woodstock concert, the result is highly satisfying, featuring explosive Latin percussion, lava flowing keyboards and piercing guitar solos by the great Neal Schon and Santana himself.

As people from my generation, I loved Santana work from the end of the 60s and early 70s, just as much as I seriously despised his most recent recordings, but you just can't deny Santana quality as a guitarist, among the best in the world, so counting him out would be a big, big mistake, and Santana IV is a monumental proof that the magic of the early years is still alive and well.

Opener Yambu simply explodes with generous doses of guitar fire, as the band expertise is quickly put in front, building immediately a powerful and infectious groove destined to burn the listener soul in a commanding cosmic evocation of monumental proportions, Greg Rolie goes forward thanks to his great keyboard fills, the man sounds anything less than epic, and is augmented by the power of Michael Shrieve thunderous drums and Mike Carabello incendiary percussion work.

I bet you that Shake It, the following song will easily augment exponentially the effects of the first song, it increase the intensity and the strength of the instrumental performances, a listen to the incredible guitar interplay between Schon and Santana as they interchange screaming crazy wah wah guitars at the first opportunity in between massive drumming by Shrieve.

I'm not particularly enthusiastic about Anywhere You Want to Go, the album's first single, as a matter of fact it leans more towards actual Santana, than to the magic of the past, but it is quickly followed by Fillmore East, an hallucinating acid trip into the psychedelic blues black magic of the 60s along with the burning Latin rhythms, and if that wasn't enough, the band out best themselves on Love Makes the World Go Round, which is amazing Santana classic sound form their self titled debut, or the monumental Abraxas, all over again.

There are two disconcerting electronic experiments, one called Choo Choo and the other All Aboard that are totally forgettable, but tracks like Caminando, Leave Me Alone or Come As You Are don't let down, and compliment almost perfectly the record, it might not be as strong, legendary or wildly unpredictable as those early groundbreaking first records, but is a very pleasant surprise, I must say it took me completely by surprise, a very nice surprise and another chance to fully appreciate Carlos Santana and his band magical Latin trip.