Shaman [ECD] - Santana > Reviews > Supernatural Part Two, Heal Your Spirit.

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Groundbreaking
Lyrics	Thought-provoking
Quality and consistency of tracks	A couple of weak links
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Outstanding
Value for Money

Advantages:	You'll Hear Musicians You Might Not Have Otherwise Listened To, You Might Dance Or Sing .
Disadvantages:	None, Unless You Hear Me Sing Or See Me Dance .

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

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Super, Super, Natural!
I had to update this. After some more listening, some tracks deserve a better rating than I first gave. That is the change made on 08/11/2002

Hope you enjoy!

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Before Shaman Came Along, There Was "Supernatural".
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This superb follow up to Santana's "Supernatural" masterpiece, has all the ingredients that made "Supernatural" a big hit in 1999, first in America, then here in the UK almost a year later. Introducing a new wave of young followers to Santana (Eric Clapton too, on it's last track). Whilst at the same time, introducing an older generations musical taste buds to the likes of: Rob Thomas (Matchbox Twenty), Everlast, Lauryn Hill, Eagle Eye Cherry, Wyclef Jean, Dave Matthews, Mano. Whilst none of these (with the exception of Wyclef on the US version, with a different track to our International version) appear on "Shaman", the flavour continues in the same fashion, making "Shaman" a Supernatural part two.

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After Supernatural, There Came The "Shaman".
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The meaning of the word "Shaman", is translated to be something like a medicine man, who is able to communicate with spirits in a healing way. This music reaches inside me, to my spirit, so is appropriately titled for me.

The wonderful blend of Latin American beat, with modern R&B, soul, rock, pop, a very tiny pinch of the operatic element on the last track, will give you a multitude of variety that should keep your CD player's spirits high for hours.

The artists that show their greatest talents, are complimented by Carlos Santana's excellence in being a guitar maestro, giving them the utmost respect for each of their individual performances here.

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Track By Track.
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01) Adouma- [04:15]
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This is mostly an instrumental by the Santana Band. The essence of which is based mainly within the roots of Santana's originality. Although being a cover version of a song by West African - Angelique Kidjo. I admit to never having heard of the song or it's singer before I read a little about both, after my first listen here. I could hear the congas bringing the African influence through the Latin American beat. The few vocals which are chanted energetically, I now know are African, as is the title of this track. The first few notes might suggest the song is a little jazzy, which it mildly is. The song soon bursts into a much heavier African / Latin American affair. This sets the scene to let you know the quality to expect for the next 76 minutes approximately. I rate this 9/10.

02) Nothing At All - [04:28]
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Featuring Musiq, this track has beautifully sung, soulful, meaningful lyrics. More in the style of Supernaturals "Maria, Maria". I instantly liked this song, it's immediate up to date modern style R&B, grabs your wholehearted attention. Acoustic guitar leads into those vocals, which are both precisely defined. His voice has a similarity to Stevie Wonder's, I think. The Latin American touch is prevalent, with the unique Santana electric guitar action not distracting from the acoustic backing guitars. This is my first favourite track on the CD. I rate this 10/10.

03) The Game Of Love - [04:14]
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Michelle Branch is featured on this track. You might have heard it played before this album was released. It has been in the charts here in the UK for a few weeks now. A very catchy song, again with great lyrics which Michelle Branch can sing to perfection for a pop audience. It's a very happy, sing along song. Still with classic Santana sound musically interspersed. I wasn't too keen on this one at first, until I'd listened to it about five times, also visiting her website. She's up there with the best of them. I now feel it is one of the best tracks on the album. I rate this 10/10.

04) You Are My Kind - [04:19]
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Featuring Seal, I am reminded again of the Supernatural sound. Seal brings the lyrics to life, Santana keeps his guitar up to speed. I like these lyrics too. I think Seal is in great voice, a little more coarse vocally, but similar to Julio Iglesias, I think. But then again, maybe it's just that Latin beat which does that, because I'm also reminded of Rob Thomas. As with the 02) track, the words, music are clearly defined, easily learned to sing a long with. To compare it with other songs is difficult, but maybe it's comparable to "Love Of My Life" from Supernatural by Dave Mathews. I rate this 9/10.

05) Amore (Sexo) - [03:51]
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As it's title, this is a love, sexy song. It features Macy Gray, who does actually make this Latin American song, swing along. I'm not a fan of Macy Gray, but she does pull off this sexy bit (I'll rephrase that). She does perform this song in a very sexy way. It gives an impression of sultrily dressed Macy, dancing very close, looking deep into your eyes, well, mine anyway. Maybe I'll become a fan of hers after all. It begins with those congas, trumpet, trombone, percussion, which soon results in the splendid sexy, Mexi, Macy sound. I rate this 9/10.

06) Foo Foo - [06:28]
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This is mostly an instrumental, with all the same ingredients of Latin American rock, dance, percussion you would expect as any other performance from the Santana Band. The few lyrics that are in it, are mostly again, Latin American, with a few English words, but not exactly lyrics. The music is variable in this track, from electric guitar, to keyboards, trumpets, bongo drums, trombone. A very cool song, exciting, fun, even though I don't understand the words yet. The first word you hear is repeated many times, quickly. It sounds like they are singing "Bugger, bugger, bugger..... I don't think they are swearing at anyone, but if you know the translation, please let me know. I rate this 10/10.

07) Victory Is Won - [05:20]
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Unmistakable instrumental. It reminds me of some older Santana, such as "Samba Pa Ti" it could even be a remake of "I Love You Too Much" but it isn't. It's in the same vein however. If you want a slow, relaxing, dreamy tune to listen to, that is also full of emotional, deep music, you wouldn't go wrong with this one. There's a fair bit of great keyboard work on this track, plus of course Carlos Santana's guitar talking to you throughout. This track is also featured on the live DVD concert, "Supernatural Live". I rate this 10/10.

08) America - [04:35]
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This is anthemic! A heavier guitar sound, featuring some more near spoken, slight rap like lyrics from P.O.D. For real raw emotion, this is probably the best track on the album, I think. It is most unlike all the others, although the guitar is recognized as C.S's. I can feel the strength or power it wants me to feel. Soft rock is probably more the genre it is closest to, with the driving guitar work from Carlos, plus the significant vocals from P.O.D. By no means a rap song even with the little rap in it. I rate this 10/10.

09) Sideways - [04:41]
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Featuring Citizen Cope (Clarence Greenwood). It has a beautiful bluesy guitar intro, lightly sung lyrics at first. But it's another modern R&B song, so very well performed by all again. Yet another one (sorry to repeat myself) which is similar to Supernatural's flavour of Dave Mathews, or Rob Thomas or Mano. This is a slow ballad, very emotional words, bringing out feelings of love. Another favourite of mine. I rate this 10/10.

10) Why Don't You & I - [04:34]
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Features Chad Kroeger from Nickelback. His gritty vocals with Santana playing soft rock, tinged with Latin American style only from Carlos Santana's guitar, make this one worthy of it's place on my favourites list here. The lyrics are more difficult to sing, but they do have an easy start. Nice guitar intro begins the track. It is a heavier rock performance which produces more emotion from everyone involved. After being involved yourself for a few listens, those lyrics aren't so difficult after all. Another very cool song, some good percussion. I rate this one 10/10.

11) Feels Like Fire - [04:39]
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Slow guitar intro, perfect for the next guest, it features the unmistakable Dido. This could have been from her album "No Angel", though it isn't. Not much Latin American feel to this one, more the sweet, calming voice of Dido backed by some slow drum beats, quite a relaxing song. It doesn't appeal to me as much as the others, although I do like Dido's No Angel album. Maybe it will grow on me, it seems a bit tame though for this album. For the guitar of Carlos, plus the drum beats, I have to mark it up a bit. I rate this 8/10.

12) Let Me Love You Tonight - [05:34]
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Classed as an instrumental, it isn't one. I don't know why it says it is. This sounds similar to something I've heard before. Again, it could be one of the Iglesias family. The guitar work is excellent. It's a melodic, fairly slow, romantic song with plenty of input from all the band. The singer is Arnthor, who I have never heard of before this listen. He has an excellent voice though. It draws you in to the deep lyrics. A late evening or night time love song. Just right for lying with your sweetheart, in what feels like an everlasting embrace. I rate this 9/10.

13) Aye, Aye, Aye - [04:45]
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Congas, timbales, acoustic, electric guitar's, Latin American words, this has the typical Santana Band rhythm. The drummer is an ex band member, Michael Shrieve. Along with "Victory Is Won", "Foo Foo", this was written by Santana for the Santana Band. Most of the lyrics are in English. It's really another quite sexy song, but with male vocals. It gives me an image of Desperado, the film which stars Antonio Banderos. I rate this 8/10.

14) Hoy Es Adios - [04:37]
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Much the same beat or rhythm as the previous song, but all Latin American singing. It features Alejandro Lerner. I know Carlos Santana did have a part in the sound track of Desperado. So it is no surprise to me that this one again brings up the image of a little Mexican town, with sombrero wearing gunslingers walking the street to the bar, where the dark haired, pretty Latin American woman awaits her hero. Very much an acoustic song where the Spanish guitar is more prominent. I rate this 8/10.

15) One Of These Days - [05:51]
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Featuring Ozomatli, who sounds more like Seal than Seal. Only because I don't know who Ozomotli is, or didn't. Actually he does sound very like Seal to me. There are more instruments used on this track than any other track, I think. Lot's of them, but none really standing out too much. A well balanced song for that reason, but that unfortunately seems to allow it to get lost on the album. It's not as exciting as the rest in my opinion, so becomes obscure. I rate this 7/10.

16) Novus - [04:10]
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A light acoustic driven song mostly, with some electric moments. It features the operatic talents of Placedo Domingo. A nice little piece of music. It has a soothing effect that the acoustic guitar creates with the help of Placedo's aesthetic voice. The song seems much shorter than it's 4 minutes 10 seconds. I would have liked it to be longer, with a little more singing. Also, another person accompanying Placedo with the singing, might have produced something more exciting. It's pleasant enough, it grows on you the more you listen. It is really not the song I would have ended the album on. In fact I would have changed the whole order of songs. But that change would be for my preference only, maybe not yours. I rate this 8/10.

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Special Feature Of The CD
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The CD has a new interactive feature called "Bandlink". This can only be accessed over the internet when the CD is placed into your CD ROM drive.

It brings up a "Sign Up Now" form, which gives you an option to choose a member ID. You will also need to use a password. The sign up process is totally free, no hidden charges.

Once you have done this, you can begin using the features of the Bandlink program.

There is an option to use "Chat" rooms or instant messages, that only other Bandlink members can access. I've been using it a fair bit, with none of the problems you would normally expect from other chat rooms. So far, the majority of people I've spoken to, are genuine music lovers, just as I am. The chat program works well. You can only type messages, as it doesn't have a voice message feature.

There is an abundance of information to be found by using the Bandlink browser. You will find links in the track listings, plus links at the top of the browser which are easy to understand. Also there are links on the right hand side of the player / browser.

There the links for: Discography, biography, news, homepage, an Internet only track, which isn't on either the US version or the UK version, plus other links.

Lyrics can also be found on the browser or the player. So it is great if you like to sing along as the music is playing.

There are also credits that can be viewed in the player with track information.

On the left hand side of the player, there are controls for: Stop, play, volume, pause, next, previous, exit, all very easy to use.

A good new idea from Bandlink, I recommend it. I hope they include this on other CD releases.

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The cost of this CD can be anything from £8.95p to £12.99p (p+p needs to be added usually when buying online).

I bought mine online from http://www.cd-wow.com for £8.99p delivered.

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I hope you found this opinion helpful, all comments are welcome. Thanks for reading this :-)