SANTANA — Santana IV (review)

SANTANA — Santana IV album cover Album · 2016 · Latin Rock/Soul Buy this album from MMA partners
3/5 ·
dreadpirateroberts
Expectation.

It's always tough reviewing an album which is anticipated to be a band's 'return to its heyday' and the classic line-up from early 70s Santana is a pretty exciting prospect.

And it certainly works on just about every song. It's fun to hear interplay between Santana and Schon again for instance, especially on one of the stand-outs like 'Echizo' or the almost meditative 'Fillmore East' (and it must be said that Shrieve fires up a bit on 'Echizo' too, which is great) but there are a few songs that don't nail it for me.

Some of these are the vocal cuts ('Choo Choo' is one) but that isn't to say Rolie is in bad shape, he sounds great - especially on the smouldering 'Blues Magic' or the punchy 'Shake It' - but there's just a sense that everyone was so excited to play together again that they left a few b-sides in the running order.

Overall, the band is less fiery than in their youth (and that's not a surprise or a problem truly) but there's still passion and surprises to be had. Again, like 'Shape Shifter' a while back - I wouldn't call this an essential Jazz-rock album but don't write it off out of hand either, have a look if you're unsure.
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