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Carlos Santana doesn't stop at just new material
for his 2005 release
All That I Am; the CD hits the streets with a blindingly
bright lineup of guest stars:
Joss Stone, Mary J. Blige, Will.i.Am, Steven Tyler, Bo Bice,
and a batch of others step up, tugging a listener into territory marked less
by "Oye Como Va" than by an obsession
with VMA-worthy performances.
That's not necessarily a bad thing.
Songs like "Twisted," with Anthony Hamilton,
and "I Don't Wanna Lose Your Love," with Los Lonely Boys, find the original
Latin guitar god grooving in a vein similar
to the one that caused charts to explode and careers to scrape the stratosphere
when he teamed with Rob Thomas for 1999's "Smooth."
Other tracks, including opener "Hermes"
and the aptly named "El Fuego,
" sound more authentically Latin--a nod to the faithful.
The master comes closest
to meeting his match on track nine.
If there's an heir
to the guitar-hero legend spawned
by Santana,
Eric Clapton, and others,
pedal-steel whiz Robert Randolph makes a powerful case
on "Trinity" that he's it.
-Tammy La Gorce |
