Santana – Santana IV

When listening to early versions of Santana with the original lineup, you can feel the fire an ion of young men giving there hearts and souls to the music they are playing. Intense, fast, moving in various directions of composition.
On the other hand you have the basically the same group of men who are now older, more tired and less inspired to write compositions that bring that ion and fire out in there music. It's hell to get old and this CD brings that message to the forefront. Times have indeed changed as we all mellow into our senior years.

The wildly anticipated studio album, Santana IV, reunites the revered early ’70s lineup of guitar icon Carlos Santana (guitar, vocals), Gregg Rolie (keyboards, lead vocals), Neal Schon (guitar, vocals), Michael Carabello (percussion) and Michael Shrieve (drums). The album signifies the first time in 45 years — since 1971’s multi-platinum classic Santana III — that the quintet has recorded together.

Santana IV features all-new tracks written and produced by the band that burst with the same unparalleled energy and superlative musicianship that made Santana a pioneering force in world music and a household name across the globe. ing the core Santana IV band in the studio are current Santana Karl Perazzo (percussion) and Benny Rietveld (bass), with the legendary vocalist Ronald Isley guesting on two cuts.

The origins for the reunion go back several years, when Schon suggested that he and Carlos Santana record together. Santana liked the idea but went one better, proposing that they recruit Rolie, Shrieve and Carabello for what would be called Santana IV. After initial writing sessions and rehearsals took place in 2013, the group recorded throughout 2014 and 2015, amassing 16 spellbinding tracks that combined all their signature elements — Afro-Latin rhythms, soaring vocals, electrifying blues-psychedelic guitar solos, and irrepressibly jubilant percussion work — with widescreen hooks and melodies that will lodge themselves in the thicket of listeners’ senses and stay there.

Like the past few projects that included Neil Schon this CD received a poor pressing with skips & gaps in it. Otherwise very good.

How can an album be 'classic rock' when it came out in 2016 ? LoL

Bin ich eigentlich der Einzige, der Santana IV sterbenslangweilig findet? Ich habe jedenfalls bislang nur gute Kritiken gelesen. Irgendwie komme ich da nicht hinter. Habe die Scheibe jetzt zweimal durchgehört. Dass jedwede Innovation fehlt, wäre geschenkt, wenn die Scheibe nur einen Hauch des Esprit und der Energie ihrer Vorbilder erreichen würde. Aber die Mucke plätschert so dahin, die Stimme klingt merkwürdig dünn, Santanas Gitarre dudelt uninspiriert vor sich hin und anscheinend hat man sich nicht mal die Mühe gemacht, Original-Instrumente zu verwenden. Die "Hammond" klingt jedenfalls verdächtig nach Synthesizer.
Da einem das Hörgedächtnis manchmal einen Streich spielt und man dazu neigt, die Originale zu verklären, habe ich direkt im Anschluss "Santana 3" aufgelegt. Plötzlich ist alles da, was mir vorher gefehlt hat: Drive, Esprit und der Charme des Original-Sounds, der mit "IV" leider nicht eingefangen werden konnte. Für diese Platte gibt es von mir einen klaren Daumen nach unten!