Santana's Blessings and miracles - Album review

Here we are once more, another new release for us to dwell upon.

I was looking forward to take me time and proper listen to this new material by Santana. Coming from the outstanding Santana IV, my expectations were high on this one. Even thought his Africa Speaks was forgettable to say the least. Santana has this ability to come up with new material and surf the wave of trends. When the hippie movement was in full blossom, he managed to flawlessly blend latin music with rock. The result, songs that moved the audience, rhythms so contagious that people were simply compelled to dance and leave their inhibitions behind.

Personnel changes pushed Santana to flirt with more challenging musical styles, always with the clear goal to maintain an up-to-date approach to his music. Jazz fusion, disco music, raw latin fusion, you name it, he was there leaving his fingerprint all over those trends, this new record is no exception. Are we ready to dive head first into Blessings and miracles?

This is a far cry from his Supernatural formula. Here you got again another recollection of song visiting a vast variety of genres. I got to say that Supernatural is not by favorite album by Santana, I don't even have it in my collection, to tell you the truth is near the bottom in my rank of Santana's albums. I do think he was clever enough to bring all those in vogue artist to oxygenize his craft and put himself on the charts. Thanks to this album, Santana was able to lead the charts and became mainstream one more time.

On Blessings and Miracles he managed to get Steve Winwood, Chick Corea, Kirk Hammer, Rob Thomas and many others. Inside you can find latin infused songs, jazz fusion chops and even Hip Hop. To be fair, I don’t want to talk about what I don’t like. I can’t judge his creative decisions, music is subjective, what may sound incredible beautiful to me may make you turn your head in utter disgust.

Any song not listed here is simply not memorable to me, it could be the musical direction, artists involved, it doesn’t matter, if is not here, is a sure skip on my list.

Ghost of pure pull/New light: It reminded me of those haunting first songs on Caravanserai/Borboletta/Welcome a true glimpse of hope after his last record (Africa speaks).

Santana celebration: 3 and a half minutes of pure raw Santana for all of us that crave for his sound. Raw energy right from the start, contagious rhythm section masterfully drives the sound to a satisfying food-thumping frenzy.

Whiter shade of pale: Bold move from Santana to bring this classic popular song back to life in 2021. I love the Procol Harum original version, even thought I was not even born when this tune was danced ad nausseam all around the globe, it has a special place in my heart. Steve Winwood’s voice is as good as you might expect. They managed to keep the same pace as the original, it’s kind of strange to hear the percussion blend into the organ driven song. Is a “fresh’ take no doubts about it.

Break: A ballad featuring Ally Brooke that could become memorable with a few more listens, is just alright.

Peace Power: On this one you got Corey Glover from Living Color, Insane guitar sound, empowering lyrics, a catchy number.

Breathing underwater: Another fine effort, I truly like this one, soothing voice, masterful Santana prints all over the track.

Song for Cindy: Now we’re talking, a fantastic instrumental that keeps building up masterfully. The drumming is simply flawless; Cindy Blackman Santana is able to put her chops on top of Carlos melodies and the result is incredible. Is this a new Samba pa ti? I don’t think so; to my understanding this is more like a conversation between passionate lovers.

Angel Choir/All together: Why is this song only 3:17 minutes long? We need at least another 3 more minutes of Chick and Carlos on this excellent piece of Jazz rock.

To sum things up, the songs that I like are really good to my ears. Sure thing I’ll be coming back those tracks listed above, but not as an album that I can sit and listen from back to back.