SHANGÓ

In his autobiography Carlos Santana claims that the band produced the albums themselves (or, more to the point, himself). That may explains why their 80´s output was far better than most of their 70´s colleagues. It seems they never really gave the producer of the moment a full power over how the ending results would turn out, something a lot of other bands, to their forever regret, did. So, while the name of Bill Szymczyk may be on the cover but you won´t find another Eagles or Styx pastiche here. Sure, Shangó has its share of pop stuff, but Santana always had these melodic traits all along. But they, again, prove they could survive the 80´s without having to "modern up" their music (I.e, those cheesy synths and electronic drums)

After the great success that was Zebop, Shangó follows much of the same pattern (this time with a better cover art). The Nile is fine opener on which the band shows the same trademark Santana sound: great guitar lines, fine vintage keys and fine latin percussion. The hit single Hold On follows and it´s a nice pop song that kept them alive in the charts. Night Hunting Time is maybe the weakest track of the entire CD and it telling performed poorly when released as their third single from Shangó. Having had a big hit with Russ Ballard´s Winning the previous year they released another of his compositions, Nowhere To Run: the band proves they could emulate the AOR style of the moment like the real thing, not a pastiche. It did not fared as well at the charts as Winning, but it was a good melodic rock track. Nueva York on the other side is pure 70´s Santana, where old chum Gregg Rolie made a guest appearance with a blistering organ solo. A real fine instrumental that could be on Abraxas.

Side two fo the vinyl started with the afro/caribbean Oxun. Although a good song in several ways it did never appeal to me. Just a matter of taste. It is interesting that Santana did this track before world music became a common place in the rock music field by the mid to late 80´s. Body Surfing takes them into the Journey mood again, with Alex Lingwood doing the best Steve Perry emulation ever. It would be perfect for that band: with Santana it is a nice tune, but nothing special. Their version of What Does It Take (To Win Your Love) has a surprisingly good arrangement, with Carlos Santana doing a different riff and solo, but working marvelously. The reggae Let Me in is interesting that it is really the first time this band tried a take on that kind of rhythm that was a kind of fever during the late 70´s/early 80´s. The result is as competent as one can expect. Warrior is the second instrumental of this album, unfortunately not near as good as Nueva York. In fact is quite mundane and it is saved only by the fiery guitar lines of Carlos Santana e the good percussion. The very short title track clocks in a little more than one minute mark and is a reminder that Santana did not forget its latin roots.

Conclusion: another Santana album that stood well the test of time. Not as good as Zebop, but a good follow up and certainly one of the best early 80´s record done by a 70´s act. 3,5 stars.