MILAGRO

The intro for "Somewhere In Heaven" is great. The "vocals" should just have been deleted from the original tapes. The track turns out to be a very good one at half time. Great guitar solo from ...who is this ? It has been so long that he has not played so well that I just wonder how it was possible to be brought back in the earliest times of my life and listen again to the great Carlos for a while.

Unfortunately, he will be surrounded by very weak vocalists (but this is no new story). I really wonder how these guys can make a Santana album as a singer. Is Carlos such a bad recruiter ? Even a twelve years old child could determine that they are just useless and pure boredom.

Que paso ?

If this album should be pure instrumental, I would so far applaude rather positively. Superb guitar, great rhythms, good percussions. OK : compositions are not really strong (nothing to do with their early work) but do not forget that this album just follows lots of extremely boring ones (six in a row if you except the good "Zebop"). From "Inner Secrets" through "Spirits Dancing In The Flesh".

So, to listen to a piece as "Saja Right On" can only be a reward to the (extremely) old Santana fan that I am. Unfortunately, "Your Touch" features again very weak vocal parts, of course, Carlos will display some killer guitar breaks in this song (and some other ones) giving the impression that only half of the songs are worthwhile.

Of course, at this time of his great career, he will attract lots of people to record his albums. But when you listen to most of these songs, the only great moments are the ones played by Carlos. But what a treatment to endure these useless vocals all the way through...

The worse being reached with "Agua Que Va Caer". We all knew that lyrics were not a strong part of Santana, but this one really flirts with the bottoms. I am unfortunately able to understand these stupid phrases...Que caiga lo que tu quieras Carlos.

The syrupus "Make Somebody Happy" and its soul approach is not at all my cup of tea. Press next. A bit of reggae with "Free All The People". It has always surprised me that Carlos did not release more reggae-oriented songs. Doing this in 1992 is probably not very original. One of the weakest numbers of this album even if some very nice guitar can be heard here and there.

"Gypsy/ Grajonca" is a vague attempt to "Samba 'Pa ti", but unlike lots of songs like this one it does not have the same emotion. Final middle part features heavy keys and a great guitar solo before returning to its slow mood of the start. But great guitar is the least that each one expects from a Santana album, right ?

This album is of course better than its predecessors (which is pretty easy). But the vocals and some poor compositions will ruin what could have been a very good Santana album. Just listen to "We Don't Have To Wait". But the closing number is on par with their poorest ones ("El Nicoya" from "Abraxas" and "Para Los Rumberos" form their third album).

My feelings are quite mixed with this album. Five out of ten would have been more acurate. Two stars for the time being.

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