SHAPE SHIFTER

Carlos Santana was maybe feeling a bit guilty after delivering unprogressive and unchallenging 3 last studio albums and decided to provide a focused and more ambitious effort without too many pop and contemporary trends.

Shape Shifter succeeds in convincing long-time fans to be taken seriously and should not put off newer fans who look for more accessible music, for there are good melodies, arrangements not many music layers nor speedy playing with 100 notes a second. It is more about taste and feeling this time. Some of the compositions are completely devoid of Latin influence and that holds for percussions, too. So the best style characteristics could be "instrumental rock" rather than Latin rock. Santana's guitar is at the forefront of each song unlike on some songs on previous releases, it's clear who the master is!

In terms of mood, the album is more contemplative and not overtly positive or extrovert with exceptions. Mr. Szabo features nice acoustic guitar.

This largely instrumental album is a unique release in Santana's catalogue and cannot be compared to any other previous release in terms of similarities.