The Spirituality of Commerce

by Will Seeley

So my good buddy Carlos Santana is back with another heavy hitting example of his signature sound.

You may hear the sound of Santana's classic guitar, still identifiable after all these years, an icon in the rock firmament. You know what I hear? The cash registers jingling. I hear the cold hard sounds of hypocrisy.

Supernatural was the "comeback" album that launched Carlos on his current duet-o-thon, as well as establishing a pattern for the industry a whole (if Santana can do it, so can we, right?). The next one was called Shaman. Over the years, Santana has routinely sketched his public persona as that of a spiritual man if not a Rock Messiah. His ecstactic grimaces as he plays are that of someone in the rapture of God, and the language he uses seeks to cement that impression.

"What [Clive Davis and I] do together in the studio is not a gimmick, it's grace," he says in the press materials for this new disc. Grace.

Definition: State of Grace n : (Christian theology) a state of sanctification by God; the state of one under divine influence
Okay, so Carlos, humble as he is, would be the first to deny any pretensions of being a holy man. But the signs are obvious. So how is it that a holy man can bend over so blatantly to the whims of making a buck?

"I don't want people to think this is part of some formula," Santana informs (also from the press notes). "All of the material on this disc comes from the heart, which in itself makes the music special." The heart? The heart of your bank account? Sure, I believe that you like what you're doing, but don't try to convince me that this is God's Grand Design, where you incorporate all the different styles that you like to play into one album.

It's all done in the hopes that one of the myriad of potshots taken will hit the big time. Yeah, we don't really feel safe just doing an album with one singer (like the guy that actually sings with Santana on tour, Andy Vargas. Imagine how he must feel! "Really Andy, you're good. We just need that special something, that star power to put the album over, to make people want to buy it. You understand don't you?" Well at least he gets one song here).

Basically one can only surmise that Santana has lost his way. He's got no artistic vision anymore. All he knows is that he can fit his BLAZING GUITAR WORK into almost any kind of groove, from R&B to Latin to Rock and beyond. Lest you forget, back in the late sixties in SF's own Mission District, Santana did in fact have a vision. But it's been a LONG, LONG TIME since then.

He even lets Clive pick the collaborators."Go ahead Clive, I trust you. I know that you know who will sell records. Bo Bice? Who's he? Oh, OK if you say so, Clive. If you think we can clear a million or two units with that guy."

I'm not saying there won't be strong songs, or hits, or high points. But it all sinks or swims on the strength of the singer and what the singer brings to the table, not Santana. And with a collection of people so disparate, you're bound to have a very schizophrenic disc. Some hits, some misses, and zero continuity.

You know what real artists do? They create their own works of art. Santana Inc. isn't art, it's all business. It's picking the songs that make the whole world sing and adding some guitar that goes zing. It's crunching numbers. And for someone that used to be such a trailblazer, it's particularly sad. Why the fuck haven't you changed your guitar tone even a little in thirty years, Carlos? Don't you get bored? Ay Caramba!

In fact, there's something particularly UNHOLY about being such a stooge for making money. Most folks, myself included, are perfectly willing to prostitute themselves to make ends meet, but I kinda got the idea that Carlos doesn't have to do that. Carlos is in the position that he could actually do what he wanted, make the kind of album he always wanted to make, go to Bolivia and pound on sticks with bottle caps and put it out and people would dig it. But he doesn't WANT to do anything! Except have a hit record, no matter what it takes.

"I don't want people to think this is part of some formula," Santana informs. Really?