Back On Top

It s one of the most dramatic career renaissances of recent times Carlos Santana, for much of the past two decades derided as a faintly embarrassing relic of the Woodstock Generation, back on top of the US charts with his most recent album, Supernatural. The album has, in fact, been an ever-growing phenomenon, with sales Stateside recently passing the seven million mark. As if that wasn t enough, Carlos swept the boards at this year s Grammy s, scooping eight awards. Meanwhile, big contemporary names like Wyclef Jean and Dave Matthews queue up to lavish praise on the 53-year-old Mexican.
Although it is still that performance at Woodstock which burns brightest in the public perception of Santana, he remained a powerful commercial presence for much of the 70s with albums like Caravanserai and Amigos. The 80s, though, proved more barren, with Carlos making a number of glitzy, over-produced records, and looking more out of step than ever.
Prior to the relase of Supernatural, Santana was in the wilderness, his last new studio album, Milagro, dating back to 1992. Then legendary record company boss Clive Davis stepped in. Davis was prepared to gamble that the Latin tide could carry Santana back to his previous heights. He was also convinced, upon signing the artist to his label, Arista, that a specially conceived album was required. The result was Supernatural s hybrid of the well-tried Santana sound and surefire radio hits. Collaborations with Dave Matthews, Lauryn Hill and the introduction of Matchdox 20 s Rob Thomas as vocalist on Smooth all paid off handsomely. A heavy marketing push to replicate Supernatural s success on this side of the Atlantic is now underway.
A sombre adjunct to what is otherwise an unequivocal success story came when Santana graced the cover of Rolling Stone for the first time since 1976. In the accompanying interview, he revealed how the legacy of being sexually abused as a child has shaped the rest of his life. A man outside the family molested him almost every day betwen the ages of 10 and 12, the abuse ending when the young Carlos fell in love with a girl.
His message of hope, rather than despair, was, he said, the reason he had chosen to go public. There s a lot of people out there who have this kind of pain and anguish, he told the magazine. Whether you are a woman or a man who has been raped or molested, you don t have to ruin the rest of your life and ruin your family s life by blaming yourself, feeling dirty, ashamed. Burn all those things, man.
Looking back over his rollercoaster existence, the guitarist concluded simply, if there is a theme to this, it is a masterpiece of joy.
Supernatural is out now on Arista.