New York, NY (Top40 Charts/ Legacy Recordings) - With a chart record that now spans five decades - from the '60s to the '00s - and one of the most consistently best-selling catalogs in modern recording history, Santana's torrid gumbo of blues-rock, rhythm and soul, Afro-Cuban jazz, Mexicano, and world music flavors is an enduring wonder of contemporary popular music. More than 40 summers after their trail-blazing Saturday afternoon performance at the Woodstock
Music & Arts Fair on August 16, 1969, and the release of their iconic debut LP three days later,
Santana occupies a unique status among surviving American bands.
A decade ago in June 1999, 30 summers after Woodstock, Santana released an album destined to be the biggest of their career. Supernatural, a long-overdue reunion between producers Carlos Santana and Clive Davis, brought fresh collaborations with (in alphabetical order) Cee-Lo, Eagle-Eye Cherry, Eric Clapton, Everlast, Lauryn Hill, Mexican supergroup Mana, Dave Matthews and bandmate Carter Beauford, producers the Dust Brothers, KC Porter, Wyclef Jean, and others. The album spun off two huge RIAA platinum No 1 hits - "Smooth" featuring Rob Thomas of Matchbox Twenty, and "Maria Maria," produced by Wyclef Jean, featuring his hip-hop proteges the Product G&B - the first Hot 100 No 1 hits of Santana's career. They spent a cumulative half-year at No 1 and paved the way for the album to amass chart honors and generate Grammy Awards beyond anyone's imaginations or expectations (except, of course, Clive's).
In commemoration, Supernatural: Legacy Edition presents the album's first new remastering - personally supervised by Carlos - since its original release. In the tradition of the prestigious Legacy Edition series, the new package adds a second disc of rarities - 11 tracks, eight of them songs that were not contained on the album, seven of them previously unissued, including outtakes, dance club mixes, and instrumental material. A 24-page full-color booklet includes rare photography and memorabilia from the Santana archives. The specially-designed double-CD package, encased in the distinctive Legacy Edition mylar slipcase, will be available at all physical and digital retail outlets starting February 16th through Arista/Legacy, a division of SONY MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT. On February 3rd, Santana will kick off 11 of the "Supernatural Santana: A Trip Through the Hits" residency show concert dates at The Joint at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, running through February 21st.
The bonus content on disc two of Supernatural: Legacy Edition will amaze Santana fans as if hearing a new album. The bulk of the outtakes that "didn't make the cut" on the original album are Santana band tracks: "Angel Love (Come For Me)"; "Ya Yo Me Cure"; a cover of Cuban band Irakere's classic "Bacalao Con Pan" by Chucho Valdes; a cover of Lighthouse's 1971 hit "One Fine Morning"; the medley of Bob Marley & the Wailers "Exodus/Get Up Stand Up," all previously unissued; and "Olympic Festival" (from the Girlfight movie soundtrack, 2000).
The only collaboration that "didn't make the cut" features Dave Matthews and Carter Beauford, "Rain Down On Me." There are dance club mixes of "Corazon Espinado" featuring Mana, and "Maria Maria" featuring the Product G&B. "Smooth" is heard in an instrumental version, without vocal. Likewise, "The Calling Jam" featuring Eric Clapton is an instrumental version, without vocals.
Featured in the Supernatural: Legacy Edition booklet is a 2,000-word liner notes essay written by veteran Albany music journalist Hal Miller, who has annotated previous Legacy releases by Santana (2004's Santana: Legacy Edition, and 2003's expanded restorations of the fusion-influenced Caravanserai, Love Devotion Surrender, Welcome, and Moonflower), plus numerous Weather Report reissues.
"My role was to complement the music and to be gracious, patient, and trusting," Carlos told Miller. "In fact, that became my mantra as Clive Davis, the visionary, began to hook me up with all these wonderful and different musicians. And once we got started, just about every song was done in one take!"
Santana's first album for Arista Records proved an irresistible magnet for rock, R&B, and Latin markets. Supernatural debuted at No 19 on the Billboard 200 chart in early July, the band's highest debut in the Soundscan era. At the same time, "Smooth" began its glide up the singles charts, rising to No 1 on the Hot 100 on October 23rd - the first No 1 single of Santana's career and Soundscan's longest-running No 1 pop single of 1999, at 12 consecutive weeks. ("Smooth" actually spent 25 weeks at No 1 on the Adult Top 40 chart, segueing into 2000. Billboard columnist Fred Bronson's book Hottest Hot 100 Hits ranks "Smooth" as the No 1 Song Of The '90s.)
One week later on October 30th, Supernatural hit No 1 - Santana's first No 1 album in nearly three decades (since 1970's Abraxas and 1971's Santana III). It eventually was named Soundscan's No 1 album of 1999, outpacing close contenders Millennium by Backstreet Boys and ...Baby One More Time by Britney Spears. (The success of Supernatural and "Smooth" overlapped the release of the new single in January 2000, "Maria Maria." In April, "Maria Maria" began its own 10-week stand at No 1 on the Hot 100 (and three weeks at No 1 R&B).
At the Grammy Awards in late-February, Supernatural generated an all-time record-breaking nine awards, starting with Album Of the Year and Best Rock Album. "Smooth" was named Record Of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Pop Collaboration. The depth of Supernatural was confirmed as four more songs also won Grammys: "Maria Maria" for Best Pop Performance by a Duo/Group; "El Farol" for Best Pop Instrumental Performance; "Put Your Lights On" featuring Everlast for Best Rock Performance by a Duo/Group; and "The Calling" featuring Eric Clapton for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. At the first annual Latin Grammy Awards in September, "Corazon Espinado" featuring Mana won Record Of the Year and Best Rock Performance by a Duo/Group; and "El Farol" won for Best Pop Instrumental Performance.
Supernatural spent a total of 102 weeks on the Billboard 200 album chart, including 12 weeks at No 1 (no album since then has spent more than 9 weeks at the top). It was certified 15-times RIAA platinum in the U.S., with worldwide sales north of 25 million copies to date. But there were implications far deeper than the charts could ever show. The album's success was intended to inspire younger hopeful musicians to accept the challenge of devoting long years to their goals. At the same time, veteran established recording artists were reminded that there is no age ceiling on creativity and no moratorium on staying in touch with every development in contemporary music.
Mexican-born Carlos Santana organized the original Santana Blues Band in el barrio of San Francisco in 1966. From the very onset, their embrace of the full musical spectrum drew audiences into packed clubs and ballrooms around the Bay area. Credit Fillmore West impresario Bill Graham for bringing Santana to the attention of Clive Davis, who signed the band to Columbia Records after seeing their Christmas week 1968 premiere at the venue. Twenty-five years after Woodstock, Santana was one of only three acts from the original festival invited back to play at Woodstock '94. Their odyssey, which reached the highest heights with their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in January 1998, soared to even loftier peaks with the success of Supernatural.
"Supernatural," Miller concludes, "touched something special in the hearts and spirit of millions around the world, and the music industry is still struggling to figure out how it all happened. Carlos, himself, credits a higher power for the success of Supernatural, averring that this music was assigned and designed to unite people from young to old."
Carlos Santana's Supernatural Santana: A Trip Through The Hits, inspired by the Grammy-award winning album Supernatural, is live at The Joint at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino thirty-six times per year. Providing an evening of high-energy music, the concert-style show features career-spanning classics such as "Maria Maria," "Oye Como Va," "Black Magic Woman," and "Smooth." Each free-flowing performance includes a unique take on the band's repertoire with its rebel-from-the-street vibe and Santana's uniquely passionate guitar-playing. The Joint is the only place west of the Mississippi that fans can see Santana through 2010. For more information or to buy tickets, visit supernaturalsantana.com.
Supernatural: Legacy Edition by SANTANA (Arista/Legacy 88697 48080 2, originally issued June 1999, as Arista 19080) Disc One - Selections: 1. (Da Le) Yaleo - 2. Love Of My Life featuring Dave Matthews & Carter Beauford - 3. Put Your Lights On featuring Everlast - 4. Africa Bamba - 5. Smooth featuring Rob Thomas (1st single, Hot 100 No 1, 12 weeks) - 6. Do You Like The Way featuring Lauryn Hill & Cee-Lo - 7. Maria Maria featuring the Product G&B (2nd single, Hot 100 No 1, 10 weeks; R&B No 1) - 8. Migra - 9. Corazon Espinado featuring Mana - 10. Wishing It Was featuring Eagle-Eye Cherry - 11. El Farol - 12. Primavera • 13. The Calling featuring Eric Clapton.
Disc Two - Selections: 1. Bacalao Con Pan (previously unissued) - 2. Angel Love (Come For Me) (previously unissued) - 3. Rain Down On Me featuring Dave Matthews & Carter Beauford (previously unissued) - 4. Corazon Espinado (Spanish Dance Remix) featuring Mana - 5. One Fine Morning (previously unissued) - 6. Exodus/Get Up Stand Up (previously unissued) - 7. Ya Yo Me Cure (previously unissued) - 8. Maria Maria (Pumpin' Dolls Club Mix) featuring The Product G&B - 9. Smooth (Instrumental) - 10. The Calling Jam featuring Eric Clapton (previously unissued) - 11. Olympic Festival.
