Looking for Christmas gifts? No? Well, you should be – time’s ticking! We suggest that you consider Santana’s latest album for your music-loving loved ones. It’s a collaboration album like Supernatural, which spawned the Santana and Rob Thomas mega-hit, Smooth. Now they’ve reunited for a fiery new single!
First up, let’s explore Santana’s duet with Steve Winwood on the Procol Harum classic, A Whiter Shade of Pale. Santana suggested the collab to Winwood when they were both performing at a festival in London’s Hyde Park: “I said, ‘You and I have to do it, but we’re going to do it very sexy, like a Hare Krishna but with congas.’ I played the components in his ear, and he said, ‘I hear it, Carlos. You’re right.’ So that’s what we did – it’s Santana, Cuban, Puerto Rican in an African way. And man, you talk about sexy. Steve’s voice is so sexy and beautiful.”
Winwood pitched in: “I’ve played with Carlos on numerous occasions over the past fifty years and I’m very excited to be working with him again still.”
Next up, She’s Fire sees Santana work with G-Eazy, and it’s also a collab with Grammy, Golden Globe and Emmy winning songwriting icon Diane Warren. She’s Fire jointly features on her debut album Diane Warren: The Cave Session Vol 1. Warren’s record features new songs with Maren Morris, Celine Dion, Rita Ora and more, so it’s another solid shout as a Christmas gift.
Santana and Rob Thomas: together again!
She’s Fire has a lyrical shoutout to Santana’s mega-hit Smooth with Rob Thomas. As if that wasn’t enough, this new Santana album actually has a brand new duet with the Matchbox Twenty frontman!!
“Move came about was very much like how Smooth happened,” Santana explained. “It was like divine intelligence behind the scenes, and I just knew I had to record it with Rob. The song is about awakening your molecules. Ignite and activate yourself – you know, move. When Rob and I work together, we have a sound that’s splendiferous!”
We were huge fans of Matchbox Twenty but they weren’t popular here. So, we have a lot of nostalgia for that time when Santana and Rob Thomas was suddenly all over UK TV and radio. Go on then, let’s listen to Smooth again!
Other performers on the record include Chris Stapleton, Kirk Hammett, plus his son Salvador Santana on guitar, and his daughter Stella Santana on vocals. Santana has now joined The Rolling Stones as one of only two bands to have an album reach the Top 10 in every decade since the 1960s.
Blessings and Miracles by Carlos Santana is out now on BMG.
If you’ve got more music lovers to shop for this Christmas, check out Johnny Cash’s never-before-heard 1968 live album.