Supernatural - Santana (CD 1999)

In the summer of '99, I, as did many, turned on the radio in my car, only to be caught off-guard by Santana's "Smooth".

Now, allow me to make the mistake I normally do once again--I thought it was Matchbox 20. Yes, I know, no one in Matchbox 20 can play like that. However, I heard Rob Thomas' vocal, and I muttered to myself, "Another Matchbox 20 song." I proceeded to list in my head the 96 different reasons why I hate Matchbox 20--and, yes, there ARE at least 96, I hate the band that much. But moving on, I was caught off-guard by this particular tune, because, well... IT DIDN'T SUCK.

Now, you must understand, this is amazing to me. I had never--read, NEVER--heard a Matchbox 20 song that didn't suck before. Nor have I heard one that doesn't suck since then, with the exception of the tolerable "Bent". I soon found myself humming along with this mysterious song, only to find myself slapping my own face. "Snap out of it, Drew. Repeat this mantra: Matchbox 20 sucks, Matchbox 20 sucks, Matchbox 20 sucks." So I did, but to no avail. The song had officially grown on me.

Now, you must understand (this is the second time in a row I've started a paragraph with that phrase--but I won't change it... take that, establishment) that I was, at that point, listening to the most idiotic radio station to come out of Philadelphia (which is where all the good radio stations that I can pick up are, with the exception of 100.7, South Jersey's rock station--go ZXL!). I won't tell you which radio station that was, but when the song was finished, the DJ neglected to tell us listeners just who does that classy, catchy song that we just heard. No matter to me at the time, I just assumed, naturally, that it was Matchbox 20--I'd know Rob Thomas' grating voice anywhere. (He isn't, however, quite as annoying as Creed's Scott Stapp, but that's a different review entirely.)

Later that Saturday night, I bounced off to Blockbuster in my car. Again, I caught the song from about the middle of the first chorus, and again, I wasn't informed by the DJ who it was. I rode to Blockbuster to rent Chinatown again, and, on the hope that no one will catch me buying this particular CD, rode to the mall to pick up the new Matchbox 20 CD single. While at the mall, I browsed through the CD-singles. There was nothing by Matchbox 20--there was, of course, a brand-new single from Santana, but I decided to save my money. I left the store with Lenny Kravitz's 5 CD. (Oh, come on. Everybody and their mother was humming "Fly Away" in '99. You were, too. Don't lie.)

I came to the embarrassing conclusion one night at my girlfriend's house. (Okay, she's not my girlfriend anymore, and I incidentally have developed a hostility towards basketball players because of it, but that's a different story ENTIRELY.) She had the song blaring as I walked through her doorway. I was immediately excited, and asked if I could borrow the CD to tape it. (Oh, come on. No one had a CD burner in '99. You know you were taping songs on audio cassettes back then, too--don't lie!) When she plopped it in my hand, I recognized it as the Santana single I was planning to buy later on. I was pretty flarkin' surprised. (Yes, 'flarkin'' is a little term I advised... sometimes, you need something a wee bit cleaner to say in front of your little sister, parents, and grandmother.)

Long story short, I bought the CD and it won a bunch of Grammies. Hooray for Carlos.

Wait. I should expand on that.

Carlos Santana's CD that ultra-nostalgic summer was entitled Supernatural, for whatever reason. It was basically a grab for mainstream success--fortunately, it caught on, as Santana enlisted some of rock and pop music's elite to familiarize the tunes on Supernatural. And he really did grab the popular ones--Rob Thomas, who puts his lyrics to Santana's snazzy Latin-flavored sound in "Smooth," was riding the success of his ultra-sucky band, Matchbox 20. Everlast, after releasing a CD of pooplog early-80s rap with lots of samples in the early 90's, was also riding high on the success of his reinvented bluesy rap folk-rock sound that garnered him a hit single with "What It's Like". Lauryn Hill was everywhere the year before, having snagged, like, 50 Grammies for her debut solo album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill in 1998, and still had radio airplay with songs like "Doo Wop (That Thing)" and "Everything Is Everything". The Dave Matthews Band, one foot firmly rooted in college campuses everywhere, were everywhere themselves with 1998's "Crush".

Everlast's contribution to the album is particularly intriguing. His song is melancholy, the perfect soundtrack to the still summer night, a quiet, reflective, acoustic song that really does pack a certain punch. "Put Your Lights On" eventually did get radio airplay, riding the coattails of the success of "Smooth," but undoubtedly deserved it more than Thomas's song. Everlast's gentle acoustic guitar is perfect in contrast with 60-plus virtuoso Santana's pealing electric licks and hard-rock riffing on the bridge. Without hesitation, I'd say that "Put Your Lights On" is easily the best song on this whole CD. I'd also recommend Everlast's solo album Whitey Ford Sings The Blues wholeheartedly, but that's a different review that I do intend to write soon.

But Everlast isn't the only one contributing worthwhile songs to this decidedly collaborative effort. Dave Matthews and Eric Clapton have the next-best songs on the album. Matthews' "Love Of My Life" is a perfect addition to the man's repertoire. His band, the absurdly-named Dave Matthews Band, is known for this kind of song, and indeed it does resemble the DMB's big 1998-99 hit "Crush". It's a beautiful, surreal kind of song, just like many of those that permeate Dave's album Before These Crowded Streets. And, correct me if I'm mistaken, but don't the lines "We go dancing in the moonlight/with the starlight in your eyes/we go dancing till the sunrise/you and me we're gonna dance, dance, dance" sound like something straight out of "Crush," or maybe the lighter "Stay (Wasting Time)"? The Eric Clapton tune, aptly titled "The Calling," is an instrumental that, length-wise, approaches the long side of seven minutes. It's a particularly worthwhile track, though, in that the interplay between these two (both of whom can be certified guitar legends, Clapton probably more so) never becomes boring. That choir in the background adds some interesting musical layering as well.

Lauryn Hill, the hip-hop goddess who was everywhere between 1998 and 1999, shows up on Carlos' album in "Do You Like The Way," a decidedly atypical hip-hop tune in that it's actual live instrumentation backing Lauryn Hill (and additional vocalist Cee-Lo, whoever the friggin' poop that is) rather than sampling, record scratches, and the stuff that most hip-hop/rap is made of nowadays. "Maria Maria" enlists Wyclef Jean proteges Project G&B and boasts Wyclef Jean's producing credit conveniently on the back cover solely so Wyclef completists will purchase the CD. Wyclef himself only serves one purpose on this track, and that is to say "yeah" and "Carlos Santana" in the background. The Product G&B themselves do little to distinguish themselves from other R&B vocalists, and the track would probably be a disaster if it weren't for Mr. Carlos Santana alternating between an acoustic and an electric guitar, touching upon beautiful licks between lines in typical Santana style. "Wishing It Was" features Eagle-Eye Cherry. Eagle-Eye Cherry. What do you mean, you don't remember him? He had that video... uhm... the black and white one... for that song... that popular one... "Save Today" or something of the sort... "Tonight"! That's it. He sang "Save Tonight" and dropped off the face of the earth. His contribution, "Wishing It Was," is nothing to poo one's self over. It's basic faceless, bland pop.

The massive single, of course, was "Smooth," my infamous encounter with I have addressed in my opening paragraphs with my typical far-too-detailed aplomb (I don't really know what 'aplomb' means, of course, but I'm hoping I'm not too far off in my usage of it... I'm a risk-taker at heart). Rob Thomas of Matchbox 20 does vocals on this song, there's Latin flava, horns and whatnot... it would be a pretty bad song, actually, if it WEREN'T SO FRICKIN' CATCHY! Good God, everybody, their mother, their father, their sister, their step-sister, their grandparents, their dog, their cat, their teacher, the guy they pass on the street, their dog's veterinarian, their dentist, their physician, their surgeon, their gynecologist, their worst enemy, their best friend, their cousin, their second cousin, all of their other cousins that they only see on Christmas, their uncles, their great-uncles, their dead relatives, their preacher, that annoying kid from N-Sync, the annoying guy at the record store, their tailor, their shoe salesman, the Jehovah's witnesses knocking on their door, Axl Rose, and the guy pumping their gas were all humming this that summer! Who wasn't? You couldn't get away from it. You didn't want to, for awhile. Then it started to p*ss you off and you decided to stop listening to it, of course, but you always came back.

How very, very catchy "Smooth" is.

And that hot chick Rob Thomas married is in the video.

Yeah, I know she's Rob's wife. Come and get me, Thomas.

ANYway, the remainder of the CD is made of up Spanish songs. Not that I have anything against Spanish songs, of course--I took Spanish for four years in high school and subsequently forget every word of the language except for "si" and "huevos"--but I like lyrics. And I'm far, far too lazy to actually look up these translations in that handy Spanish-English dictionary collecting dust on my shelf. So, the Spanish-language songs usually serve as background music for me, when I'm occupied to the point of not having the inclination to change the song. And it's very good background music--they should play THIS stuff in elevators instead of the crappy Beatles. Yeah, I don't like the Beatles. Kick me in the nuts, why don'tcha.

There's even a collaboration with Mana! MANA, for poop's sakes!

Who's Mana?

ANYway, Supernatural is great fun. Fun fun fun until your daddy takes the steak knife away and you have to eat your chicken with a butter knife. Why do they only have steak and butter knives? Why no chicken knives?

Philosophical questions from a philosophical man.

I'm single, good-looking, and well-read. I enjoy long walks on the beach, five-hour phone conversations, candlelight dinners, and...

...oh, Supernatural? Oh, yeah. Good CD, that Supernatural.

'Cause it's so smoooooooooooth.