This came out in 2002 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
I never expected Carlos Santana to sell out — especially not at the ripe old age of 55. But that, sad to say, seems to be the deal with Shaman, the disappointingy dull and unfocused followup to the guitar legend’s 1999 comeback CD Supernatural.
Rather than use his regained commercial clout to push the envelope, Santana picks up where he left off and delivers an album that might as well be titled Supernatural II: Again With The Guest Stars. And guest songwriters. And Rob Thomas. And plenty of diluted, Latin-light hip-hop and soul tracks blatantly pitched at the pop charts. Sure, Carlos’s howling ice-pick axework is still a force of nature. Trouble is, he has to spend most of the disc trying to squeeze in his leads between vocals from a veritable traffic jam of star vocalists — Dido, Seal, Macy Gray, Michelle Branch, P.O.D., Placido Domingo and even (heaven help us) Chad Kroeger. If this keeps up, they won’t even have room for Santana on the next Santana record. Perhaps that’s for the best. Then he could make his own album for a change.
