Santana’s “Corazon” Hits Latin Rock-Pop Spot

Latin Rock music legend Carlos Santana released his much anticipated Spanish album “Corazon” in May (2014), covering various Latin rhythms to match the styles of his special guests.

“Corazon” was recorded in 8 different studios across the U.S., mixed in 4 studios, and mastered in one. Santana invited approximately 14 different vocalists (and I say approximately because it’s hard to keep an accurate count) and a bunch of invited musicians too many too count.

An interesting fact, which I have to admit I hadn’t noticed, is that 10 of the 15 songs of the Deluxe version are actually re-makes of old songs, including “Oye 2014”, where the Latin rock idol and Pitbull set the record strait for the uninformed that “Oye Como Va” was a Tito Puente song.

“Corazon” had done excellently well in the charts, as it topped at 9 in the Billboard 200, and hit #1 in Billboard’s “Top Latin Albums” and “Top Latin Pop Albums”.

What I Liked About “Corazon”

Beautiful Songs & the Santana sound – I liked Santana’s song selection, as they were all a great fit to his classical guitar style. Santana always finds a way to blend his guitar riffs in between the singer lyrics, besides his outstanding solos. He’s the master of his craft!

Variety of Rhythms – of course there is Latin rock, but there is also pop-rock, pop, ballads, and even reggae. On one hand, this keeps the album interesting if you don’t mind navigating through all these genres. On the other hand, if you don’t like some of these genres, you might find yourself hitting the “skip song” button a few times.

Superb Guest Artists – who doesn’t want to rock with Santana. For his first mostly Spanish album, he has the likes of Gloria Estefan, Los Fabulosos Cadillacs, Juanes, Samuel Rosa, Lila Downs, Romeo Santos, Miguel, Pitbull, Ziggy Marley, Wayne Shorter, & Cindy Blackman-Santana.

Other Opportunities for “Corazon”

Brazilian artist – The only opportunity I see missed in “Corazon” is to have a great Brazilian star perform “Beijo de Longe”, instead of having Gloria Estefan do it. Don’t get me wrong, Gloria Estefan does a great job in singing the song, but this was a great opportunity to have native Portuguese speaker perform this song. Gloria Estefan already did the Spanish version and was equally great in “Besos de Lejos”.

Recommendation for “Corazon”

I loved Santana’s “Corazon” for the quality and variety of the music, as well as the excellent integration of Santana’s music with all the great guest artists. Santana’s 22nd studio album is truly enjoyable, although core Santana fans that prefer is Latin rock may be disappointed at the all the softer Latin pop content in the album.

Video de Promo para “Amor Correspondido” con Diego Torres

Enjoy of part of the song and of the comments of Carlos Santana and Diego Torres regarding this song:

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