Shape Shifter (album)

Shape Shifter is the twenty-second studio album (thirty-sixth album overall) by Santana. It was released on May 14, 2012. This album is the first from his new record label Starfaith Records,[5] which is distributed by Sony Music Entertainment, owners of all of Santana's albums (except those recorded for Polydor Records which are owned by Universal Music Group).[6] It is also the first album since 1992's Milagro that does not feature guest singers in any of the songs, a style that characterized Santana's albums since Supernatural. The album contains only one song with vocals ("Eres La Luz").[7] The track "Mr. Szabo" is a homage to the Hungarian guitarist Gábor Szabó, one of Carlos Santana's early idols, who released a series of 8 albums for Impulse Records between 1966 and 1967; the track features a similar rhythmical and harmonic structure to "Gypsy Queen", a Szabó recording from 1966 covered by Santana in 1970 as a medley with Fleetwood Mac's "Black Magic Woman".

Shape Shifter
Cover art by Rance Hood
Studio album by Santana
Released	May 14, 2012
Genre	Rock, Latin rock
Length	57:22
Label	Starfaith, Sony[1]
Producer	Carlos Santana, Eric Bazilian, Walter Afanasieff
Santana chronology
Guitar Heaven: The Greatest Guitar Classics of All Time (2010) Shape Shifter (2012) Corazón (2014)

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	45/100[2]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
Classic Rock	[3]
Rolling Stone Brasil	[4]

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Shape Shifter"	Carlos Santana	6:16
2.	"Dom"	Hamidou Touré, Ousmane Touré, Ismaila Touré, Tidiane Sixu Touré	3:51
3.	"Nomad"	Carlos Santana	4:49
4.	"Metatron"	Carlos Santana	2:39
5.	"Angelica Faith"	Carlos Santana, Chester Thompson	5:03
6.	"Never the Same Again"	Carlos Santana, Eric Bazilian	5:01
7.	"In the Light of a New Day"	Carlos Santana, Narada Michael Walden	5:06
8.	"Spark of the Divine"	Carlos Santana	1:03
9.	"Macumba in Budapest"	Carlos Santana, Walter Afanasieff	4:01
10.	"Mr. Szabo"	Carlos Santana	6:20
11.	"Eres La Luz"	Carlos Santana, Walter Afanasieff, Andy Vargas, Karl Perazzo	4:51
12.	"Canela"	Carlos Santana, Salvador Santana	5:22
13.	"Ah, Sweet Dancer"	Micheal O Suilleabhain	3:08
Total length:			57:22

Personnel

• Andy Vargas and Tony Lindsay – vocals (track 11)
• Carlos Santana – guitar
• Chester Thompson – keyboards
• Salvador Santana – keyboards
• Benny Rietveld – bass
• Dennis Chambers – drums
• Karl Perazzo – timbales, percussion
• Raul Rekow – congas, bongos, percussion

Charts

Chart (2012)	Peak position
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[8]	29
Canadian Albums Chart[9]	46
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[10]	82
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[11]	27
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[12]	63
French Albums (SNEP)[13]	71
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[14]	19
Hungarian Albums Chart[15]	2
Italian Albums (FIMI)[16]	19
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[17]	75
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[18]	8

Year-end charts

Chart (2012)	Position
Hungarian Albums Chart[19]	69

References

1. Jurek, Thom. "Shape Shifter - Santana | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 17 May 2012.
2. "Reviews for Shape Shifter by Santana". Metacritic. Retrieved 26 March 2018.
3. Yates, Henry (July 2012). "Santana - Shape Shifter". Classic Rock. No. 172. p. 99.
4. Lima, Carlos Eduardo (6 July 2012). "36º disco marca o retorno de Santana ao formato que caracterizou sua carreira". Rolling Stone Brasil (in Portuguese). Retrieved 13 July 2012.
5. "Santana's 36th Album, 'Shape Shifter,' Set For May 15 Release". GuitarPlayer. Retrieved 2012-05-20.
7. "Interview: Carlos Santana on his new album, Shape Shifter". MusicRadar.com. 2012-04-27. Retrieved 2012-05-20.
8. "Austriancharts.at – Santana – Shape Shifter" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
9. http://jam.canoe.ca/Music/Charts/ALBUMS.html
10. "Ultratop.be – Santana – Shape Shifter" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
11. "Ultratop.be – Santana – Shape Shifter" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
12. "Dutchcharts.nl – Santana – Shape Shifter" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
13. "Lescharts.com – Santana – Shape Shifter". Hung Medien. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
14. "Longplay-Chartverfolgung at Musicline" (in German). Musicline.de. Phononet GmbH. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
15. "MAHASZ – Magyar Hanglemezkiadók Szövetsége". mahasz.hu. Retrieved 2012-06-21.
16. "Italiancharts.com – Santana – Shape Shifter". Hung Medien. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
17. "Spanishcharts.com – Santana – Shape Shifter". Hung Medien. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
18. "Swisscharts.com – Santana – Shape Shifter". Hung Medien. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
19. "Best selling albums of Hungary in 2012". Mahasz. Retrieved February 7, 2012.

• All information from CD release booklet (Copyright © 2012 Starfaith Records, catalog #76692-99966-2).

External links

• Shape Shifter at Discogs (list of releases)