Santana IV Drops April 15th, 2016!
Track listing
1. Yambu
2. Shake It
3. Anywhere You Want To Go
4. Fillmore East
5. Love Makes The World Go Round
6. Freedom In Your Mind
7. Choo Choo
8. All Aboard
9. Sueños
10. Caminando
11. Blues Magic
12. Echizo
13. Leave Me Alone
14. You And I
15. Come As You Are
16. Forgiveness
Sanatana.Com, Santana IV Press Release
SANTANA IV Reunites Legendary Band Lineup
First Single “Anywhere You Want To Go” to be released February 5, 2016
April 15, 2016 marks the release date of Santana IV, the wildly anticipated studio album that reunites the revered early ‘70s lineup of guitar icon Carlos Santana (guitar, vocals), Gregg Rolie (keyboards, lead vocals), Neal Schon (guitar, vocals), Michael Carabello (percussion) and Michael Shrieve (drums). The album signifies the first time in 45 years – since 1971’s multi-platinum classic Santana III – that the quintet has recorded together.
Santana IV features 16 all-new tracks written and produced by the band that burst with the same unparalleled energy and superlative musicianship that made Santana a pioneering force in world music and a household name across the globe. Joining the core Santana IV band in the studio are current Santana members Karl Perazzo (percussion) and Benny Rietveld (bass), with the legendary vocalist Ronald Isley guesting on two cuts.
The origins for the reunion go back several years, when Schon suggested that he and Carlos Santana record together. Santana liked the idea but went one better, proposing that they recruit Rolie, Shrieve and Carabello for what would be called Santana IV. After initial writing sessions and rehearsals took place in 2013, the group recorded throughout 2014 and 2015, amassing 16 spellbinding tracks that combined all their signature elements – Afro-Latin rhythms, soaring vocals, electrifying blues-psychedelic guitar solos, and irrepressibly jubilant percussion work – with widescreen hooks and melodies that will lodge themselves in the thicket of listeners’ senses and stay there.
“It was magical,” Santana says. “We didn’t have to try to force the vibe – it was immense. From there, we then needed to come up with a balance of songs and jams that people would immediately identify as Santana.”
The band’s signature sound arrives forcefully on the album opener “Yambu,” a righteously gritty and soulful stomper teeming with swirling B3 organ hooks and walloping guitar crunch.
The first single, “Anywhere You Want to Go,” is destined to storm the pantheon of Santana classics. Written by Gregg Rolie, it’s a sexy, body-shaking winner and an unmistakable tip of the hat to the inescapable cha-cha/Latin jazz charms of “Oye Como Va.”
Special guest, Ronald Isley’s, vocals highlight the feverishly impassioned Latin-rock workout “Love Makes the World Go Round” and the hard-edged and funky “Freedom in Your Mind.”
Guitar fans expecting fireworks from Santana and Schon will cherish Santana IV from front to back. “All Aboard” is a no-holds-barred guitar jam of the highest order, as is the slinky, soulful metal cruncher “Caminando,” which explodes with tectonic axe force. And on the unabashedly British blues-tinged “Shake It,” the two go toe to toe on not one but two extended solo runs that will have lovers of unhinged fretboard work rejoicing.
“Carlos and I feel more connected than ever,” says Schon. “We get super-aggressive when we play, but also melodic and poetic. We have an incredible dialog with each other on our guitars.”
Santana’s recurring themes of love and tolerance are common threads throughout Santana IV, most dramatically on the epic tone poem album closer “Forgiveness,” a languid and breathtakingly gorgeous atmospheric groover.
Music fans familiar with the “roaring lion” artwork on Santana’s 1969 debut album will instantly greet Heather Griffin’s graphic for Santana IV as a gloriously realized update of that iconic image. “I really think the music goes along with the cover, and vice versa,” says Santana. “It all fits together beautifully.”
Few bands can pick up a musical dialog after 45 years apart, but on Santana IV each band member reaches a new level of virtuosity and communal intuition on a collection of songs that easily stands side-by-side with the group’s treasured early work.
“When you can go back and break new ground with joy and determination – and some whoop-ass energy – it gets you going,” says Santana. “I think we achieved something very rare. This music was screaming to come out of us. It wasn’t about nostalgia. It was about passion.”
Santana IV will be released on April 15, 2016, on Santana IV Records and is distributed by Thirty Tigers/RED Distribution. It is available for pre-order on Amazon now. The album will be CD, Double 180 Gram Vinyl with Download Card and Digital configurations.
As a special offer for fans attending select shows on Santana’s upcoming Luminosity tour, a CD copy of SANTANA IV is included with every pair of tickets. This offer will be redeemed via a promo code at Santana.com.
Amazon CD
ABOUT THIRTY TIGERS:
Thirty Tigers is a music marketing, management, distribution, and publishing company based in Nashville, Tennessee. Thirty Tigers Distribution has served as a label infrastructure for a vast client base including The Avett Brothers, Jason Isbell, Sturgill Simpson, Chase Rice, Lucinda Williams, Ryan Bingham, The Eli Young Band, Trampled By Turtles, and many others in their 13 years of working with Sony/RED Distribution. For more information, visit www.thirtytigers.com
=========================================================================
I expect a limited U.S. tour to be announced. No details on dates, venues, tickets yet….
Stay tuned as more publicity information emerges…
Santana IV Reunion Update
It’s been an exciting month plus for the original members of Santana and longtime Santana fans.
Texas – March 19
The Santana IV Reunion “Live” commences in stages. Gregg Rolie joins Santana in Corpus Christie, Texas on March 19th. It serves as a dress rehearsal for the Santana Mexico concerts to follow.

Mexico – March
Santana reunion efforts began to further gel when Gregg goes on to perform with Carlos and the Band in Monterrey, MX, Cumbre Tajin Festival and at two special co-headline events with Journey in Guadalajara and Mexico City.
Videos of Gregg Rolie sitting in with Santana performing “Black Magic Woman” begin to surface on YouTube.
Things really get exciting when the original Santana nucleus expands when Journey and Santana co-headline. We see Neal Schon playing guitar with Carlos Santana set against the rhythmic backdrop of the Santana band.
Neal Schon has been the motivator pushing for the Santana reunion. I am thankful that he has been instrumental in driving Santana IV to that goal.
Neal, Gregg and Carlos Santana do the dynamic tracks from Santana III, “Batuka/No One To Depend On”, “Everybody’s Everything”. How cool is that?

The stage is set for completing the Santana IV recording in Las Vegas the next month. Can you say supercharged? I knew that you could 😉

Las Vegas – April 2015
The Santana IV Reunion scene shifts to Las Vegas, Nevada. The composition and recording of the final three tracks for the Santana IV recording enters high gear. The Santana IV recording team and studio musicians assemble at Odds On Records and Studios (Audio Mix House) in Henderson, Nevada. Michael Shrieve and Michael Carabello join Neal, Gregg and Carlos to put down the last tracks for Santana IV. They are joined by Benny Rietveld on bass and Karl Perazzo on percussion. Jim Reitzel, Head Engineer at Tarpan Studios mans the boards, coordinating the sounds Santana IV seeks to make. Jim has worked actively with Santana over the years. He becomes the glue to bond Santana IV together. I wonder if he will also be chiefly responsible for the mixing that follows next?


Neal Schon has been vocal about Santana IV touring live at some point in the future. Can wait to see Santana IV live!
I wonder what record label Santana IV will be released and distributed by. Who has the rights? SONY, Arista, or Starfish?
My hat is off to Santana IV!

Good things come to those who wait!
Special Mention
We are fortunate to have the camera team of Libby Fabro and Chad Tasky documenting the events. I think Libby Fabro is a photographer for Team Santana. Chad Tasky is a San Francisco based photographer and filmmaker. Chad was a drum tech for Santana for a time. Props to both photographers for being our inside image sources for Santana IV. Your respective photos are superb.
Related articles
Santana IV Update (Everything Is Coming Our Way)
I imagine many Santana fans had the perception that the Corazon, Superstar Concert and first All-Spanish Santana Record project had knocked the Santana IV project out of the box.
Well disregard that false perception, the Santana IV project lives and breathes with a deep sense of commitment to the Santana brotherhood.
Today’s Las Vegas Sun reports in the Kats Report by John Katsilometes
“When Santana is finished with “Corazon,” he plans to begin work on a fascinating album (especially for those nostalgic about classic rock) with some friends and former bandmates.
“We got together for two days already, with Gregg Rolie, Michael Shrieve, Michael Carabello,” Santana said. “The original Santana, we stopped at three. We are looking forward to this spring and doing Santana IV. After this incredible CD (“Corazon”), I will be with them, totally and absolutely.”
Santana has plans to play Dubai in February, and there are no scheduled dates at House of Blues beyond Feb. 1. Because of his recording commitments, it’s likely the earliest he would be back onstage in Las Vegas would be the fall of 2014.
But whenever it is, the timing and mood will be right. Carlos Santana will make sure of that.”
So with Corazon AND Santana IV in 2014 (And hopefully an East Coast Tour too), Everything Is Coming Our Way!
Related articles
- Santana “Corazon, Live From Mexico: Live It To Believe It,” (musicofourheart.me)
- Previous Santana Reunions (musicofourheart.me)
- Santana Reunion Is Underway (musicofourheart.me)
You must be logged in to post a comment.