Shape Shifter (album)

For other uses, see Shapeshifter (disambiguation).

Shape Shifter
Cover art by Rance Hood
Studio album by Santana
Released	May 14, 2012
Genre	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]

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, the 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 an 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".

Track listing

All tracks were written by Carlos Santana, except where noted.

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Shape Shifter"		6:16
2.	"Dom"	Hamidou Touré, Ousmane Touré, Ismaila Touré, Tidiane Sixu Touré	3:51
3.	"Nomad"		4:49
4.	"Metatron"		2:39
5.	"Angelica Faith"	C. Santana, Chester Thompson	5:03
6.	"Never the Same Again"	C. Santana, Eric Bazilian	5:01
7.	"In the Light of a New Day"	C. Santana, Narada Michael Walden	5:06
8.	"Spark of the Divine"		1:03
9.	"Macumba in Budapest"	C. Santana, Walter Afanasieff	4:01
10.	"Mr. Szabo"		6:20
11.	"Eres La Luz"	C. Santana, Afanasieff, Andy Vargas, Karl Perazzo	4:51
12.	"Canela"	C. 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
• Carlos Hernandez & Jorge Santana – additional guitars on track 3 "Nomad"

Charts

Weekly charts Chart (2012) Peak position Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria) [8] 29 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) [9] 82 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia) [10] 27 Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) [11] 63 French Albums (SNEP) [12] 71 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) [13] 19 Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ) [14] 2 Italian Albums (FIMI) [15] 19 Japanese Albums (Oricon) [16] 48 Scottish Albums (OCC) [17] 49 Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE) [18] 75 Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade) [19] 8 UK Albums (OCC) [20] 49 US Billboard 200 [21] 16 US Independent Albums (Billboard) [22] 2 US Top Rock Albums (Billboard) [23] 6 US Indie Store Album Sales (Billboard) [24] 5

Year-end charts Chart (2012) Position Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ) [25] 69

References

1. Jurek, Thom. "Shape Shifter - Santana | AllMusic". AllMusic . Retrieved May 17, 2012.
2. "Reviews for Shape Shifter by Santana". Metacritic . Retrieved March 26, 2018.
3. Yates, Henry (July 2012). "Santana - Shape Shifter". Classic Rock . No. 172. p. 99.
4. Lima, Carlos Eduardo (July 6, 2012). "36º disco marca o retorno de Santana ao formato que caracterizou sua carreira". Rolling Stone Brasil (in Portuguese). Retrieved July 13, 2012.
5. "Santana's 36th Album, 'Shape Shifter,' Set For May 15 Release". GuitarPlayer. Retrieved May 20, 2012.
6. "Images for Santana - Shape Shifter". Discogs .
7. "Interview: Carlos Santana on his new album, Shape Shifter". MusicRadar.com. April 27, 2012. Retrieved May 20, 2012.
8. "Austriancharts.at – Santana – Shape Shifter" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved June 6, 2024.
9. "Ultratop.be – Santana – Shape Shifter" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved June 6, 2024.
10. "Ultratop.be – Santana – Shape Shifter" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved June 6, 2024.
11. "Dutchcharts.nl – Santana – Shape Shifter" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved June 6, 2024.
12. "Lescharts.com – Santana – Shape Shifter". Hung Medien. Retrieved June 6, 2024.
13. "Offiziellecharts.de – Santana – Shape Shifter" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved June 6, 2024.
14. "Album Top 40 slágerlista – 2012. 40. hét" (in Hungarian). MAHASZ. Retrieved June 6, 2024.
15. "Italiancharts.com – Santana – Shape Shifter". Hung Medien. Retrieved June 6, 2024.
16. "シェイプ・シフター". Oricon.co.jp. Retrieved June 6, 2024.
17. "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved June 6, 2024.
18. "Spanishcharts.com – Santana – Shape Shifter". Hung Medien. Retrieved June 6, 2024.
19. "Swisscharts.com – Santana – Shape Shifter". Hung Medien. Retrieved June 6, 2024.
20. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved June 6, 2024.
21. "Santana Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved June 6, 2024.
22. "Santana Chart History (Independent Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved June 6, 2024.
23. "Santana Chart History (Top Rock Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved June 6, 2024.
24. "Santana Chart History (Top Tastemaker Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved June 6, 2024.
25. "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)