Salvador Santana

The Salvador Santana Band's debut album SSB is nothing if not eclectic. There's traditional Latin music, rock, hip-hop, and smooth R&B, sometimes within the same song, in both English (mostly) and Spanish, and never in predictable mixtures. Sometimes the songs are just good-time dance tunes; "Me & U," with a contribution from Carlos Santana, is hot-blooded romance, and a more serious anti-conflict viewpoint is taken in the case of the closing "Why Yo." It's enough of a bumpy ride, in fact, to be able to pass for being the work of several bands, not just one. Covering a lot of ground and mixing the elements into unexpected cocktails isn't the same thing as excellence, however, and SSB does not so much make a statement as sound like the work of musicians who aren't quite certain of who they want to be, yet the breezy, easygoing "Summer's Day" does sound like a potential lightweight hit single. But the group aren't memorably outstanding at any one or two aspects of their blend, and not such innovative blenders that they stand out for their ingenious combination of styles. ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide