There's still a lot of power to Santana, but it gets squandered pretty thoroughly on this album, as producer Val Garay shoehorns the band into a series of unflattering and ill-managed bids for mass-market acceptance. Garay has them trying everything, from the rap of "Brotherhood" to the Genesis-style pomp of "How Long," but throughout, Santana exhibits more competence than enthusiasm. Even material that would have suited the band in the past, such as Curtis Mayfield's "I'm the One Who Loves You," falls embarrassingly flat, as singer Greg Walker fails to connect with the lugubrious rhythm section.

It's hard to blame the band for this debacle, though. In fact, given the talent assembled – keyboardist David Sancious, bassist Alphonso Johnson, drummer Chester Thompson – Santana may have been better off going for a jazz-fusion feel than forcing a pop approach. As it is, Beyond Appearances hardly bears consideration on any level.

“1999”

“I don’t consider myself a great poet,” Prince told Rolling Stone. “I just know I’m here to say what’s on my mind.” In the case of the apocalyptic party anthem “1999,” he was worried about then-president Ronald Reagan’s foreign policies. The song’s melody is based on a riff borrowed from the Mamas and Papas’ “Monday, Monday,” and Prince originally envisioned the first verse with three-part harmony but later split the vocals between himself and members of the Revolution. Because Warner Bros., with whom Prince was locked in a contractual battle, owned the original’s masters, Prince rerecorded the song and appropriately released that version in 1999.