Robbed Hit of the Week 2/24/14 - Santana's "Say It Again"...

Santana - "Say It Again"
from the album Beyond Appearances (1985)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #46

This week's "robbed hit" is by the Latin-rock fusion band Santana, who had last been seen in 1982 with the top-20 pop hit "Hold On". It took three years for the release of their next album, Beyond Appearances, with most of the lineup changed save for leader and namesake Carlos Santana. Although guitarist and vocalist Alex Ligertwood, who had sung on the band's last two top-40 hits "Winning" and "Hold On", was still on the record, the lead-off single, "Say It Again", was handled by newbie Greg Walker. The song, written by producers Val Garay ("Bette Davis Eyes") and Steve Goldstein with background singer Anthony Lapeau, seemed disconnected from the classic band's sound...

"Say It Again" did manage to almost scrape the top-40 (probably mostly from name recognition) in April of 1985, while at least becoming a decent rock radio hit, peaking at #15. The record did become a top-40 hit in Australia and the Netherlands, though. It would be Carlos' last pop hit for fourteen years, when with a push from Clive Davis and an all-star cast gave him the biggest hit of not only his career, but a couple of the biggest hits of the rock era, with "Smooth" and "Maria Maria" from his Supernatural album.