Marathon marked the addition of keyboard player
Alan Pasqua and singer
Greg Walker's replacement by singer/guitarist
Alex Ligertwood in the
Santana lineup. Otherwise, the album was notable for consisting entirely of band-written material, although those songs were in the established R&B/rock style evolved on albums like Amigos,
Festival, and
Inner Secrets. The formula seemed to be wearing thin by now, however, as, even with a Top 40 hit in "You Know That I Love You" (number 35),
Marathon became the first
Santana album to fall below the 500,000-sales mark necessary for gold record certification. (It has since made the mark.) ~ William Ruhlmann