The Essential Santana

The Essential Santana is a compilation album by Santana, released on 22 October 2002. The collection is part of a series of Essential sets released by Columbia Records. Uniquely among Santana compilations, "Soul Sacrifice" is included in the studio version from their first album, not the live performance from Woodstock. It should also be noted that this compilation contains no songs from the highly successful Supernatural album, despite it being released 3 years before this album. This is because Columbia and Arista (Santana's current label) were not under common ownership at the time. This new 2 cd set from Santana is a good value. It is probably aimed at fans only aware of Carlos Santanas last two guest filled albums. It is a pretty handy set though. The material is from his tenure at Columbia records from 1969-1989. The set illustrates Santanas varied influences from latin, blues, rock, and jazz. The first disc contains material from the first and best incarnation of his band which featured Gregg Rolie on keyboards and vocals, Michael Shrieve on drums, Neal Schon on second guitar and the standard for Santana, a fiery latin percussion section. The material for this classic period includes a cover of Willie Bobos (a big early influence) "Evil Ways", "Soul Sacrifice" and a medley of Peter Greens "Black Magic Woman" and Gabor Szabos "Gypsy Queen". The Latin "Oye Como Va" and "No One To Depend On" based on another Willie Bobo song are notable. The live version of Miles Davis jazz/fusion classic "In A Silent Way" is worth the price of the set alone. Material from Santanas team up with jazz/fusion guitarist John McLaughlin is also included. However, a number of essential cuts like "Persuasion", a cover of jazz saxophonist Gene Ammons "Jungle Strut", and early instrumentals "Incident At Neshabur" and the great "Song Of The Wind" are omitted. The second disk begins his transition to more single oriented material. It is beneficial in that it summarizes the better material from some of his weaker albums. The second disk includes covers the the Zombies "Shes Not There", Buddy Hollys "Well Alright" via Blind Faith, and Russ Ballards "Winning". A rare live version of the Latin workout "Dance Sister Dance" and rockers like "Open Invitation" and "All I Ever Wanted" also make the cut. However, cuts like "Europa", "Aqua Marine" and "Blues For Salvador" show why Carlos Santanas Mike Bloomfield influenced guitar playing is highly admired. Not only can he play fast and flashy when necessary but he also has good sense of when to play slower and invoke real feeling in his playing. Last but not least is a duet with blues icon John Lee Hooker on "The Healer". The second disk is only 74 minutes long so another song or two could have been added to the set. The set provides a good introduction to those curious about Santanas earlier work. The second disk summarizes some his singles from his spottier late seventies and eighties albums. While his first three albums are essential this set successfully shows the varied styles and influences of the latin/rock pioneer Carlos Santana.