The Best Of Santana

Slide-pack edition of this release, a no-frills CD packaging featuring an outer slipcase with the original cover artwork and an inner 'slider' including a CD. There is no CD booklet in this package. The Best of Santana features 16 tracks from Carlos and the boys' most successful and prolific period up through the '70s. Features 'Jingo', 'Evil Ways', 'Black Magic Woman' and many more. Sony/BMG. 2007.

There are a couple of Santana best-of compilations out there, and even a few mastersound gold-plated CDs, but this collection is as good a place as any for a newcomer to explore. It contains the band's three essential charters--"Black Magic Woman," "Evil Ways," and "Oye Como Va"--along with some lesser hits. Santana broke barriers, making ethnic-influenced music palatable to the mainstream, but this set doesn't sound like a history lesson. Few bands have ever made better music for driving on a hot summer day, and this CD is ideal for blasting out the windows of your car on a crowded thoroughfare. --Charles R. Cross