Santana is a band that has been made up of a variable number of musicians accompanying Carlos Santana, a Grammy Award-winning Mexican Latin rock musician and guitarist. He rose to fame in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band, originally called the Santana Blues Band, but going mostly under the title "Santana". Almost four decades later, Santana is still entertaining the masses with its unique blend of salsa, rock, blues, and jazz.
Ultimate Santana is the first career-spanning collection, combining hits from recent albums Supernatural, Shaman and All That I Am with early classics. Amongst the 18 tracks are 4 new recordings. The album is diverse, and showcases collaborations with the likes of Jennifer Lopez, Alex Band of The Calling and even Tina Turner. Ultimate Santana is an 18 track journey covering the highlights of Santana’s career, and will not disappoint. Into the Night is the first single to be released from this compilation. The track features Chad Kroeger from Nickelback, who previously worked with Santana for Why Don't You and I from the album Shaman.
The second track on the CD, Smooth, is a duet by Carlos Santana and Rob Thomas from Matchbox Twenty. The song was written by Rob Thomas, and won three Grammy Awards, including Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals. The lyrics praise an unnamed woman in a way similar to that of Petrarch's Renaissance poetry, only to pose an ultimatum: “Give me your heart - Make it real - Or else forget about it.”
Composed by Gregg Alexander and Rick Nowels, The Game of Love is another popular favourite on this album. The vocals are done by Michelle Branch. The song was launched as a single in 2002, and won a Grammy Award for "Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals". Interestingly, the track was originally recorded for Santana by the legendary Tina Turner; however, this version remained unreleased until 2007. The Game of Love featuring Tina Turner appears (for the first time) as a Bonus Track on this album, and is certainly worth a listen.
You can clearly see why Santana has won a total of 111 awards (according to the official website) and was praised as one of the “Top 100 guitarists of all time” by Rolling Stone Magazine. The band has contributed greatly to the development of the Mexican Latin Music genre, making it accessible to a wide spectrum of people right over the globe. Ultimate Santana is a definite must for any music collection.
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