One must realize before buying this CD, that the original music was released on LP in 1974 and it WAS his Greatest Hits for that time. But as you know, Santana has since propelled to the top of the charts again and again and again. These are studio versions of his early hits. And while they do sound great, nothing and I mean NOTHING compares to Santana live. Might I also suggest Santana Live in South America? Amazon.com sells it, and I think it gives his best performance of Black Magic Woman. As for this CD, the two biggest hits are Black Magic Woman and Evil Way's. But the rest of the CD is cool also. You are going to get that Latin sound. This is a combination of Head Music with Good Rock, great vocals and great rhythm mixed in. This is a CD to share with on a date, or just relax too.

The reason I give this album 1 star is not the compilation of music, which clearly deserves an easy 5 stars. But did anyone care to mention that almost every song is cut off or shortened? This album is 33 minutes long! Black Magic Woman ends at the beginning of the solo, Evil Ways is drastically shortened, as well as everything else. I wish I had known this before I wasted 18 dollars on this album. If this album had been complete, I would have praised it for everything it's worth, but in this case, it's worth absolutely nothing. Go buy the albums instead. Buying this album is like downloading 3/4 of every song and burning it onto an album. So if soundclips are what you're looking for, you might as well check out the clips here -trust me- the album is not much better.

Don't buy this album. Sure, it does contain some of Santana's greatest hits-- and I do love Santana's music-- but it's not the group's best collection album. I urge you to buy "The Best of Santana" (1998) instead. It has all the classics this disc contains, plus additional great hits from the later 70s and early 80s, plus much better sound quality on all tracks.

This release has been garnering five star ratings, but let's take a closer look at this package...

It only covers the period of prime Santana (3 albums). On that basis it should be an easy task to select the very best of that period. While it does have many terrific Santana classics (Evil Ways, Jingo, Black Magic Woman, Oye Como Va, Se A Cabo, Persuasion) it manages to overlook Soul Sacrifice, and No One To Depend On. Meaning you're still going to end up buying two more albums to get the missing tracks.

So you now own three CDs to cover the prime period of Santana.

Wait a minute...why not buy the three albums, get remastered sound quality, full-length versions of all of the songs (Black Magic Woman with Gypsy Queen), and have bonus tracks to boot. You then can also own such tracks as Incident at Neshabur and Toussaint L'Overture (also missing). These three remastered CDs come in a slipcase box for a very reasonable price.

The single edits (Jingo, Evil Ways, Black Magic Woman), the mid-80's sound quality, and omitted tracks, make this an item that you should pass on.

Here's one of the reasons to avoid greatest hits/best of collections. These are some truly great tracks which have been savaged by some label-hired editor, who cuts large chunks off songs for no particular reason.

Everbody should own a copy of "Samba Pa Ti," by the way, one of the truly great guitar tracks, overflowing with delicacy and intensity. A truly erotic instrumental track.

One of the best guitar solos in rock, on "Black Magic Woman," can't be heard here though, because the studio hack whacked it off the version on this CD.

Buy the original albums and hear the real deal. Columbia blew it on this one.