REVIEW: Ultimate Santana by Santana

You've got to hand it to Carlos Santana; he managed to reinvent himself when everyone had forgotten about him. The album 'Supernatural', released in 1999 and led by the hit single "Smooth" featuring Rob Thomas of Matchbox Twenty, garnered 9 Grammy awards, went 15 times platinum and ushered in a whole new phase of his career filled with renewed commercial and critical success.

'Ultimate Santana', released on 10/16/07 by Arista Records, is a compilation which rightfully shows appreciation to the artists that helped him reclaim pop super stardom with 7 tracks from between 1999 and 2005, reminds us where he came from with 7 tracks from 1969 to 1976 and shows us where he's going (which sounds, not surprisingly, like the last 8 years) with 4 new tracks. Is this the "Ultimate" Santana? Not really. Is it an interesting albeit flawed career retrospective? Yes.

First of the 4 new tracks is "Into the Night" featuring Nickelback front man Chad Kroeger. An uptempo rocker, both Kroeger's voice and Santana's guitar are in fine form here as they run through a catchy number that just might have you tapping your foot. Next up is "This Boy's Fire" featuring Jennifer Lopez & Baby Bash, a danceable pop song that's not nearly as annoying as it should be. This seems to be the most understated that Santana's guitar has sounded on any of his collaborations as of late.

Third is a new version of "The Game Of Love" featuring Tina Turner, who was supposed to sing the song for the album 'Shaman' in 2002. Originally sung by Michelle Branch on that album (also included here), Tina's choppy and wobbly vocals seem to clunk through the song and her lack of range forces it to be performed about 2 octaves lower, which takes away from the light and airy tone of the original. Branch's vocals ooze of vibrancy and yearning; exactly what the song calls out for. Tina still has power in her voice and can belt it out with the best of them, but the smoothness and finesse of her prime have since faded, leaving the song weighed down and plodding. If Santana just HAD to work with Tina Turner this time around, perhaps a new song could have been chosen instead of remaking one that won a Grammy Award for "Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals" a mere 5 years earlier.

The final new track is called "Interplanetary Party" and doesn't feature a celebrity vocal; in fact, I've never heard of Tony Lindsay, the guy credited with the lead vocal on the song. Uninspired lyrics, bland vocals and cheesy horns recall a smooth jazz sound that seems out of place on this collection, at least until Santana starts soloing. Written by Carlos Santana, Chester Thompson and Tony Lindsay, this track only helps to solidify the idea that Santana needs other star talent to keep him sounding fresh and contemporary.

Most of the new music fits right in with the more recent material such as the soulful hip hop of "Maria Maria" featuring The Product G&B and alt rock of "Why Don't You & I" featuring Alex Band among others.

Classic rock staples such as "Oye Como Va", "Black Magic Woman" and "Evil Ways" are always welcome and sound great to this day, although younger listeners only familiar with the last decade of slickly produced pop/rock may find these songs dated. At lease they are included to hopefully educate as well as entertain. Note to the kids: 2 members from the early years of Santana (the band) went on to form one of the biggest bands of the late 1970's and early 1980's, Journey. Bonus points if you know which 2 guys.

In focusing on the early "classic rock" hits and the modern pop/rock hits, it manages to paint a picture of a guy who had NO career for the 23 years in between. Granted these were not the most exciting of times in Carlos' musical journey, but to ignore them altogether means that this cannot be considered the "Ultimate" Santana collection. Since it does lend itself heavily to the "hits", it's surprising not to see his version of Russ Ballard's "Winning" (#17 on the charts that year) from the 1981 album 'Zebop!'.

Is this the "Ultimate" Santana? The answer is still 'No', but with most of the bands bigger radio hits from the past 38 years, it is a great place for old fans to get the newer hits and new fans to figure out why were still talking about Santana all these many years later.

1. Into The Night (featuring Chad Kroeger) - previously unreleased

2. This Boy's Fire (feat. Jennifer Lopez and Baby Bash) - previously unreleased

3. Smooth (w/Rob Thomas) - from Supernatural (released June 1999)

4. Maria Maria (w/Product G&B) - from Supernatural (released June 1999)

5. Oye Como Va - from Abraxas (released Sept. 1970)

6. Black Magic Woman - from Abraxas (released Sept. 1970)

7. Evil Ways - from Santana (released Aug. 1969)

8. Corazon Espinado (w/Maná) - from Supernatural (released June 1999)

9. Europa - from album Amigos (released March 1976)

10. The Game of Love (w/Tina Turner) - previously unreleased

11. Put Your Lights On (w/Everlast) - from Supernatural (released June 1999)

12. Why Don't You & I (w/Alex Band of The Calling) - (single released internationally July 2003)

13. Everybody's Everything - from Santana III (released Sept. 1971)

14. Just Feel Better (w/Steven Tyler) - from All That I Am (released Nov. 2005)

15. Samba Pa Ti - from Abraxas (released Sept. 1970)

16. No One To Depend On - from Santana III (released Sept. 1971)

17. The Game of Love (w/Michelle Branch) - from Shaman (released Oct. 2002)

18. Interplanetary Party - previously unreleased

Buy it HERE
Santana's website is HERE

Do the kids these days even know who Journey is???

REVIEW: The Traveling Wilburys – The Traveling Wilburys Collection (2CD/1DVD)

In case you didn't catch this in the latest FREE episode of Replay Factor...



In 1987, George Harrison was having renewed success with his then recently released album ‘Cloud 9’. When asked to come up with a b-side for one of his singles, George assembled his friends Roy Orbison, Tom Petty, Bob Dylan & Jeff Lynne and recorded the song “Handle With Care”. The people at Warner Bros. heard it and decided that this was too good to waste on a b-side. Harrison took the idea and ran with it; the Traveling Wilburys was born and ‘Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1’ was released the following year. That album, along with its 1990 follow-up ‘Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3’, went out-of-print in the late nineties.

17 years after the release of ‘Vol. 3’, Rhino Records has re-released the super-group’s landmark albums in a 2CD/1DVD set called ‘The Traveling Wilburys Collection’. This is all the Wilburys you’ll ever need; containing both albums in their entirety with bonus tracks, a half hour documentary and the band’s 5 music videos. A deluxe edition with a cloth bound cover and 40 page book is also available.

The first disc is devoted to ‘Vol. 1’ and its bonus tracks. Kicking off with “Handle With Care”, this album is chock full of jangly guitar pop goodness and features the five principals at the top of their game. Everyone writes, plays and sings and it shows; the songs manage to showcase the individuals while maintaining an overall cohesive sound that binds the album together. From Harrison’s signature slide guitar to Dylan’s social commentary lyrics; everyone has something to contribute. Tacked on to the end are the two bonus tracks, “Maxine” & “Ship In Line”, both previously unreleased.

Disc two is the DVD and holds the documentary and the music videos. The documentary, “The True Story of the Traveling Wilburys”, contains vintage material and runs through the creation of each song on ‘Vol. 1’. Informative and entertaining, it’s fun to watch these guys truly enjoying themselves. Unfortunately, it’s also incomplete; there is no footage regarding ‘Vol. 3’ and it would have been nice to get some interviews with the surviving members (George Harrison passed away in 2001). The music videos are entertaining but fairly routine for the time; look for the late John Candy's brief cameo in "Wilbury Twist".

Finally, the third disc contains ‘Vol. 3’ and its bonus tracks. Before this album was recorded, Roy Orbison passed away and his velvety smooth vocals are genuinely missed, giving the album a slightly different feel. The opening track, “She’s My Baby” is much more of a rocker than anything on its predecessor and that general attitude permeates the entire album. The instrumentation is denser and leans towards a 50’s rockabilly sensibility. There are two bonus tracks “Nobody’s Child” (from a compilation) & “Runaway” a cover of the Del Shannon hit.

If you enjoyed these albums originally or if you’re a fan of any of these artists, ‘The Traveling Wilburys Collection’ is a no-brainer purchase. Digitally remastered with good extras should be incentive enough even if you already own the originals.

If nothing else, this collection proves that they just don’t make all-star super-groups like they used to.

Rating: Music - **** out of ***** / Reissue - ***** out of *****

REVIEW: The Police - The Police (2 CD Set)

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Released in 2007, this set is the perfect companion piece to their 30th anniversary reunion. Bringing together 28 chart-topping hits and fan favorite album tracks across 2 cds, 'The Police' is a nearly stellar overview of their all-too-brief career. Yes, I said "nearly". Although a remake of an earlier hit, the exclusion of 'Don't Stand So Close To Me '86' is a glaring omission as this was their final studio recording.

The collection begins in 1977 with "Fall Out", the Copeland penned and produced first single and runs through their five studio albums, ending with 8 of the 11 tracks from 1983's 'Synchronicity'. 'Synchronicity' is arguably their most successful record, but the Police took a break in 1984 which became permanent (for 22 years anyway) the following year. Tracking their progression from punky new wave band (with a hint of Reggae) to mature pop hit makers, 'The Police' doesn't miss a beat.

There have been other compilations before; from 'Every Breath You Take: The Singles' to 'The Very Best Of Sting & the Police' - even a boxed set featuring every recording they did. This collection exists in a weird gray area, being neither as comprehensive as said boxed set (remember, they only released 5 albums) nor as strictly radio-friendly as the various singles collections. Since casual fans could find all of the big radio hits on a single disc and die hard fans would not go broke acquiring their entire discography, this anthology seems a bit redundant, obviously being released simply to capitalize on the band's recent media exposure.

The packaging of this set leaves something to be desired and is the only true letdown here. An "elegance through simplicity" approach has been employed here; the black slipcase's front cover adorned with a black and white close up of the trio and the words "The Police" covering a yellow digipack - the back cover simply housing the track listing. This works fine until you get to the pamphlet or poster or whatever it is they try to pass off as a booklet. This six panel folded one-sheet contains a pair of "then and now" photos, a short essay by Chris Salewicz (with no mention of who he is or why he's qualified to write an essay about the Police and have it included here) and some brief track details. Flip it over to reveal a vintage 1979 concert poster reproduction. Boring.

The essay is fine, but something bigger seems in order here; maybe band interviews regarding the reunion or quotes from other artists about how they were inspired by the Police. Given that this is the compilation that is supposed to introduce a new generation to the Police and reaffirm older fans as to why we should be excited about their triumphant return, it just seems like there should be... more.

That having been said, music-wise there's not a single dud in this create of fireworks which has been carefully carted out and dusted off to ring in the much celebrated and perhaps long overdue return of the Police.