Album: Santana, Guitar Heaven (Sony Music)

Andy Gill
Thursday 16 September 2010 19:00 EDT
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Subtitled "The Greatest Guitar Classics Of All Time", Guitar Heaven is like being stuck in a guitar shop while a customer runs through standard riff-rock favourites like "Smoke On The Water", "Whole Lotta Love" and "Sunshine Of Your Love" – except the customer is Carlos Santana, and he's brought along a bunch of heavy friends like Joe Cocker, Chris Cornell and Scott Weiland to provide vocals.

It's enervatingly uninspired for the most part, the most notable exception being a "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" featuring India.Arie's vocal, Yo-Yo Ma's cello, and some lovely butterfly trills from Santana himself: when the elegant solo arrives, it's clearly better suited to his style than the brutalist riffing elsewhere. What's sadder is how few of these alleged classics come from black artists, despite the indebtedness to black blues tradition.

DOWNLOAD THIS While My Guitar Gently Weeps; Little Wing

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