| The Essential Santana | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Greatest hits album by | ||||
| Released | October 22, 2002 | |||
| Recorded | May 12, 1969 – 1989 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Label | ||||
| Producer | Various | |||
| Santana chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [1] |
| Robert Christgau | (not rated)[2] |
| Rolling Stone | [3] |
The Essential Santana is a compilation album by Santana, released on October 22, 2002. The collection is part of a series of Essential sets released by Columbia Records.
Uniquely among Santana compilations, "Soul Sacrifice" is included in the studio version from their first album, not the live performance from Woodstock.
The compilation contains no songs from the highly successful Supernatural album, despite it being released 3 years before this album. This is because Columbia and Santana's current label Arista Records were not under common ownership at the time. In 2013, Sony issued another "Essential Santana" 2-CD set which truncates the original's repertoire and does include music from the Arista era, as well as the live Woodstock version of "Soul Sacrifice".
- ^ Unterberger, Richie. The Essential Santana at AllMusic
- ^ "Robert Christgau: Recyclables: The Essential Santana". robertchristgau.com. Retrieved September 4, 2011.
- ^ Kemp, Mark (October 22, 2002). "Santana: The Essential Santana : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on May 7, 2008. Retrieved September 4, 2011.