The Best of Santana vs. The Essential Santana

I'm due a couple of free CDs from Coumbia House and would like to select either the 'Essential Santana' double CD that was released in 2002, or the two remastered 'Best Of' volumes that were released in 1998 and 2000. I'm inclined to go with the Essential collection just to have both of the CDs in one package, but would like to know if any of the hardcore Santana fans out there would recommend one track listing over the other, and if there are there are any significant differences in sound quality. I should point out that I already own the remasters of the first three albums, so I'm primarily interested in the post 'III' material. I've pasted the track listings below for comparisons sake:

The Essential Santana

Disc 1

1. Jingo
2. Evil Ways
3. Soul Sacrifice
4. Medley: Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen
5. Oye Como Va
6. Samba Pa Ti
7. Everybody's Everything
8. No One To Depend On
9. Toussaint L'Overture
10. Guajira
11. La Fuente Del Ritmo
12. In A Silent Way (Live)
13. Love, Devotion and Surrender
14. Mirage
15. Carnaval
16. Let The Children Play
17. Jugando

Disc 2

1. She's Not There
2. Dance Sister Dance (Baila Mi Hermana) (Live)
3. Europa (Earth's Cry Heaven's Smile)
4. Stormy
5. Well All Right
6. Open Invitation
7. Aquamarine
8. You Know That I Love You
9. All I Ever Wanted
10. Winning
11. Hold On
12. Nowhere To Run
13. Say It Again
14. Veracruz
15. Blues For Salvador
16. The Healer (Featuring John Lee Hooker)

Or....

The Best of Santana

Volume 1

1. Jingo
2. Evil Ways
3. Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen
4. Oye Como Va
5. Samba Pa Ti
6. She's Not There
7. No One to Depend On
8. Open Invitation
9. Hold On
10. Bella
11. Winning
12. All I Ever Wanted
13. Dance Sister Dance (Baila Mi Hermana)
14. Europa (Earth's Cry Heaven's Smile)
15. Everybody's Everything
16. Soul Sacrifice

Volume 2

1. Persuasion
2. You Just Don't Care
3. Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen [Live]
4. Incident at Neshabur
5. Se a Cabo
6. Hope You're Feeling Better
7. Toussaint l'Overture
8. Guajira
9. Everything's Coming Our Way
10. Europa (Earth's Cry Heaven's Smile) [Live]
11. Stormy
12. Well...All Right
13. One Chain (Don't Make No Prison)
14. Peace on Earth...Mother Earth...Third Stone from the Sun

 

I have both. I don't know....both could have been done better. On Best of Santana II, You Just Don't Care seems like filler. This volume you'll notice has a jazz theme (Incident at Neshabur, Toussaint L'Overture), so where are the two cuts off of the jazz album Caravanserai (La Fuente del Ritmo, and Song of the Wind)?

Also, there are still singles missing from volume two which would have filled the missing pieces such as You Know That I Love You (from Marathon), I'll Be Waiting (from Moonflower) plus key album tracks (Aqua Marine, Havana Moon) One notices how few albums are used on volume two as opposed to volume one.


Now we drop down to Essential. It does try to cover each and every album to give a thorough overview. But here there are flaws. The weight it gives to each album is equal but it shouldn't be. Again Song of the Wind is absent. Se a Cabo, Persuasion are missing in action. So, Abraxas has the same weight as Marathon (and Abraxas is a better album) but more weight than Caranversai (which Carlos has stated in their Box set liners as being the equal to Abraxas) and Moonflower (a better record). Say it Again from Beyond Appearances (the absolutely worse Santana album IMHO), should have been dropped.

Now we come to the edits. All I Ever Wanted is edited. The intro is cut, the instrumental middle is shortened. I guess this is the single edit (which is only 30 seconds shorter than the album cut). Why? The second disc is only 74 minutes. There was room. Also, Nobody to Depend On has its intro cut off. The beginning sounds clipped. Hold On is the same mix that appeared on the 2-CD UK import. It has a longer fade, but the intro is cut. The mix is different. And I don't care too much for the live version of Baila Mi Hermana. The album cut is far superior. If you wanted a live version over the album version, the live version of Europa (from Moonflower) IMHO is superior to the album cut from Amigos. That would have been a better choice.

Whew! As you can tell...I like Santana just a little bit!



Hope this helps! Oh...and if you don't mind single edits (Soul Sacrifice, She's Not There, All I Ever Wanted) but a better more balanced collection...
check out this latin baby....it's the one I referred to above

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos...10689/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_3_1/026-1239605-4418826



Brian

 

I still miss the older Viva Santana! [Columbia/Sony 1988] It had a bit of 'musicality' that was absent in the late 90's re-masters that Carlos was involved in. Sorry I dumped it.