Includes liner notes by David Fricke.

The Best of Santana is a 16-track collection that greatly expands the scope of Santana's previous hits compilation, Greatest Hits. Drawing from the band's entire 30-year career, the disc contains such familiar items as "Evil Ways," "Jingo," "Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen," and "Oye Como Va," but it also has a number of longtime favorites of the band and fans. Furthermore, all the songs have been subjected to Super Bit remastering, resulting in the best sound ever. For some casual fans, Greatest Hits remains definitive, since it's a portrait of the band at its peak, but listeners wanting a career-spanning single-disc compilation will find that The Best of Santana suits their needs. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

This anthology covers some of the highlights of Santana's long and varied career. Though it's occasionally dipped its collective toe into the AOR waters, Santana is one of the few psychedelic-era San Francisco bands that's maintained its career without embarrassing itself. Though diehards might lament the lack of more obscure material, there's only so much a single disc can cover of this band's esteemed legacy. Consider it a Santana starter kit; you get the basics from the band's first incarnation ("Black Magic Woman," "Evil Ways") the aforementioned AOR efforts ("Winning") and everything in between. THE BEST OF SANTANA does a good job of summing the band's fusion of rock, Latin music and jazz for those who haven't yet begun to explore Santana's venerable catalog.