Arista

With Guitar Heaven, Carlos Santana once again matches his signature sound to numerous high profile singers. Featuring the likes of Rob Thomas, Nas and Scott Weiland, among others, the epic string bender tackles classic rock templates on a dozen covers, which always stick to the original blueprints. His format is both a blessing and a curse as the arrangements are too familiar on songs that are already far too well known. While the album is a handy one stop shop for old school rock, “Whole Lotta Love” is an eerie carbon copy of the original, and his decision to cover “Smoke on the Water” begs the question, “why?” Though the Clive Davis produced album is a valiant attempt to help a guitar legend age gracefully, this particular collection doesn’t quite succeed.