User Score
4.0

Mixed or average reviews- based on 10 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 10
  2. Negative: 5 out of 10
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  1. Nov 5, 2010
    0
    I try to find the positive in everything I listen to, but this is one occasion where I can't do so. This is a huge disappointment. I looked at some of the artists who were featured on this compilation and while I didn't like a few, I did like some. Doesn't matter because no one, not even Santana, can save this album. I'm not quite sure how the record execs didn't hear this and try to stopI try to find the positive in everything I listen to, but this is one occasion where I can't do so. This is a huge disappointment. I looked at some of the artists who were featured on this compilation and while I didn't like a few, I did like some. Doesn't matter because no one, not even Santana, can save this album. I'm not quite sure how the record execs didn't hear this and try to stop it from being put out to the masses. One of the worst albums I've ever heard. Expand
  2. Aug 16, 2020
    3
    'Guitar Heaven' is simply a cold copy-paste project from Santana who is trying to get some attention by doing reprises of rock classics. Originality is missing from beginning to end and this feeling I get is reinforced by the fact that there is only one track that is not exactly the same as its original version (and the one I'm referring to is 'Back in Black' with rapper Nas). Santana and'Guitar Heaven' is simply a cold copy-paste project from Santana who is trying to get some attention by doing reprises of rock classics. Originality is missing from beginning to end and this feeling I get is reinforced by the fact that there is only one track that is not exactly the same as its original version (and the one I'm referring to is 'Back in Black' with rapper Nas). Santana and even the featured artists seem to be afraid to frustrate rock fans if they don't deliver the exact same texture as everyone's favourite songs. That's crazy because we speak about a lot of diffenrent artists, some seen better than the others but still none of them tried anything new or unxpected.
    Some riffs of the album are catchy and contribute to a certain take-off but end up being erased by the total lack of originality. I was about to recommand listening to this album with friends in a chill ambiance but eventually no: why would stop on this project whilst you can enjoy the original songs which benefits from Santana's absence as well ?
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  3. Mar 3, 2022
    0
    I hear it differently: as an act of self-vindication. Santana had always been accused of having weak singers in his band so as not to compete with his guitar playing. Here he is saying my guitar can compete with the greatest guitar players even when there's a strong singer in the mix. And he's right. On every track. Admittedly, it's an act of hubris but he shows - at least to me -I hear it differently: as an act of self-vindication. Santana had always been accused of having weak singers in his band so as not to compete with his guitar playing. Here he is saying my guitar can compete with the greatest guitar players even when there's a strong singer in the mix. And he's right. On every track. Admittedly, it's an act of hubris but he shows - at least to me - that he can outplay the best of them on their own signature songs while remaining faithful to the originals (And Rolling Stone ranks him at #20 and Keith Richards at #4!? On what planet in which galaxy??) Expand
Metascore
45

Mixed or average reviews - based on 7 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 7
  2. Negative: 1 out of 7
  1. Feb 28, 2011
    70
    The result comes off as a celebrity version of American Idol, in which the prize is not a record contract, but to have your track released as a single.
  2. Uncut
    Dec 20, 2010
    40
    As he mostly prefers to copy the sound of the original guitarists rather than stamp his own unique style on these over-familiar songs, you have to ask what's the point? [Dec 2010, p.105]
  3. There are no reinterpretations--not even the Nas-fronted "Back in Black" changes the song much--just restatements of riffs and replicated effects, each familiar element offering a reminder that Santana, Davis, and company chose to take the easy road by settling for gauche pop instead of guitar rock, winding up with a truly terrible album.