SANTANA’S GUITAR HEAVEN…THE GREATEST GUITAR
CLASSICS OF ALL TIME IN STORES SEPTEMBER 21ST
FIRST SINGLE “WHILE MY GUITAR GENTLY WEEPS”
FEATURING INDIA.ARIE AND YO-YO MA
DELUXE EDITION OF GUITAR HEAVEN…FEATURES
TWO EXTRA SONGS AND “THE MAKING OF GUITAR
HEAVEN” DVD WITH BEHIND THE SCENES, IN THE STUDIO
PERFORMANCE FOOTAGE AND INTERVIEWS WITH ALBUM
GUEST VOCALISTS AND PRODUCERS
FEATURES ALL-TIME GUITAR-CENTRIC ROCK SONGS CHOSEN BY CARLOS
SANTANA AND CLIVE DAVIS, WITH SPECIAL GUEST VOCALISTS ON EVERY
TRACK
Chris Cornell (“Whole Lotta Love”), India.Arie and Yo Yo Ma (“While My Guitar
Gently Weeps”), Pat Monahan (“Dance the Night Away”), Chester Bennington
and Ray Manzarek (“Riders On The Storm”), Rob Thomas (“Sunshine Of
Your Love”), Scott Weiland (“Can’t You Hear Me Knockin’”), Chris Daughtry
(“Photograph”), Gavin Rossdale (“Bang A Gong”)
Plus: Nas (“Back In Black”), Joe Cocker (“Little Wing”), Jonny Lang (“I Ain’t
Superstitious”), and more!
Follows trilogy of award-winning album collaborations by Carlos Santana and
Clive Davis – Supernatural (1999), Shaman (2002), and All That I Am (2005)
(August 20, 2010 – New York, NY) The longest-running, most successful partnership in the
history of rock takes flight anew, as legendary Rock And Roll Hall of Fame inductees Carlos
Santana and Clive Davis, Chief Creative Officer of Sony Music Entertainment, collaborate on
the brand new concept album, GUITAR HEAVEN: THE GREATEST GUITAR CLASSICS OF
ALL TIME, arriving in stores September 21st on Arista Records. The album was co-produced by
Howard Benson, Matt Serletic, Clive Davis, and Carlos Santana.
Working from their collective encyclopedic knowledge of rock, Carlos Santana and Clive
Davis devised a list of guitar-centric titles – and then invited a Who’s Who of guest vocalists
to perform on every track. Singers range from Chris Cornell (on Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta
Love”), Pat Monahan (on Van Halen’s “Dance the Night Away”), Chester Bennington and Ray
Manzarek (on The Doors’ “Riders on the Storm”), Rob Thomas (on Cream’s “Sunshine Of Your
Love), Scott Weiland (on the Rolling Stones’ “Can’t You Hear Me Knockin’”), Chris Daughtry
(on Def Leppard’s “Photograph”), Gavin Rossdale (on T. Rex’s “Bang A Gong”) to rapper
Nas and newcomer Robyn Troup (on AC/DC’s “Back In Black”), veteran Joe Cocker (on Jimi
Hendrix’s “Little Wing”), and more.
A very special dedication to George Harrison comes together on GUITAR HEAVEN…, with “While
My Guitar Gently Weeps,” on the album’s first single featuring singer india.arie and master
cellist Yo-Yo Ma. “Listening to the song,” Olivia Harrison told Carlos, “it made me jump for joy
and cry at the same time.” (Please see below for complete and deluxe edition track listing.)
Along with these stars, Carlos offers “supreme validation and compliment” to his full-time band for
their work on GUITAR HEAVEN…, their first entire full-length studio album recording together.
Band members who join him on the album include Dennis Chambers (drums), Benny Rietveld
(bass), Karl Perrazo (timbales), Tommy Anthony (rhythm guitar), Freddie Ravel (keyboards), Andy
Vargas (background vocals), and Raul Rekow (Congas). Bill Ortiz (trumpet) and Jeff Cressman
(trombone) also appear on the record.
“To create these songs,” said Carlos, “it took an incredible amount of trust – from Howard Benson
and Matt Serletic, and from, and all these incredible singers, all these incredible musicians, they
had to trust me, and I trusted Clive, so it’s a chain reaction of love, because that’s the highest form
of love that there is on this planet: Trust.”
“The cuts are special and the guest stars are special,” said Clive Davis. “But what is unique and
why this album stands for more than just the individual songs or titles, is that they were indeed
chosen because they’re guitar classics. And they celebrate the guitar because of the performance
of Carlos Santana.”
GUITAR HEAVEN… is the first new studio album by Santana since their trilogy of consecutive
blockbuster Arista releases: Supernatural (1999), Shaman (2002), and All That I Am (2005). All
three albums were produced by Carlos Santana and Clive Davis. They represented a warm and
well-received reunion with the executive who first signed Santana to Columbia Records (after
seeing them at San Francisco’s Fillmore West over Christmas week, 1968, at Bill Graham’s
request). Clive oversaw their formative years on the path to international superstardom starting in
1969, with the release of their debut album on August 18th, the Monday after their historic Saturday
performance at the Woodstock Music & Art Fair.
Three decades later in 1999, Supernatural became – and remains – an unsurpassed industry
phenom, 15-times RIAA platinum in the U.S. alone, nearly double that number of sales globally,
the #6 best-selling album in Soundscan history. Supernatural spent 102 weeks on the Billboard
chart including 12 weeks at #1. Its success was fueled by the #1 singles “Smooth” (co-written by
and feat-ur-ing Rob Thomas of Matchbox Twenty) and “Maria Maria” (featur-ing Product G&B).
Most significantly, Supernatural generated nine GRAMMY awards, an all-time record for a single
album project, including Album Of the Year and Best Rock Album, as well as Record Of the Year,
Song of the Year, and Best Pop Collaboration, all for “Smooth”; plus Best Pop Performance by a
Duo/Group for “Maria Maria.” There were also premiere Latin GRAMMY Award wins (the show’s
first year) for Record Of The Year and Best Rock Performance by a Duo/Group.
Supernatural was a hard act to follow – but 2002’s Shaman gave Santana a second consecutive
#1 multi-platinum album, propelled by the GRAMMY-winning Top 5 single “The Game of Love”
featuring Michelle Branch; and Top 10 “Why Don’t You and I” with Chad Kroeger of Nickelback.
Third in this series of collaborative albums was 2005’s All That I Am, which entered Soundscan
at #2, highlighted by the anthemic rocker “Just Feel Better,” featuring Steven Tyler of Aerosmith.
Ultimate Santana was released in 2007, the first career-spanning anthology to include touchstone
tracks from the band’s earliest hitmaking years on Columbia Records (“Evil Ways,” “Black
Magic Woman,” “Oye Como Va,” “Samba Pa Ti,” “Everybody’s Everything,” “No One To
Depend On,” “Europa”) – alongside material from the three Arista albums, the groundbreaking
collaborations plus new and previously unreleased tracks.
It has been more than 40 years since the original Santana Blues Band played its first shows at
Bill Graham’s Fillmore West in San Francisco, opening for The Who in October 1967. Santana is
unique among all the first generation Bay Area bands for sustaining its success on the charts and
on the road as a sold-out stadium attraction. Their track record boasts 20 RIAA gold, platinum and
multi-platinum albums (including their first 14 consecutive certifications) and lifetime sales of more
than 90 million albums worldwide. GUITAR HEAVEN: THE GREATEST GUITAR CLASSICS OF
ALL TIME carries the continuum to the next generation.
GUITAR HEAVEN: THE GREATEST GUITAR CLASSICS OF ALL TIME
Standard edition – final track listing:
“Whole Lotta Love” featuring Chris Cornell (Led Zeppelin)
“Can’t You Hear Me Knockin’” featuring Scott Weiland (The Rolling Stones)
“Sunshine Of Your Love” featuring Rob Thomas (Cream)
“While My Guitar Gently Weeps” featuring india.arie and Yo-Yo Ma (The Beatles)
“Dance the Night Away” featuring Pat Monahan (Van Halen)
“Back In Black” featuring Nas and Robyn Troup (AC/DC)
“Riders On the Storm” featuring Chester Bennington and Ray Manzarek (The Doors)
“Smoke On the Water” featuring Jacoby Shaddix (Deep Purple)
“Photograph” featuring Chris Daughtry (Def Leppard)
“Bang A Gong” featuring Gavin Rossdale (T. Rex)
“Little Wing” featuring Joe Cocker (Jimi Hendrix)
“I Ain’t Superstitious” featuring Jonny Lang (Howlin’ Wolf, Jeff Beck Group)
Deluxe Edition
Includes standard edition track listing plus “Fortunate Son” featuring Scott Stapp (Credence
Clearwater Revival) and “Under the Bridge” featuring Andy Vargas (Red Hot Chili Peppers).
The deluxe edition also features never-before-seen footage on DVD entitled “The Making Of
Guitar Heaven…” including “behind the scenes” footage from the studio and interviews with guest
vocalists from the album and producers Howard Benson, Matt Serletic, and Clive Davis, as well as
an extensive one-on-one interview with Carlos Santana and Clive Davis.
Download Here!
