Back in the early Seventies, well before he'd ever heard of Rob Thomas, Carlos Santana cut a pair of solo records, Love Devotion Surrender and Illuminations, while under the influence of two dangerous substances: the music of John Coltrane and the philosophy of Sri Chinmoy. Now producer Bill Laswell has gone back to those albums for a "reconstruction and mix translation," similar to the remixes he's done of electric-era Miles Davis (Panthalassa) and Bob Marley (Dreams of Freedom). The result is a pretentious mess. Laswell's ideas — like tying the re-sequenced tracks together with an Indian tamboura drone — are interesting, but he's dealing with some awfully unfocused material. Several Illuminations cuts offer little more than bombastic orchestral crescendos and interminable harp-plucking by Coltrane's widow Alice. And though it's fun to hear the Love Devotion Surrender selections, especially when Carlos trades searing licks with fellow axe-slinger John McLaughlin, the fact is neither guitarist can match the intensity of their obvious saxophonic idol; they huff and they puff, but they're still way behind the Trane.

“My President”

Young Jeezy teams up with Nas on this track, in which he compare his own success with the idea of an African-American winning the Democratic Party's nomination in the 2008 presidential election. "When I pulled up in my car, that s--- was unbelievable to people in my neighborhood because they were like, 'We grew up with him. How the hell did he accomplish this?'" he told Rolling Stone. "I feel like it was the same way with Obama. I grew up all this time, but I've never seen a black man this close to running this country."