THREE years and three months after the release of the Mexican-born guitar-wizard's most phenomenal album, Supernatural, comes Shaman and it is superb.

Here, with help from stars such as Dido, (Feels Like Fire), Seal (You Are My Kind) and Placido Domingo (Novus) and Michelle Branch (The Game Of Love), you can hear Santana as fresh as a daisy after more than 30 years at the top.

And he sounds as if he is really enjoying every minute of his music-making. I defy anyone not to want to dance to the highly-infectious Latin American samba rhythms of Foo Foo.

The son of a mariachi violinist, Santana has come a long way since blowing away the peace and love generation at Woodstock in 1969 and his reputation as one of the handful of all-time rock guitar greats is built on solid achievement. Sixteen unmissable, soul-lifting sounds.

Updated: 10:26 Thursday, October 31, 2002