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Abraxas

 
Album Review: Abraxas

  • Artist: Santana
  • Rating: StarStarStarStarStar
  • Release Date: 1970 09
  • Genre: Rock

Review

The San Francisco Bay Area rock scene of the late '60s was one that encouraged radical experimentation and discouraged the type of mindless conformity that's often plagued corporate rock. When one considers just how different Santana, Jefferson Airplane, Moby Grape, and the Grateful Dead sounded, it becomes obvious just how much it was encouraged. In the mid-'90s, an album as eclectic as Abraxas would be considered a marketing exec's worst nightmare. But at the dawn of the 1970s, this unorthodox mix of rock, jazz, salsa, and blues proved quite successful. Whether adding rock elements to salsa king Tito Puente's "Oye Como Va," embracing instrumental jazz-rock on "Incident at Neshabur" and "Samba Pa Ti," or tackling moody blues-rock on Fleetwood Mac's "Black Magic Woman," the band keeps things unpredictable yet cohesive. Many of the Santana albums that came out in the '70s are worth acquiring, but for novices, Abraxas is an excellent place to start. ~ Alex Henderson, All Music Guide

Tracks

Track TitleComposersPerformersTime
Singing Winds, Crying Beasts Mike Carabello Santana (4:52)
Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen Gabor Szabo, Peter Green Santana (5:19)
Oye Como Va (Lyrics) Tito Puente Santana (4:19)
Incident at Neshabur Alberto Gianquinto, Carlos Santana Santana (5:02)
Se a Cabo (Lyrics) José Chepitó Areas Santana (2:52)
Mother's Daughter (Lyrics) Gregg Rolie Santana (4:28)
Samba Pa Ti Carlos Santana Santana (4:48)
Hope You're Feeling Better (Lyrics) Gregg Rolie Santana (4:17)
El Nicoya José Chepitó Areas Santana (1:30)

Credits

Michael Shrieve (Drums), Santana (Main Performer), José Chepitó Areas (Percussion), José Chepitó Areas (Conga), José Chepitó Areas (Timbales), Gregg Rolie (Arranger), Gregg Rolie (Keyboards), Gregg Rolie (Vocals), David Brown (Bass), David Brown (Guitar (Bass)), David Brown (Engineer), Mike Carabello (Percussion), Mike Carabello (Arranger), Mike Carabello (Conga), Fred Catero (Producer), John Fiore (Engineer), Alberto Gianquinto (Piano), Joel (?), Mati Klarwein (Illustrations), Rico Reyes (Percussion), Rico Reyes (Arranger), Rico Reyes (Vocals), Jim Marshall (Photography), Mike Shrieve (Drums), Carlos Santana (Guitar), Carlos Santana (Arranger), Carlos Santana (Vocals), Carlos Santana (Producer), Joan Chase (Insert Photography), Bob Venosa (Artwork), Bob Venosa (Graphic Design), Tim de Paravicini (Consultant), Tim de Paravicini (Technical Support), Shawn R. Britton (Mastering), Dave Brown (Guitar (Bass)), Dave Brown (Engineer), Hermann Hesse (Author), Annie Rudder (Continuity), Marianne Schmidt (Cover Photo), Rob LoVerde (Mastering), Edmund Meitner (Consultant), Edmund Meitner (Technical Support)
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Wikipedia: Abraxas (album)
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Abraxas
Studio album by Santana
Released September 1970
Recorded April 17–May 2, 1970 at Wally Heider Recording Studio, San Francisco
Genre Progressive jazz, Latin Rock, Jazz fusion
Length 37:32 (Original LP)
51:08 (1998 remastered edition)
Label Columbia
KC-30130
Producer Fred Catero, Carlos Santana
Professional reviews
Santana chronology
Santana
(1969)
Abraxas
(1970)
Santana III
(1971)
Singles from Abraxas
  1. "Black Magic Woman"
    Released: 1970
  2. "Oye Como Va"
    Released: 1971
  3. "Hope You're Feeling Better"
    Released: 1971

Abraxas is the second album by Santana, the Latin rock n' roll group led by guitarist Carlos Santana. Consolidating their live success at the Woodstock Festival in 1969, and the interest generated by their first album the band took some time to issue a follow-up. Released in September 1970, the album's mix of rock, blues, jazz, salsa and other influences made it a classic that defined Santana's early sound, and showed a musical maturation from their first album.

Often considered Santana's greatest album, it drew widespread acclaim for its mixture of Latin influences with familiar rock themes such as overdriven electric guitar, organ and heavy drums. The album also demonstrates Santana's stylistic versatility, including tracks such as "Samba pa Ti" (a classic slow-burning, seductive piece)[1] and "Incident at Neshabur", both being instrumentals. The latter has several rhythm and time signature changes consistent with its jazz feel. Latin percussion — congas, bongos and timbales, as well as a conventional rock drum setup, make this Santana's first foray into true Latin rhythm. In 2003, the album was ranked number 205 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

The album achieved number 7 in the UK album charts[2]

The title of the album comes from a line from Herman Hesse's book Demian:

We stood before it and began to freeze inside from the exertion. We questioned the painting, berated it, made love to it, prayed to it: We called it mother, called it whore and slut, called it our beloved, called it Abraxas...

In 1998 Sony published a remastered version, which included three previously unreleased live tracks: "Se A Cabo", "Toussaint L'Ouverture" and "Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen," recorded at the Royal Albert Hall in April 18, 1970.

In 1998 SME records in Japan, part of Sony Music, also released the remastered version as an SACD. This disc is stereo only, and furthermore, it is a single layer SACD, which means that ordinary CD players will not play it. This disc contains the same bonus tracks as the ordinary 1998 remastered CD.

In 2008 Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab released a remastered version on their Ultradisc II (24K) Gold CD & LP.

The album's cover features the 1961 painting Annunciation, by Mati Klarwein.

Contents

Track listing

1998 remastered edition
# Title Writer(s) Length
1. "Singing Winds, Crying Beasts"   Carabello 4:48
2. "Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen"   Green/Szabo 5:24
3. "Oye Como Va"   Puente 4:19
4. "Incident at Neshabur"   Gianquinto, Santana 5:02
5. "Se a Cabo"   Areas 2:51
6. "Mother's Daughter"   Rolie 4:28
7. "Samba Pa Ti"   Santana 4:47
8. "Hope You're Feeling Better"   Rolie 4:07
9. "El Nicoya"   Areas 1:39
10. "Se a Cabo (Live)" (1998 Edition)   3:47
11. "Toussaint L'Ouverture (Live)" (1998 Edition)   4:52
12. "Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen (Live)" (1998 Edition)   4:57

Track information

"Samba Pa Ti"

"Samba Pa Ti" translated into English means "Samba for You".

This instrumental was covered by José Feliciano, who added lyrics. It is also one of the tracks featured in Nick Hornby's book 31 Songs. It was used in the UK as the background music for TV ads for Marks and Spencer food in 2006. It was also featured as the ending song in the Cold Case episode "Dead Heat", which aired November 8th, 2009.

Chart positions

Year Chart Position
1970 Billboard 200 1
1971 Australian Kent Music Report Albums Chart 1

Singles

  • 1970 - "Black Magic Woman"
  • 1971 - "Oye Como Va"
  • 1971 - "Hope You're Feeling Better"

Personnel

References

  1. ^ 31 Songs by Nick Hornby
  2. ^ http://www.chartstats.com/albuminfo.php?id=2728
Preceded by
Cosmo's Factory
by Creedence Clearwater Revival
Billboard 200 number-one album
October 24 - October 30, 1970
November 28, 1970 - January 1, 1971
Succeeded by
Led Zeppelin III by Led Zeppelin
Preceded by
Led Zeppelin III by Led Zeppelin
Australian Kent Music Report number-one album
February 22 - February 28, 1971
Succeeded by
Pendulum
by Creedence Clearwater Revival

 
 

 

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Album Review. Copyright © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC. Content provided by All Music Guide ®, a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Abraxas (album)" Read more

 

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