Abraxas
AMG AllMusic Guide: Pop Albums:
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Abraxas
- Artist: Santana
- Rating:
- Release Date: 1970 09
- Total Time: 37:27
- 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, Rovi| Abrasive Stuttering (2001 Album by Salvo Beta) | |
| Abraxas Pool (1997 Album by Abraxas Pool) |
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Abraxas (album)
| Abraxas | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Album cover, from a painting by Mati Klarwein |
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| Studio album by Santana | ||||
| Released | September 1970 | |||
| Recorded | April 17–May 2, 1970 at Wally Heider Studios, San Francisco, California | |||
| Genre | Rock en Español, jazz fusion | |||
| Length | 37:32 | |||
| Label | Columbia KC-30130 |
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| Producer | Fred Catero, Carlos Santana | |||
| Santana chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Abraxas | ||||
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Abraxas is the second studio album by the Latin-influenced rock band Santana. Consolidating their highly acclaimed live performance at the Woodstock Festival in August 1969, and the interest generated by their first album, Santana (released in May 1969), 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.
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Contents
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Album name
The title of the album comes from a line from Herman Hesse's book Demian, which is quoted on the album's back cover: "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...." The word "Abraxas" has use within Gnostic cosmology.
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |  [1] |
| Robert Christgau | C+[2] |
| Rolling Stone | favorable[3] |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [4] |
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 8, 2009.
Cover art
The album cover features the 1961 painting Annunciation, by Mati Klarwein.
Legacy
Abraxas features a mixture of Latin influences with familiar rock themes such as showcased 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 piece)[5] 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, made 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.
Track listing
| 1998 remastered edition | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length | |||||||
| 1. | "Singing Winds, Crying Beasts [Instrumental]" | Mike Carabello | 4:51 | |||||||
| 2. | "Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen" | Peter Green/Gábor Szabó | 5:22 | |||||||
| 3. | "Oye Como Va" | Tito Puente | 4:16 | |||||||
| 4. | "Incident at Neshabur [Instrumental]" | Alberto Gianquinto, Carlos Santana | 4:57 | |||||||
| 5. | "Se a Cabo" | José Areas | 2:50 | |||||||
| 6. | "Mother's Daughter" | Greg Rolie | 4:25 | |||||||
| 7. | "Samba Pa Ti [Instrumental]" | Santana | 4:54 | |||||||
| 8. | "Hope You're Feeling Better" | Rolie | 4:11 | |||||||
| 9. | "El Nicoya" | Areas | 1:30 | |||||||
| 10. | "Se a Cabo (Live)" (1998 Edition) | 3:47 | ||||||||
| 11. | "Toussaint L'Overture (Live)" (1998 Edition) | 4:52 | ||||||||
| 12. | "Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen (Live)" (1998 Edition) | 4:57 | ||||||||
While the original track listing lists track 5 as "Se a Cabo", the correct Spanish spelling for the phrase is "se acabó", meaning "it's finished".
Versions
- In 1990 CBS/Sony published a remastered edition on Audio CD (Universal Product Code: 7464301302 ).
- In 1991 Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab released a remastered version on their Ultradisc (24K) Gold CD (UDCD 552).
- In 1998 Sony published a remastered version, which included three previously unreleased live tracks: "Se A Cabo", "Toussaint L'Overture" and "Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen," recorded at the Royal Albert Hall on 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 (UDCD 775) & GAIN 2™ Ultra Analog LP 180g Series (MFSL305).
Personnel
- Carlos Santana – guitar, vocals, producer
- Gregg Rolie – keyboards, lead vocals
- David Brown – bass, engineer
- Michael Shrieve – drums
- José "Chepito" Areas – percussion, conga, timbales
- Mike Carabello – percussion, conga
Additional personnel
- Rico Reyes – percussion, vocals
- Alberto Gianquinto – piano on "Incident at Neshabur"
- Steven Saphore – tabla
- Robert Venosa – artwork, graphic design
- John Fiore – engineer
- Mati Klarwein – illustrations
Chart tables
Album
| Year | Album details | Peak chart positions | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | AUS | AUT | FRA | NLD | NLZ | NOR | SWE | SWI | UK | |||||||||||||
| 1970 |
|
1 | 1 | — | 7 | 9 | — | 3 | — | — | 7 | |||||||||||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or was not released. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Singles
| Year | Title | Peak chart positions | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | US Rock | US AC | US AP | AUS | NLD | GER | NZL | SWI | UK | |||||||||||||
| 1970 | "Black Magic Woman" | 4 | — | — | — | 15 | — | 14 | — | — | — | |||||||||||
| 1971 | "Oye Como Va" | 13 | — | — | — | 13 | 16 | 29 | — | — | — | |||||||||||
| "Hope You're Feeling Better" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or was not released. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Certifications
| Certification |
|---|
References
- ^ Henderson, Alex. Abraxas (album) at Allmusic. Retrieved 2005-09-15.
- ^ Christgau, Robert. "Santana: Abraxas > Consumer Guide Album". Robert Christgau. http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_album.php?id=3101. Retrieved 2006-03-09.
- ^ Nash, Jim (December 24, 1970). "Santana Abraxas > Album Review". Rolling Stone (73). Archived from the original on 2007-01-16. http://web.archive.org/web/20070116090412/http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/santana/albums/album/230931/review/6067702/abraxas. Retrieved 2006-07-25.
- ^ Brackett, Nathan with Hoard, Christian, eds. (2004). "Santana". The New Rolling Stone Album Guide. London: Fireside. pp. 717–718. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8. Portions posted at "Santana > Album Guide". rollingstone.com. http://www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/santana/albumguide. Retrieved 2012-04-14.
- ^ 31 Songs by Nick Hornby
- ^ "Gold & Platinum Database Search: "Abraxas"". Recording Industry Association of America. 2008-04-24. http://riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?resultpage=1&table=SEARCH_RESULTS&action=&title=Abraxas&artist=&format=&debutLP=&category=&sex=&releaseDate=&requestNo=&type=&level=&label=&company=&certificationDate=&awardDescription=&catalogNo=&aSex=&rec_id=&charField=&gold=&platinum=&multiPlat=&level2=&certDate=&album=&id=&after=&before=&startMonth=1&endMonth=1&startYear=1958&endYear=2010&sort=Artist&perPage=25. Retrieved 2010-12-06.
- ^ "BPI – Certified Awards Search". British Phonographic Industry. 2000-04-14. http://www.bpi.co.uk/certifiedawards/search.aspx. Retrieved 2010-12-06.
- ^ "French certifications – Santana certifications search". Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique. Archived from the original on 2 December 2010. http://www.infodisc.fr/Certif_Album.php. Retrieved 2010-12-06.
| Preceded by Cosmo's Factory by Creedence Clearwater Revival |
Billboard 200 number-one album October 24–30, 1970 November 28, 1970 – January 1, 1971 |
Succeeded by Led Zeppelin III by Led Zeppelin All Things Must Pass by George Harrison |
| Preceded by Led Zeppelin III by Led Zeppelin |
Australian Kent Music Report number-one album February 22–28, 1971 |
Succeeded by Pendulum by Creedence Clearwater Revival |
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AMG AllMusic Guide: Pop Albums
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