Abraxas

Although I own most of the Santana catalog, I still feel this is his shining moment. Greg Rollie's organ playing, percussion section and singing all mesh perfectly, and Santana and Neal Schon are great together. Wonderful mood changes blend a complex tapestry of Latin, pop, and Afro influences into a joyous romp. They do a great job on "Black Magic Woman", to the point where few folks realize that this is a Peter Green composition from early Fleetwood Mac days.

Thanks, but I actually wanted the SACD version of Abraxus instead I received the standard CD version.

this is about the MoFi release, yeh yeh, the music's still great and always will be, but check out the cover.!!
too bad it's such a small image. its worth having the lp just to see the cover full size. the music and the art work suit each other, flowing mystical, erotic.you wanna know a good followup to abraxas? legend, by bob marley
namaste
jah rastafari

I borrowed this disc from my sister to see if it was worth laying out a premium for it in the aftermarket. Buyer beware...this is a poor production. The bass is almost non-existent. The highs are overblown and the mix unto itself is bizarre. If you want to pay a premium for an audiophile version of Abraxas then treat yourself to the stereo SACD. It's really ashame as this would have been great album in 5.1 if done properly.

Santana-Abraxas ****1/2

When some people think of the Gibson SG guitar they think of Angus Young of AC/DC or Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath or sometimes even Pete Townsend of The Who, and while all of those are great guitarists, None of them was able to make that baby cry like Carlos Santana was on the groups first two albums. Weaving his guitar lines through hit singles like their reading of the (original) Fleetwood Macs 'Black Magic Women' and 'Oye Como Va' for the mainstream to hear that the guitar could be played more than just one way....with passion.

Passion is what fueled Abraxas, the passion to make a better album than their first. This certainly did become a bigger album, and even to this day is the bands signature release, and while I myself am partial to the debut, I must give this the recognition it deserves.

Songs like the Aretha Franklin meets Miles Davis 'Incident At Nesbar' and the rocking 'Hope Your Feeling Better' are straight up rockers. The former contains a fantastic organ solo from Rolie, and the latter has amazing production and a catchy chorus, not to mention some amazing wha-wha pedal work from Carlos. The Carlos original 'Samba Pa Ti' transcends beauty with power to create one of the most sublime recordings in all of rock, rivaled only by his own 'Europa' which would come a few albums later. 'Se A Cabo' 'Mothers Daughter' and 'El Nicoya' show the percussion of the band as heard on the debut, and that is my only complaint with Abraxas is that the Latin and African rhythm has almost all but disappeared.

Santana set out to make a great rock n' roll record with Abraxas and ultimately that is what they did. I loved the debut because of it's variety and instrumental prowess into multiple genres and worldly music, some of that was lost here, but this still remains a great rock album, and one of the all time best in fact.

Now some releases of Abraxas come with three bonus tracks. 'Se A Cabo' and 'Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen' are both here live recorded at The Royal Albert Hall in 1970, but 'Toussaint L'Overture' is also included live from that same show, and it is one hell of a performance. So if you have the choice of either the original version or with the bonus tracks go for the extra as it costs the same and is way worth it.