One thing I love about this album is that the percussion never feels like a decoration or forced. It drives the songs. Many rock bands added congas or timbales for color. Santana built the entire foundation of the music around them. That’s probably why those tracks still sound so powerful today. Carlos gets the notice, but Abraxas is really a statement in what a great band can do when every member is playing at their peak. I usually reserve saying that mostly for the Allman Brothers, Little Feat, and The Dead. I was just going to cover one song…but no…the album had me transfixed with its rhythms.
When Santana recorded Abraxas in 1970, they were no longer just another San Francisco band. Their performance at the Woodstock Festival the year before had turned them into stars almost overnight. Their debut album had already produced hits like Evil Ways, but on Abraxas, everything came together. The band was firing on all cylinders. Carlos Santana’s guitar was just scorching, and Gregg Rolie handled the vocals and keyboards, and the rhythm section was incredible. Rolie was always one of my favorite members, and I’m glad I got to see him live.
Santana was a music machine built around rhythm. Michael Shrieve’s drumming worked alongside the congas, timbales, and percussion of José “Chepito” Areas and Michael Carabello. The result was a sound that felt alive. Songs like Oye Como Va and Black Magic Woman seemed to move in several directions at once, yet never lost the groove. You can hear rock, jazz, blues, and Cuban influences all blending together. No one sounded like Santana in 1970, and nobody really has since.
Carlos Santana’s guitar playing deserves all the praise it gets, but what made this album special was that he wasn’t carrying the band alone. There wasn’t a weak link anywhere. That is one reason Abraxas still sounds great more than fifty years later. If you want to be transfixed, like I was, just put on the album with headphones and enjoy the rhythms that Santana brought.
The album produced classics like Black Magic Woman, Oye Como Va, and the beautiful instrumental Samba Pa Ti. I would also add Mother’s Daughter, its a song with an infectious groove written by Gregg Rolie. It became Santana’s first number-one album and remains one of the finest examples of Latin rock ever recorded. For me, Abraxas captures a band at the perfect moment. They had the hunger of a young group, the confidence that came from Woodstock, and enough talent to fill two bands. When I listen to Abraxas, I don’t just hear Carlos Santana, I hear a band at its peak.
The album peaked at #1 on the Billboard Album Charts, #3 in Canada, and #7 in the UK in 1970.
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Killer guitar work on this album! 😎🎸💯
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For me, the classic version of Black Magic Woman was the original, by Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac. Santana did it well, but the original was better to my ears.
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I am a major fan of Peter Green and was initially unhappy that Santana had such a hit and Fleetwood Mac was overlooked. Over the years I’ve come to accept that this is the way to do a cover. It’s not a copy, it’s not an abomination to try to sound “original”, it’s taking someone else’s song and making it your own. Like Aretha Franklin’s version of “Respect”, which doesn’t detract from Otis Redding’s original, but takes it somewhere else.
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I don’t disagree with any of that, but it always disappoints me when I see people – mostly, but not exclusively, Americans – refer to it as ‘a Santana song.’
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I do like that version as well Clive…anything that Peter Green did…I’m there. I probably lean more toward the Mac version as well…but I do think Santana turned out a good version.
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Yes, it was good, but for me the original wins every time 😊
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Incredible album. “Samba Pa Ti” is a deathbed song for me. Perfect music to help you transition to the next realm. Great post.
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Wow….never heard of that phrase before! This was the first time I’ve ever listened to the complete album…I loved it.
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Yeah, I have songs I plan on listening to if it’s a drawn-out affair. Uplifting topic, huh? Happy Saturday!
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Oh yes! I think you need to hold one of these puppies! lol… that solves all problems! You know…there is one song that everytime I hear it…I think…when I die I will be listening to this song…Zeppelin’s Dyer Maker…why I don’t know! Everytime I hear it now…I kinda get nervous.
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I would dearly love to hold ALL of the puppies.
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Just lay down on the floor and here they come…galloping, tripping, stumbling, but they arrive. lol.
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I’m glad you called out the whole band. A mistake some folks make is to hear a guitar hero and ignore the importance of the band to the overall sound. (The other examples you cite illustrate that perfectly.)
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Thanks…this is the first time I really listened to this all the way through…the percussion just knocked me out…of course I love Carlos’s playing…but he had a hell of a foundation to play over. Those bands…yea I thought it was similiar…the whole and not the one make them.
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Very well written and true. They still sound intriguing and different with this album, imagine how revolutionary it was 56 years ago when it came out. Good point on the percussion really being central and essential to the sound too. The Beatles brought Indian music to the Western mainstream, Santana did that for South American/Latin sounds.
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Thanks Dave! Yea this is the first time I really listened to the complete album…I was…like I said…transfixed…that percussion just lured me in.
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I’ll echo Dave’s comment “Well written and true”. Your comments “Nobody sounded like Santana”, “I hear a band at it’s peak. Listening to ‘Mother’s Daughter’ I guess I’m in for a Sanatana day. Again.
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This one came as a surprise. Yes I’ve heard the hits and I’ve heard a few others but you really don’t get it until you listen to the whole album. Just fantastic CB. I know I went on and on and on about the rhythms…but they deserve it. Top band.
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One of my favorite albums I listen to regularly. Well written, Max!
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Thank you so much Dana!
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Santana’s early classic period by far remains my favorite Santana era. While I love all of his first three albums, “Abraxas” undoubtedly would be the one I’d pick if I could only take one classic Santana album.
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I think they were at their peak in this…man it’s awesome. I do like the other two…but yea…this one is about as close to perfect as you can get. This is the first time I ever listened to it all the way through! Loved it.
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Abraxas is an absolute masterpiece and it has been preserved in the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress for being culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.
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Jim this is my first time listening to it all the way through…it deserves it!
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I would love to listen to it again, as it has been a really long time since someone spun this album for me. I had this awful problem with my printer, as it went to idle and offline status and another printer became set as my default. I have been working on this problem since last night, trying everything and then I finally fixed it and it is back to normal, but I am not sure what the solution was. I am really glad that it is working again, even though I don’t use it much.
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Great review of a great album. I have a special place for Abraxas because it’s one of the first AOR albums that I owned. The percussion is always a key Santana component. It is a testament to Carlos’ culture. No other rock guitarist intertwines their instrument more succinctly with percussion.
Yes, I totally agree that Santana is the epitome of a band. Carlos is such a generous musician. So many great musicians have been associated with him over the years. And he has always put them in the spotlight. I adore him.
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