Masterpiece: Abraxas

[Today: Santana serenades the goddess mother...]

“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.” So goes the line in Herman Hesse’s book Demian that spawned the title of Santana’s second LP. Released in December of 1970, Abraxas was a big step forward for the band and, featuring congos, bongos, and timables, it boasts a much stronger latin influence than their rock-oriented, self-titled debut.

Santana was one of the hottest live bands of their day, as evidenced by an outstanding showing at Woodstock (they were the finest act at the festival not named Richie Havens), but their standard set was loaded with cover songs. Bill Graham convinced them of the importance of original material, and of Abraxas‘ nine songs, seven were penned by the group. Naturally, the two cover songs became big hits – their definitive reading of Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Black Magic Woman’ (which is conjoined with a lovely version of Gabor Szabo’s ‘Gypsy Queen’) and an inspired take on Tito Puente’s ‘Oye Como Va’ sent Abraxas up the charts for an 18-month stay.

It’s an album well-deserving of its quadruple-platinum sales. In addition to the aforementioned hits, ‘Singing Winds Crying Beasts’ is an atmospheric instrumental storm, and ‘Incident At Neshabur’ prefigures Santana’s plunge into more jazz-oriented material. ‘Se a Cabo’ ‘Samba Pa Ti’ and ‘Hope You’re Feeling Better’ round out Abraxas, making it nearly a de facto greatest hits. Guitarist and band namesake Carlos Santana has become a brand-name guitarist over the years, but this album marks a highpoint in both the quality and consistency of his playing. Keyboardist Greg Rolie was also integral to the band’s sound – those are his vocals on ‘Black Magic Woman’ – and the group’s four man rhythm section was without peer.

Unfortunately, this version of Santana would only make one more album together before Rolie and guitarist Neil Schon departed to form Journey. But it was fun while it lasted.

Listen: Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen

Listen: Oye Como Va

Tags: Abraxas, Bill Graham, Carlos Santana, Fleetwood Mac, Gabor Szabo, Greg Rolie, Herman Hesse, Neil Schon, Santana, Tito Puente