Abraxas

Singing Winds, Crying Beasts - 8/10. Outstanding Latin fusion. Black Magic Woman - 10/10. An all time classic. Shifts into another gear at 3:50. Oye Como Va - 11/10. Incredible tune. Straight to 11. Incident at Neshabur - 9/10. Massive banger of a foundational riff. Great jam, slick music. Se a Cabo - 9/10. Wow. Crazy great percussion, awesome guitar work, no notes. Mother's Daughter - 9/10. Another killer. Samba Pa Ti - 10/10. Killer again. Hope You're Feeling Better - 8/10. Great song. El Nicoya - 8/10. Overall Rating - 4.56/5 (9.11/10). All killers, no fillers. I missed out by not going any deeper than the two big hits before.

Who doesn’t like Santana?

great sounding guitar foward album, doesn't overstay it's welcome

I own this album. It is a long time favorite of mine.

Pioneering restaurant rock band, offers my snarl; kudos to them, adds my egalitarian, along with a fourth star on second listen. More originals would’ve been welcome, as those there are an effervescent, foot-twisting loosening of prog, though I’m touched by the odd particularity of their breakout being a cover of a blues song by a reserved North Londoner.

I like what Santana does with "Black Magic Woman" and "Oye Como Va" (of course); the rest meanders and grunts pleasantly without too much fuss.

Looks like I'll once again be in the extreme minority today, but if I'm being honest with myself, I hated this. Based on name's reputation and the glowing global reviews (which might, themselves, have been affected by the name's reputation), I even gave it a second playthrough to see if I missed something the first time. Nope. Far too unstructured and dissonant for me.

This has all the components I should hate. But I don’t. Santana is an exception for me.

unique sound, great vibe.

Very musical album. Some are stone cold classics, some are perhaps a bit much. I think this is one that benefits from a more active listening which I am not prepared to give it.

Santana is another one of those artists in which I only know the hits. If someone asked me, "Hey, do you like Santana?", I would answer "Yeah, I love Santana!" This challenge has made me realize I would say those things without listening to the majority of work that any particular artist had put out there. “Singing Winds, Crying Beasts” - Very psychedelic and slow intro. 2/5 “Black Magic Woman / Gypsy Queen” - The guitar, the drums, the closing energy, this is a classic 5/5 “Oye como va” - One verse repeated with 2 minutes of slick instrumental in between the verses. So simple, yet memorable 5/5 “Incident at Neshabur” - Okay instrumental but it didn't catch me. 3/5 “Se acabó” - Fast paced and driving. This is good. 4/5 “Mother’s Daughter” - This feels like a more traditional late 60's/early 70's rock song. Still good. 4/5 “Samba pa ti” - Beautiful guitar but too slow and dragging for me 3/5 “Hope You’re Feeling Better” - This rocks. Funky, groovy, its got it all 5/5 “El Nicoya” - A short song of drums. Meh 2/5 Songs added to playlist: “Black Magic Woman / Gypsy Queen”, “Oye como va”, “Se acabó”, “Mother’s Daughter”, “Hope You’re Feeling Better” Really fun album but I usually struggle with fully instrumental songs. However, the songs I do like off of this album, I really do like. The song "Hope You're Feeling Better" really caught me by surprise and may be my favorite song on this album. Easy 4 stars for this. Now I can confidently say, "I love Santana!"

One of the first cross pollinated modern albums, bringing Latin sensibilities to American rock music. A great example of exploring possibilities with music.

a pretty groovy album that I like quite a bit, funny that the best songs are the covers. a light 9/10. first listen tracklist ranking: 1. Black Magic Woman 2. Oye Como Va 3. Samba Pa Ti 4. Hope You’re Feeling Better 5. Mother’s Daughter 6. Incident at Neshabur 7. Singing Winds, Crying Beasts 8. Se a Cabo 9. El Nicoya

Please god never let me hear another hand drum in my life. At least they change which speaker it’s in from song to song.

Mycket gitarrgnissel, men över lag är det ett bra sådant. Han vet hur man gör den där Santana.

Santana, which is a band named after the virtuoso guitar player Carlos Santana he mixed Latin music with some popular 60s genres like psychedelic rock and blues. It sounds quite warm and lovely, and might I say borderline humid (probably because of the overdriven guitars.) Psychedelia is all over this album, there's no escaping it here. There were a lot more full-on instrumentals/extended instrumental sections than I was expecting but it was mostly fine. Overall I thought this was alright, nothing fully convincing.I believe this nails the 60s vibe more than a lot of other hippie bands that are on here. Highlight Song/s: "Incident at Neshabur"

VIBESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!

Pretty good album, flows through the songs easily.

Awesome album. Love the extended jamming sessions, love how Progressive this album is, but also how it's not at all afraid to rock or be a bit hooky.

Surprisingly pleasant listen. A couple of standouts

I only really know Santana from the revival sparked by the success of Smooth around the turn of the century. I remember hearing that song a lot pre-match when I went to watch my local football team during quite a successful era so it has that positive association, even if I don't really care for the song. Therefore my expectations for this were pretty low, but I enjoyed it quite a bit. It's a bit noodly in places but I like the laidback Latin vibe so I'll give it a light 4.

Smooth Latin rock. Listenable but not memorable.

I can't believe these are the guys that made "Smooth." It's surprisingly good and fresh.

Oye Como Va and Black Magic Woman are certified hits/bangers, but the rest of this album blended together a bit.

5/5, herrlich virtuos, wie immer.

The best Santana LP. A 5 for sure.

*1970. *Objectively this is an excellent album - Santana is a talent for sure. *But it doesn't do a whole lot for me personally. It's perfectly fine background music, but all the psychedelic guitar solos get to be a bit self-indulgent, and it doesn't really go anywhere. *It's a 3 for me, but I feel that's an insult to group this in with the other 3's... But hey, this is my personal list, so 3 it is. RATING - 6.5/10

This guy sure can play the guitar

hmmmmmmm alright

There's a lot of notes going on here. It doesn't work for me.

Once again, a groovy album that brings good energy and even better instrumentals. 3/5, purely because im not very into instrumentals. But its definitely someones cup of tea

5/5

Had honestly never heard the name Santana before this. Shoutout Seantdaboy for making me realize he is the mastermind to some quintessential 2000s bangers. I also love the guitars on this jawn and the psychedelic/jazz influence, and was really enjoying the absence of lyrics on some of the tracks Black Magic Woman / Gypsy Queen is a stand out for sure!

I loved this. The first three songs were the strongest, but still the rest holds up pretty well. It was one of my fav listens for the project. Such an innovative take on a blend between 70s rock and latin music. Oh and the cover art is fantastic as well.

Love it

That was magic

Class!

super

Guitar is great

I don't know why I didn't listen to Santana before this. This is a great Latin-jazz-fusion-funk-blues album that might become a 5 for me after listening to it more. Santana could become one of my favorite artists if the rest of his discography holds up.

Great for a morning pick-me-up regime, a maestro and his guitar, as simple as that 🎸✨

My five year old daughter really loves Santana so it was nice for this to come up. It fucking rips.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Probably the coolest album cover I've ever seen. This album is so sick, just back to back bangers. Really, really fantastic.

This album was fine There’s definitely some impressive guitar work but nothing that I feel like I need to listen to over and over again 3/5 Favorite: oye como va

Listened before? i know of Oye Como Va (JoJo reference). otherwise, this is all a new listening experience for me. i'm already predicting this will be at least 4.5 stars for me, as it is a Santana album Singing Winds, Crying Beasts - 4/5 Black Magic Woman / Gypsy Queen - 5/5 Oye como va - 5/5 Incident at Neshabur - 5/5 Se a cabo - 5/5 Mother's Daughter - 5/5 Samba pa ti - 4/5 Hope You're Feeling Better - 5/5 El nicoya - 3/5 Average score: 4.6/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ okay wait, i recognize Black Magic Woman as well! from playing Guitar Hero as a kid, of course. good times this gets 5 stars from me. that's all

Solid album - would listen again

Fantastic album, always loved santana growing up but first time listening to this album all the way thought. amazing guitar work

Favorite track(s): Singing Winds, Crying Beasts, Black Magic Woman / Gypsy Queen, Oye como va, Incident at Neshabur, Mother's Daughter, Samba pa ti, Hope You're Feeling Better People don't like this, I'm like "no mames güey..."

Getting bored of these 70s albums

Excelente

I found this a bit meandering and shapeless. Interesting to hear version 1 of the Santana guitar sound, though

Meh

me gusto bastante, me recuerda asi como a un nu jazz

Inc

1970! Noodly

Pretty easy listening.

Great album, happy to listen to it (and remember how Dad taped a piece of paper over the boobs on the cover to censor them :P ) 4 stars

Not my favourite. The guitar playing is obviously fantastic, and the almost tribal drumming is fun but I found the whole album to be limited in its variation. Top Tracks: Oye Como Va, Mothers Daughter.

Amazing production

Exceptional guitar maybe but it's dull and nothing more than background noise if it doesn't have that emotional impact. And for me Santana doesn't have it.

Loved this album. Black magic woman and Oye como va are super chill, and set the tone for the whole album. Laid back classic rock with some stelllllar jams. The guitar was a definite highlight. Lived up to the hype.

Grei

Id use it as background for movie or video

the eredar lord of the burning legion?

Great tone, good album.

So far the week is off to a good start! A 5 star on Monday and now an incredibly solid psychedelic Latin rock album. I had heard the hits before and don't find them too overplayed. The rest of the album, while not perfect, never got boring or predictable and made for a great experience. 4/5

Not a fan but realise this is a genre defining album.

Nice one

This album just got better each listen. Quite the surprise, I didn't expect so many good songs.

I've never heard a Santana album before but this is pretty much what I imagined it would be like, only with more congas/bongos. Doesn't do much for me but the percussion gets it a 3.

Very enjoyable - I think I it's a little too unfocused to score a four but it's close

Album starts soooo strong. Moody, mysterious, spiritual. The insanely cool album cover is an afrocentric reimagining of the Virgin Mary's Holy Annunciation. "Singing Winds, Crying Beasts" saunters its way through the witching hour before kicking off the indelible classic "Black Magic Woman." "Oye Como Va" lightens the mood just a touch with an infectious gang vocal and that same sizzling lead guitar. I'm in, this album rocks. But then "Mother's Daughter" fucks it all up and spoils the magic. It's the exact kind of early 70s blues buttrock that has aged as poorly as Eric Clapton's jawline, a song about leaving your girlfriend for her mother. Nice, dude. "Hope You're Feeling Better" is more of the same. I can't stand to hear Gregg Rolie's voice lay the groundwork for Nickelback. Look up Gregg Rolie. He's the exact guy you're already picturing. I'd like to write off these two tracks as exceptions, except for the fact that this is effectively an eight song album. That's 1/4 ass. A stark reminder that for all the spiritual voodoo these '70s festival legends feign to conjure, at least 25% of the time they were actually just stoned dumbasses watching a lava lamp. As are most musicians, myself included.

Whateva

"You tell me to name the best guitarist, I'm saying Santana every time." -My drunk college roommate c.2015

classic

One of the cooler and most unique albums out there; a wonderful melding of Latin, jazz and rock musics. This album is perfectly constructed and absolutely timeless.

Creativity, crazy chops, and a mash up of styles

Not on Apple Music. Rating based on other album.

1 - Singing Winds, Crying Beasts - 🤷🏻‍♂️ 2 - Black Magic Woman / Gypsy Queen - 👏 3 - Oye Como Va - 👏 4 - Incident At Neshabur - 👍 5 - Se A Cabo - 👍 6 - Mother’s Daughter - 👍 7 - Samba Pa Ti - 🤷🏻‍♂️ 8 - Hope You’re Feeling Better - 👏 9 - El Nicoya - 🤷🏻‍♂️ 3/5

Amazing album. Perfect blend of rock and Latin music. Peak Santana, who then became a bit too "pop" and commercial after this.

wasnt bad. pretty chill, i like santana

If this isn't satanic then what is?

Abraxas was a really solid album. I haven't been too familiar with Santana's discography outside of Smooth and The Game Of Love and i do remember getting them mixed up with Sublime because their names were a bit similar to me. This album though, was a rather nice listen. It mainly hopped between two vibes back and forth throughout, one being this more relaxing and airy vibe and the other being a style with a lot more energy. I thought that both styles were executed quite well even if some of the songs kinda went in one ear and out the other. I still thought it was solid at being both background music and a serious listening experience. Best Song: Hope You're Feeling Better Worst Song: El Nicoya

Hey it’s the smooth guy

Fuckin-A!

Oh, Carlos. You do make the strings sing with a little Latin flair that always charms me. It’s just so… carnival-like at times.

Fantastic album. The soulful guitar leads so many amazing rhythmic grooves. Loved the mix of instrumental songs and songs with vocals. Couldn't help but sway with some of the tracks. Faves were: Black Magic Woman, Oye Como Va, Incident at Neshabur, and Samba Pa Ti.

Carlos Santana always seems to have had a fairly distinctive guitar sound and style and he has rarely strayed from it as far as I am aware. I would imagine that back in 1970, this would have sounded much more fresh and unusual but to be honest, for me having grown up hearing his endless winding solos, it actually sounds a bit stale now.

ok

Sehr cool, sehr interessant. Irgendwie das Classic Psychedelic in einigen Songs, in den meisten aber irgendwas jazziges. Jeder Song hat so spaß und Laune gemacht.

Great album!

Wow you can make a very simple sound go on and on in a rather hypnotic way. Not sure I loved it but stayed with me more than I thought. Perfect for an early morning on the way back from Italy.

After a first listen and a discussion with John in the Uber last night, I listened again during an early drive this morning as the mist lifted on the M4. As often happens, the more you listen, the more you hear. I was firmly in low three star territory, but elevated to four, not least for Carlos Santana's mighty fine moustache in his Spoty pic.

Samba Pa Ti is fabulous….

I normally run a mile when fusion is mentioned. But if you have working ears it's impossible to resist the Latin swing Santana gives to this jazz-rock mix. Brilliant. 4*

probably need to listen properly and not as a background while working. the piano is as good - if not better - as the guitar ;D 3.5, rounded.

Masterpiece! Perfect album, perfect guitar. 'Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen' and 'Oye Como Va' are brilliant. "Samba Pa Ti" is very nice.

I knew of it, and had heard it, since I can remember. However, I had never really heard it as an album, and as such a piece of musical freedom and exploration.

Absolutnie boska okładka płyty. Muzyka, nie wiem, dobra. Z Santaną akurat znamy się od dzieciństwa, bo moja mama lubiła, ale nie przypadł mi ten klimat do gustu. Plus to jest jakaś reainkarnacja Zappy, prawda? Prawda?