Abraxas

I seem to remember Black Magic Woman going a lot harder than this. This was an alright album, but it did make me realise Santana is mad overrated in the grand scheme of things. There’s some decent instrumentals on this album, but I’ve heard better.

Et par greie låter, ellers ikke mye å skrive hjem om. Svak 3’er.

fajne calkiem przyjemne

Background noise, but not a bad album.

Santana plays a mean guitar. I could listen to Santana instrumental tracks all day.

Santana is such a vibe. Honestly sounds like elevator music with kick ass guitar solos.

Definitely groovy.

I know only a few Santana songs and as far as I'm aware, I'm not at all familiar with this. I don't normally go for guitar rock, which I believe this album to be the case. So as a surprise to myself, I actually do know tracks 2 and 3, Black Magic Woman and Oye Como Va. I like the song Hope You're Feeling Better, it's got kind of funky rock beat. This album is really well recorded. It's pretty clean sounding, which isn't usually what I look for but it's good. Santana is obviously a very good guitar player. So overall, I get why people like this but in the end, it's just not something I'm likely to return to based on personal musical preferences alone.

It's ok. There are a few jams (Mothers Daughter) but not really consistent.

Never heard of this band before! But really enjoyed the relaxed, jam band nature of this album.

I feel like this is an experience that I need to have - but I don't think I can have it at this time

If you like Santana this is the album for you, I’m not a huge fan but I appreciate the skill. Not something I would seek out but it was not objectionable.

Surprisingly dull

Greek?

I was mildly ashamed that I only knew Santana by way of Michelle Branch & Rob Thomas (I thought) and so was pleasantly surprised to find that I did recognize some of his other songs. That said, I thought it started out nice enough and then got bored. Maybe 3.5 if that were an option

Didn't mind listening to it, and "Black Magic Woman" is a great song. But it turned out to be more boring than expected. At least it was short.

Santana is what you get when you take some potentially solid jazz, cross it with a jam band, then make it as bland and uninteresting as possible. Cap it off with tacky early 70s stereo production (only hard panning allowed!). I'll ignore the fact that it's even more boring to perform these tunes than listen for these ratings. I'm not saying Santana is bad. Just that it's boring and repetitive. Even Santana's guitar playing is white bread--good, but doesn't build or go anywhere. At the end of the album, things started to get interesting. But then I noticed Tidal had started auto-playing Frank Zappa after the Santana finished.

relaxant

Some good songs

3 it's ok

this is great

I might just have a poor attention span, but this didn't really capture me.

Pretty cool I guess, sorta average, didn’t stick out. 3 stars

It's fine

a little too instrumental but appreciate the music

Una mezcla sonora de ritmos latinos e instrumentación anglosajona, bañada con la estampa melódica de la guitarra de Santana. "Samba pa ti" es una de esas piezas que hace querer aprender a tocar el instrumento.

I find Santanas guitar tone fatiguing, regardless of how good he is. some classics on here though that can't be denied

Pretty cool latin rock, not something I'd come back to often but it's good. 6/10

Instrumentaler Rock. Bekannt für Samba pa ti, Black magic women und Oye como va. 3/5

I'm giving this a high 3. At times the songs feel directionless but I think that's the point. Definitely a groovy album that can still hit at the barbeque today.

pretty solid! lost steam a bit near the end, but for the most part i enjoyed this. some psych jams with a latin flavor, sometimes funky or a bit jazzy, overall making for a nice tune-out vibey kinda listen

Had only heard the hits. It's a pretty fine album. Guitar playing is - of course - fantastic - but it all fits together so well. Drums and bass get their fill as well and the songs are good. Doesn't drift into pretentious guitarwankery (which I feared). Listening a second time, that guitar tone is sooooo sweet.

приятный. интересно (но не настолько чтобы читать про это) кто поёт

Enjoyable mix of rock, jazz, and Latin rhythms.

Solid sound.

Saw him in concert. One of the best I have ever seen. The man can make that guitar sing.

Never in a million years have I heard of these musicians. Expand thine musical intellect, sir Dimery of Thousania. It's pretty alright. The guitar performances are strong and the length of the album is well-suited to the style of music. There's an ineffable campiness to the music that I also enjoy, which is probably owed to there being few lyrical sections on the album. It's difficult for me to single out any highlights as the general lack of vocals makes the album feel like one big song. "Singing Winds, Crying Beasts" was my favourite tune out of the bunch. The subdued guitars and jingling ambience creates a very clear image in my head. It feels like I'm wandering through an endless dune while the warm summer air blows across my body. "Incident at Neshabur" is also another highlight. The genre shift and "serene" sound that is present on the second half of the song is very pleasing. I also like "Hope You're Feeling Better". The cowbell is an instrument that I am admittedly very biased towards. It has a generally limited usage and there are many genres where it flat out does not work, yet it's easily the most "fun" instrument of them all. Nothing gets me in a better mood than some good cowbellin'. The closer, "El Nicoya", was also good. Whatever variant of drum that is present on this album is very pleasing, so it felt good to have a song dedicated to the drummer going bongo-wild. There are some shortcomings, most of which fall down the latter half of the album. I can't say I really cared for "Mother's Daughter" or "Samba Pa Ti", or that they delved into sonic territory that wasn't already firmly established by the first half of the record. That's not to say that I can't vouch for this album as it's certainly unique overall.

I think this suffers from its own success. The singles I knew, I was meh about. The songs I hadn't heard were good. I'm gonna say this was good overall, but still not something I see myself revisiting. 3.25/5

h: oye como va

Knew black magic woman but nothing else, sounded exactly like I expected. Enjoyed it well enough but it was straightforward to the point of being bland a lot of the time. Good live I reckon but not particularly good on an album. Definitely won't be back but acceptable, 2.5.

Never listened to a Santana album before but this sounded pretty much as expected, perhaps a bit slower. I actually recognised a few tracks here, but they reminded me of working in a restaurant, assume they were on rotation there. A lot of it is pretty good, but would never choose to listen to it

https://youtu.be/VKvNn70m4PA

Kitara on populaarimusiikin soitin, ja tässä sitä soitetaan kaikkia miellyttävästi. Menee varmasti moneen makuun. Mukavaa, leppoisaa mutta tarkkaa ja jotenkin naiivin tunteikasta. Ehkä just se ei niin vetoa muhun.

3/5 Epochal und stilbildend, aber auch streckenweise ein wenig nervtötend, wenn zu viel gegniedelt wird

okay

Oye Como Va is a historic banger.

3.4/not bad

My pops likes this music… I find it okay 3/5

I guess I'm not in to guitar heroes. Doesn't appeal. Love the rhythm section though. They were outstanding.

bro is never interested in latin flavoured music. 3/5

I’ll take this 1000 times over hearing “Smooth” ever again.

I don't get the praise for this album. It's not bad, by any means, it's just decent and meh. Nothing much to say about it.

I can appreciate the musicality and the latin influences, but I don’t think it bears a repeat listen. Not my cup of tea.

This is one of those records that is actually less than the sum of its parts, even though the parts, particularly Carlos Santana's guitar and his rhythm section, are excellent. The songs drift along like barges over-loaded with great musicians and then are gone. The surprise here is "Hope You're Feeling Better" with that red laser organ tone and hard Funkadelic groove. More of that, please...

Talented guy for sure but overall a bit of a snoozer

Great groove and distinctive sound. Not a huge fan of the extended 'jams', but I appreciate the innovation and significance.

6.5 out of 10 initially. Good, but nothing life changing. Heard elements that have likely influenced music that followed it. Would probably be ranked higher if I was around when it came out.

This was an eclectic hoot. I like the Latin influences and the inherent lack of any sense of where the album might go next. Not sure what I expected but it wasn’t this.

Meh for me. I like the hits but the rest is too stoner for me.

pretty wild that oye coma va and black magic woman were on the same album. all in all, its a fun album. i dig me some latin guitar in the background occasionally when I work, and this kinda felt like that. nice background music to get stuff done to.

Decent change up. Shout out to Mr Dotson and middle school jazz band where we played oye como va incessantly. Nice easy listening

santana vibed modestly so that future artists could vibe a little bit harder

Ok

Oye Como Va (Tito Puente cover) Black Magic Woman

This wasn't much like I was expecting. Or I guess the second half was more so. Not bad. I'd put some of it on in the background for sure.

Very interesting rock with strong latin and tribal influences. Santana at one of his finest moments. It's not an album for everyone but it is a solid record.

Don’t remember it.

It was Santana

3.5 stars.

Pretty okay. More instrumental than I expected from Santana

Another one that I don't really vibe with. Get that it has its place in history but I just find it boring - possibly partly because of that terrible song with the Matchbox 20 guy from like 40 years later.

Good

An entire album of smooth Latin guitar wanking and someone playing bongos so hard that their hands must still be blistered 55 years later. The young Santana is not the one we all have cold sweat flashbacks to from the 90s. Left me with a strange desire to go to Marks and Spencer as well.

Just to me one of those albums that's pretty solid sound-wise but only maybe 1-2 songs stand out

When Abraxas dropped in 1970, Santana delivered something genuinely different for its time, weaving "world beat" influences into the fabric of rock with effortless flair. The album leans heavily on Carlos Santana's signature, soulful guitar work, but the fiery percussion section more than holds its own, giving the record a rhythmic pulse that's impossible to ignore. While the overall sound can feel a bit samey across the runtime, the high points more than make up for it—especially the iconic "Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen," where Santana’s expressive guitar soars, and "Se a Cabo," which charges ahead with a heavier, distorted tone that hints at the band's rawer side. It's a hypnotic listen that cemented Santana's place in the rock pantheon.

Would make for a good vinyl addition, but not a daily listen for for. Fire guitar instrumentals but I’m not musically inclined enough to appreciate

classic

I don't think I have ever listened to this album. I think I have heard all the songs on it, but I don't know if I have ever really listened to it from beginning to end. I enjoyed it more than I would have thought.

Jag har haft någon slags fördom mot Santana och jag vet inte varför? Jag trodde att de gjorde musik jag inte gillar men detta var riktigt chill och superbra att plugga till så jag får slå mig själv på fingrarna

Good tunes. Perfect mood setting album

Would be 5 stars on acid.

Background music

interesting electric guitar. it’s santana so i expected nothing less. i mildly enjoyed it. the instrumentation was unique in the way where the different voices blended together but also clashed in other songs.

Nog wel vuur

Nice to hear this side of Santana. Why is oye como va such a banger no matter whose version?

This album was OK, but nothing too thrilling to me.

Not my cup of tea, but it’s a great album. Very good!

point4.

Really easy to listen to. Not world shattering. But an immediate pleasure.

Några vassa, klassiska låtar. Det övriga är ganska okej också.

Didn't realise Santana was around this long, although I guess it makes sense ('Smooth' was 25 years ago, after all). Cool enough, but the coolest part was reading about the various theories on the etymology of "Abraxas" (one guy thinks it's Coptic for 'the word is adorable', which is adorable but probably not correct). Anyway, I enjoyed this, and it wasn't too loud or anything, but it also wasn't as jazzy(?) as I was expecting. Another nice brisk album though. Good but not great (or maybe, good but not my style, but not NOT my style...) Album cover is a 70s monstrosity. Put it on a sofa and put that sofa in the trash. (Sorry Mati.) Highlights: 'Oye Como Va', 'Samba Pa Ti'

It was good. Enjoyed it well enough.

Actually much nicer than I thought. listened while play with j on the mat

Enjoyable album, nothing stuck to much from it.

Very good!

Epic electric guitar. Too much electric organ for my taste though.

I was really excited to listen to this because I love the songs that Santana is featured on so I figured I’d love his solo stuff. Unfortunately it was just meh. It wasn’t bad but it wasn’t anything remarkable or even memorable. I was hoping for more

Solid album, Oye Como Va is a gem.

Good vibes but not a favorite

Pretty enjoyable listen. Quite liked a lot of this.

Black Magic Woman and Oye Como Va are classics. The guitar skills are on fire and overall a really fun Latin rock album.

Good jams, black magic woman

Summer vibes, some nice songs!

The sound was a little muddy in places otherwise a good album if you like 70s rock: long jams, nice balance of the different instruments, some Latin rhythms lurking behind it all.

HERESY ALERT!! I actually like everything about this album except Santana’s guitar playing (well, ok, almost everything - Mother’s Daughter sounds like a parody). Love the latin fusion grooves. The B3 player is amazing. But then everything breaks down so Santana can take the stage - Ron Burgundy style - and widdly, widdly, widdly, waaaaaaayyyyyyyyiiiiiiii, widdly, widdly, widdly, waaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyiiiiiiiii. His playing is hammy and pretentious, he rushes into phrasings, and often sounds like he’s playing just beyond his technical ability so that his phrasing often breaks as his fingers pinch a fret. For me, so many great vibes on this album are just killed by his guitar breaks.

really enjoyed the whole thing, but nothing but black magic woman stands out to me

rock para papais estadunidenses com origens latinoamericanas!! mais guitar hero viu, mas black magic woman era legal de tocar. ótima musica de fundo. e essa capa eh mto foda.

Just ok. Never really been a fan of Santana's guitar work.

Kinda feels like a chore to listen through, but good music and great as background noise

I like the guitar in samba pa ti, but none of the other songs really stand out to me

Some interesting instrumentals, but not too interesting either.

Ich gebe drei Sterne!

It's a good album, especially guitar wise, but what it offers in virtuosity, it lacks in feelings. If that's your introduction to Latin Rock music, you might enjoy this a lot, but if you're already familiar with South American Rock from that time, Santana might just not sound so incredible.

7/10 Fave: Samba pa ti

何曲かいいなと思える曲はあったけれども、自分の好きな音楽のジャンルではなかった。正直、なんでこのアルバムの評価がこんなに高いのかが理解できない。このアルバムに収録されいる曲にはほとんど歌詞がないため、どの点を評価すればいいのかがよくわからない。もういちどはいいかな

Most enjoyable. Strange. An excellent piece of musicianship. Probably drugs required? Sadly lacking on listen. 3.8

An interesting mix of bougie cafe music with rambling guitar solos, blues and latin vocals. Why don't we utilise the bongos in rock music any more? Am I supposed to light a spliff, play air guitar, or dance the salsa? All questions I was pondering before being distracted by an electric organ solo. I enjoyed the album but I can't decide when I would listen to this. Maybe I'll throw a house party, make some punch, a prawn cocktail, vol-au-vents, and fire up a cheese fondue (car keys in the bowl please).

Classic Santana. Great guitar player and fun album!

I liked this album - nothing bad to say about it really It became background noise for me though because of all the guitar solos 3 ⭐️

Really good guitar work but that didn't end up being enough to get me really into this. "Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen" and "Oye Cómo Va" are the highlights. I think I might I know "Oye Cómo Va" from something silly - maybe the Dexter soundtrack?

Good, kind of a jam.

I was hoping for some more famous solos but the band music was well done.

I'm sure I was bombarded with this as a child. I actually probably appreciate the latin grooves more these days. Black Magic Woman always sounded spooky to me. In a good way.

I've never really enjoyed listening to Santana. I can't point to anything specific and say "this is why I don't like this," it's just an overall dissatisfaction. And I'm tired of hearing Black Magic Woman which was overplayed on the radio in the 70's.

Expected to find this very tedious and was surprised that it was quite an enjoyable listen.

Not good, not terrible. Might give it an another chance later

This was a great album! Had a lot of good songs on it, a lot of the popular songs that Santana did before his resurgence in the late 90s and early 00s, but it was a cool album and I enjoyed it for the most part

Super easy listening

A couple well known 60ish songs with long keyboard and guitar jams, plus other songs with multiple rhythm changes

I like two of the popular tracks: Black Magic Woman and Oye Como Va. I didn't get as into the other popular track: Samba Pa Ti. The rest of the album is fine but didn't grab me.

I do like Santana, and I know this album is good, I just really don't love it and there is nothing that would make me come back to it.

Singing Winds, Crying Beasts (Instrumental) 3.8 Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen 4.1 Oye Como Va 4.2 Incident at Neshabur (Instrumental) 3.4 Se a Cabo 3.3 Mother's Daughter 3.5 Samba Pa Ti (Instrumental) 3 Hope You're Feeling Better 3.5 El Nicoya 2.5 Score: 3.477777778

Santana's performance at Woodstock is all-time stuff. Their studio albums aren't the stuff of the gods, however, and tho this has classic rock staples, I'm no more convinced by it than I am by the Eagles. To be fair, it's better than the Eagles b/c the percussion - the principal Latin import - does give it a rounded and foxy sensibility. But the songwriting is mediocre, and the instrumentation is mostly thin, with the exception of 'Incident at Neshabur,' an effective nonvocal track, and 'Se a Cabó,' which is short and persuasive. But this one doesn’t crescendo when I’d want it to, tenderize when it ought to, or complicate when it needs to. Suffice to say, there's better out there.

Technically great, but did I really care that much? Unfortunately no.

Sexy and groovy, but it also rips and wails. Santana is a guitar legend. This was a solid listen, and at under 40 mins it's honestly the perfect length album.

smooth

Santana is one of my favorites. I have listened to Black Magic Woman and Samba Pa Ti many many times and it never fails to give me goose bumps. Overall, this album is alright.

There is some great guitar work here, but just a couple too many instrumentals for my liking. The guitar tones throughout the record are simply iconic.

Good. But not my jams generally.

This album reminds me of belly dancing for some reason.

better than i thought

Chill. Lots of iconic instrumentals and guitar.

I liked it

норм.

Beforehand, I was familiar with black magic woman and oye como va, both of which I think are fine. The real surprise for me here was “Hope you’re feeling better,” which I genuinely loved. This is a 3 album with one 5 song on it, as far as I’m concerned.

Good album. Black Magic Woman is obviously a classic, but the rest of the songs are also a groove. Not enough structure for me personally, but to be able to go vibe to this in a concert....yeah, absolutely. And the talent is...non-debatable. Definitely something to get on a record and relax to.

Pass the ayahuasca, baby

Santana is a good band (guy?) and they produce good music and sound, it’s mostly instrumental and I enjoyed listening. I wouldn’t call it life changing.

Jams.

Love the congas. Over hyped otherwise.

***An ok album

Ok

This is a great album with great instrumentals, the fushion of all different genres like jazz, blues, Latin rock and such go together so well and that’s what I loved about this album especially since I don’t really listen to music like this, but I really did love it and will definitely check out their other albums. I give it a 3.5/5

Pretty good, probably 3.5 out of 5. I loved the vibe, perfect for background chilling

Goed, maar net niet boeiend genoeg. Ook niet helemaal mijn ding.

Pretty spoony one, undeniably a great album, maybe I wasn't in quite the right mood for this to hit as well as it could have

Guitar is nice lacking some vocals

First Santana album I’ve heard. Thought it was pretty good. Liked hearing black magic woman in its album context.

Classic, a bit boring in spots. 3.5

expected a little bit more guitar wankery from a virtuoso guitarist led band, but it was pretty tame

It's a nice sounding album, but doesn't seem like anything special to me. I would rather listen to Jimi Hendrix.

Absolutely fine. A bit too much guitar noodling, for my taste. A good band playing rock songs with a Latin feel.

Didn't mind this one. Not too much singing, just vibes.

Solid hippy rock

Sounds like Santana.

I was really excited to listen to this one, especially since I’m a guitar player myself, and even non-guitarists know that Señor Santana is one of the GOATs. Who doesn’t love the iconic “Smooth”? This album featured some of the legend’s beloved older songs like “Oye Como Va” and “Black Magic Woman.” I listened to this album a few days back but really only remember the hits now that I’m writing this, so it must not have been especially memorable to me. That doesn’t diminish the quality of the songs, as the musicians involved are clearly incredibly talented, but aside from the ones everyone knows and loves, nothing came across as particularly ear-catching on my listen-through.

Incident at Neshabur ✅ Samba Pa Ti ✅

It was alright

This album was so trippy and confusing it repeated 3 times before i noticed. Just needed some drugs.

Good, but not for me

funky percussion and metallic sounds. would be great outside/with better bass or headphones. Oye como va is a classic, the rest i didn't know as well. not my preferred style but generally very palatable. mother's daughter is also nice, Samba pa ti is catchy and familiar. ~3.5 stars, like but not adding to rotation

Raw, live sound. Percussion is amazing. Santana not my favorite guitarist but absolutely kills it and you can feel the energy. Album drops off a bit near the end, but is the first part good enough?

Pretty solid album nothing really popped out at me except Oye Como Va which is a classic.

Boy oh boy does that guitar sing

It was ok would listen again if I had nothing else.

Fan of his playing but this albums is a bit stop/start - a 3 because of the sterling guitar work

Yes, Santana can play guitar. Cool. Clap clap. But guess what? Just because you can solo for five minutes doesn’t mean I want to hear it. The whole album is basically: solo, bongos, repeat.

Always an enjoyable listen, and you'll recognise more than you think you will. A bit too noodly and the fact its two best known songs are covers perhaps precludes a four, but a definite 3.5. Album law is surely you're allowed one cover.

I thought most of this was pretty boring but the guitar stuff on the second to last song is pretty cool. I never really played instruments growing up so I dont really appreciate the talent that goes into these albums. Im keeping Alexa’s electric guitar while she’s doing her semester in Switzerland. I tried to learn a few chords and they hurt my hand to do and I wasn’t even playing alot. And idk switching chords just seems impossible to me. it’s just so impressive to me when ppl can just play an instrument good like the playing on the albums we hear is just insane. Makes me realize there’s so much more that goes into this music than just some guy who can kinda sing sometimes. That said this album was meh except for that song, feel like these comments are more fitting for a diff album but I’m thinking about it now so I’m writing ab it now.

6/10 - It was all guitar which is both a good thing and a bad thing. My dad likes Oye Como Va and I did too. The rest were fine.

It was aight. I think I was expecting more

This was fine. Pretty familiar, even the songs I hadn’t heard. Carlos is a good guitar player, but there’s always been something about Santana that I’ve been unexcited by. Maybe Supernatural ruined it for me.

Liked it better than I anticipated. I'd give this 3.5 if I could

Good old acid rock. Half jazzy noodling, half legit commercial music. They're almost always talented musicians and songwriters, they just mostly don't care enough to write. This alnbum feels like that. It's a couple of classics, a few ideas that have enough life they could be their own songs, and mostly just filler. It's hard to recommend as an album because I find it hard to know why you would want both Oye Como Va and Samba Pa Ti together. It's just a bit too discontinuous. I can't trash any part though. The individual works are definitely stronger than the whole.

These guys fuck.

3.5

Médio

Overall quite nice. The 60s hippie jam-iness is offset by interesting percussion and rarely gets too indulgent. More eclectic than I'd have thought. "Incident at Neshabur" would have fitted well on jazz albums of the era, whereas others sound more like stock hippie songs, that filmmakers on a budget would use.

Based on the album cover, I was not expecting to hear Jazz/Blues. Three stars!

It's a decent album. Have to be in the right mood for it, but it's not bad.

Allt í læ. Tvö frábær lög, restin skildi ekki mikið eftir.

Artiste connu, mais c'est la première fois que j'écoute un album entier. Celui ci contient quelques tubes très connus que j'apprécie. Les autres morceaux sont intéressants également, très instrumentaux. Mais je n'aime que moyennement ce style très latin, trop rythmé à mon gout. Je ne l'intègrerais probablement pas à ma collection. =>3/5

It's been a long time since I last played this album, and i don't think time has served it well. It's great musicianship, but ultimately 'just nice'. I've grown accustomed to recording artists writinh the majority of tracks on their albums, too.

Enjoyable but not mind bending.

There's a couple of famous songs, and then others that are inventive but still early Santana. I feel like some of the later albums were more solid.

Didn't love it, didn't hate it; an all round okay album. Had some stand out tracks that I enjoyed, might even listen to again.

My first ever album on 1001 albums journey! I am excited. My take on this album is that I get that the instruments are incredible, but none of the music really made me want to replay them. I guess that the fact that I generally prefer the music with lyrics plays a role. This album was too much of a one tune to keep me on the track without skipping and felt repeated. Also, I feel like you need to be in the right mood to enjoy it. But some drum beats and guitar were absolutely amazing. I will remember Carlos Santana. The best track for me - oye como va, incident at neshabur

I'm so torn, because musically this slaps (except when they get a bit too Deep Purple/generic 70s rock), but also Carlos Santana it costs $0 to not randomly be a transphobic asshat when nobody asked

This was ok. Filling it under TMGN (Too Much Guitar Noodling)

didn't quite get it, maybe not prepared yet

Je vais vous faire une confession, balancez-moi les guitares anguleuses et dissonantes de Sonic Youth ou les larsens contrôlés de Thurston Moore et je suis au paradis. Par contre, le concept même de "guitar hero", ce culte de la virtuosité, ces solos interminables qui semblent dire "regardez comme je suis bon et comme la mienne est grosse", ça a toujours eu tendance à me filer de l'urticaire. C'est mon côté post-punk, que voulez-vous. On ne se refait pas. J'ai donc abordé ce deuxième album de Santana, "Abraxas", avec la méfiance du démineur face à un colis suspect. On m'avait promis des solos à n'en plus finir, de la démonstration technique, bref, tout ce qui d'habitude me fait fuir en courant. Et pourtant il faut bien l'avouer, même pour un hérétique de la six-cordes comme moi, "Abraxas" est un disque qui force le respect. Il faut dire que le groupe arrivait avec une aura quasi-mystique car un an plus tôt, en 1969, ces quasi-inconnus avaient littéralement mis le feu à Woodstock. Leur passage, filmé pour l'éternité, avait révélé au monde entier un son unique, une fusion bouillonnante que personne n'avait vraiment entendue auparavant. Ce disque, sorti en 1970, n'était donc pas un simple album, c'était la confirmation attendue, la preuve qu'ils n'étaient pas juste le coup d'un festival. Ce qui sauve "Abraxas" de la simple démonstration de branlette de manche, c'est que la guitare de Carlos Santana, bien qu'omniprésente, n'est finalement qu'un des ingrédients d'une recette bien plus complexe et savoureuse. C'est un maelström sonore, un bordel organisé où le rock psychédélique californien vient fricoter sans aucune gêne avec les rythmes chauds de la salsa, les improvisations du jazz et la moiteur du blues. Avant de parler de la guitare, il faut parler de ce qui se passe derrière, ou plutôt, autour. Cette section rythmique de possédés, ces congas qui claquent, cette basse qui chaloupe, cet orgue Hammond qui semble prêcher dans une église sous acide. C'est tout un écosystème qui grouille de vie, une fourmilière sonore qui ne s'arrête jamais. La guitare de Santana, elle, plane au-dessus de tout ça, elle n'est pas là pour écraser le reste, mais pour dialoguer, pour surfer sur cette vague rythmique incroyable. Et puis, il y a les chansons et l'album contient ce que l'on pourrait appeler la sainte trinité de Santana, trois titres immortels qui justifient à eux seuls la place du disque dans le panthéon du rock. D'abord, leur relecture de "Black Magic Woman" de Fleetwood Mac (oui, oui, le groupe de Peter Green, avant qu'il ne devienne un truc mou pour les radios californiennes). Ils la transforment en une incantation vaudou, lente et sensuelle, avant de la faire exploser dans une cavalcade latine. Ensuite, il y a "Oye Como Va", une reprise de Tito Puente, qui devient ici l'hymne ultime de la coolitude, le genre de morceau qui pourrait faire danser un mort. C'est simple, c'est irrésistible, c'est le groove à l'état pur. Et enfin, il y a l'instrumental, la pièce de bravoure, "Samba Pa Ti" et c'est là que mon scepticisme de sale punk commence à vaciller. Oui, c'est un solo de guitare de quatre minutes quarante-six. Oui, c'est démonstratif, mais bordel, qu'est-ce que c'est beau. Sa guitare ne fait pas des notes, elle pleure, elle jouit, elle raconte une histoire sans un seul mot. C'est poignant, c'est lyrique, et ça vous prend aux tripes. Alors pourquoi, me direz-vous, ce 3/5 un peu chiche pour un album que je semble tant apprécier ? Justement à cause de ça. Parce que malgré tout le génie qui l'habite, "Abraxas" reste fondamentalement un disque de "guitar hero". La guitare est le soleil autour duquel tout le reste tourne. Pour le disquaire que j'étais, c'est le genre de disque parfait pour montrer la qualité d'une bonne chaîne hi-fi, mais pas forcément celui que j'écouterai en rentrant chez moi le soir. C'est une question de culture, de sensibilité. J'aurai toujours une préférence pour la suggestion plutôt que la démonstration, pour la fêlure plutôt que la perfection. "Abraxas" est un album d'une perfection presque insolente. Un excellent disque, sans l'ombre d'un doute mais pas pour moi.

Ce qui est frappant de Santana, c'est qu'il démontre que la virtuosité à la guitare ne tient pas nécessairement à une vitesse ahurissante, mais au fait d'habiter la mélodie. Les changements d'ambiance et de rythme propres à la musique latine donnent un rock plus proche du progressif que du classique.

Guitar virtuoso and some cool Spanish elements mixed in. But sometimes guitar hero ain't my bag

Santana had a huge hit with Rob Thomas in the early 2000s. The song was on every radio station, every commercial, etc. But it was too much. It burnt out all the Santana receptors in my head.

I always struggle with Santana. I appreciate that he is a great guitarist, but the music just doesn’t excite me.

Coming into this album only knowing Satana only for "Smooth" probably gave me the... Well, not the wrong mindset coming in, but different expectations, for sure. I mean, to be clear, I'd always known that Santana existed for a **long** time before "Smooth". Hell, they'd played Woodstock--just like Country Joe! So, here we are only a year after Woodstock and 29 years before "Smooth". What do they sound like at this time? There's two I think I hafta keep in mind about this point in this history. For one, prior to their first album, they were a jam band. Even though--according to whoever wrote the Wikipedia article for their first album--they'd largely give that up for more conventional songwriting, they still kept a lot of the improvisation inherent to jam bands in there. Secondly, there's this genre tag that Wikipedia (them again) applies to this album: jazz fusion. And I think that goes a long way to explaining why this album sounds the way it does. "Smooth" had set me up for way more energy. Not so much, y'know, high tempos, horns and singing like Rob Thomas of Matchbox Twenty, but... Energy, y'know? But ABRAXAS, I find, is actually a pretty laid-back album. Sure, it can kick it up a notch when it wants to, but I'm pretty sure that when I think back on this album, I'm gonna think of the more chill tracks. The ones that rely on the groove **heavily** to carry things forward. I do like it quite a bit, lemme say. If I'd caught this at a better time, it would've been nice to just max and relax to Latin grooves. Note, though: "if I had." 'Cuz this was another one of those rare days where I finally woke up at the time I normally want to, but since my body's used to me getting up later, I spent a lot of the day being all yawny and tryna keep my eyes open... So an album like this was incredibly easy to space out on. To which--I mean, I don't think a lot of albums would be able to completely, 100% hold my attention when I get like that, but goodness me, this could've done better. And I think that's why I'm feeling a 3 on it? One that I could see myself going up to a 4 on, by the way. I recognize, the state of mind I was in today wasn't this thing's fault, and I shouldn't judge it for that. All the same, however I do think it kind of highlighted how... Nondescript I found it? I mean, I'm sure I'll come back to this in the future and find a lot more to enjoy--Carlos Santana's guitar playing, for instance. I mean, hey, if anything carried over to "Smooth" nearly three decades later, it's that he can rip a mean guitar. But at this stands... Pff, yeah. Man, it's only a warm one.

Good instrumental. Not my fave.

Black magic woman is brilliant but not enough to bump to a 4

Nothing memorable.

Didn’t get an in depth listen in but enjoyed what I heard, love the psychedelic tones, very cool guitar. Like the Latin tones. Would definitely revisit

Got bored. 3

Enjoyed this more than I thought. Don’t normally like instrumental but this was engaging and fun for the most part.

3 - not my thing, but the instrumentals were really interesting and far ahead of their time

Not bad at all. This is what I imagine Southern California sounds like.

A lot of good stuff and a lot of wank too

I really enjoyed “Black Magic Woman” and “Oye Como Va” but the others didn’t really hold up to me. 3.5/5

I definitely know Santana, was a fan. Until he made a terrible comment about trans people. But can't deny the fact he is a great/legendary guitarist and songwriter. Never really sat to listen to any of his songs fully or albums.

Santana is sick! This album just sounded average to me though.

Really bloody good. I have heard quite a bit of Santana but honestly, I hadn't expected the album to be so immersive. Beautiful guitars, just dripping in atmosphere.

piano, crystalline shards draping, guitar synths brandishing across your ears like a cars roar on a highway into a funky drum great trans. into black magic woman / gypsy. cultured, lively, eclectic. fun

Good jam album. Fun to listen to, but I probably won't listen much in the future

Who doesn't love Oye Como Va? I hadn't heard any of the other songs on this album, though, and I enjoyed them -- cool beats, neat piano parts.

Familiar style and tone right from the opening track, which had Santana’s signature sound right away. Two tracks were already known to me as staples of classic rock radio during my teens. I will be giving more Santana a listen in the future for sure after hearing this album.

Some classics. Good vibe, would maybe listen if in the mood.

Guitar magic. High 3.

I enjoyed this album way way way more than I thought I would. The Latin-style is cool and it’s cool background music to have on while working.

I remember thinking while I listened to it that I quite enjoyed country related things, but that's my only memory

singing winds, crying beats- i like the drums and bass and wished they had more emoahsis instead of the boring ass guitar and keys. 5 black magic woman- 5 or 6. wish it gave me more oye como va- 6 incident at neshabur- 6 or 7 se a cobo- 6 mothers daughter- 7 samba pa ti- 5 hope youre feeling better- 5 el nicoya-5 shoulda taken an edible before listening. fav track- mothers daughter

not my style but still enjoyed some songs surprisingly 3/5

Fav: Mother’s Daughter Least Fav: El Nicoya

So many intriguing sounds but so little focused tension or release throughout the album.

Important because of its injection of latin rock into the mainstream of popular music in the United States. The hits were the covers of "Black Magic Woman" and "Oye Como Va", that appear in the first half of the album that sort of is a concept suite about meeting Abraxas (which in the Bible is a word for God), as a black female. The playing and arrangements are inspiring, while the flip side of the album trails off into what feels like middling collection of blues driven riffs and roars that are occasionally accompanied by standard Latin American rhythm sections.

Not bad at all

I rolled my eyes so hard when I saw today was Santana, but was surprised I ended up enjoying it more than I thought I would! (as background music) It got a couple of repeats, but now I think I've overdosed and never need to listen to Santana ever again.

wasn’t what i was expecting at all, similar artist was lenny kravitz on spotify so i didn’t think it would sound like this, it was like a latin rock jazz fusion sounding thing, it was good overall id say, not something i’d listen to but i enjoyed it, might have to listen again to see if it grows on me

Black magic womannn

A lot of songs that have been played to death, of course. Astounding how many this album has, I had no idea.

Good album!

Production: 3.5/5 Lyricism: 1/5 Sound: 3.5/5 Enjoyment: 2/5 Overall: 2.5/5

Great guitarist, but not for me.

very nice and diverse,

Good

Well, Santana's guitar us spectacular and I do enjoy the Latin rhythms, but it's all about that guitar - the rest is just, 'meh.

A classic.

Santana's listless aeolian noodling has never done anything for me, and I've always preferred Peter Green's original version of Black Magic Woman. There are a few decent tracks, but the most interesting parts of the record are always when Santana isn't playing. 2.5

"I didn't ask for Santana Abraxas" - A Serious Man.

An almost good album. Definitely has it's moments, but often interrupted by the magic of the guitar.

Better than I remembered. Great mix of Latin/60s rock.

parts are great most are ehh

There is one banger here

It's good but I think Santana has retroactively made this sound dated by just rehashing this sound over and over again through the years with little interpretation. 3.5*

Reminds me of smoking roaches in my teenage bedroom. Great stuff.

Some classic rock staples here. Just never been that into Santana — or noodling in general.

bello ma non bellissimo, potente ma non potentissimo

È intrigante davvero ma non aveva abbastanza momenti canori per interessarmi come si deve.

Fire! But also a little jammy

Santana with guitar and shredding. Black Magic Woman is a good one.

Not great not terrible.

First santana album. Enjoyed it

Quite nice.

Loved oye como va. Very cool album from the 70s

Better than I thought it would be! Some great tunes.

Welch grosser Gitarrist! Drei Lieder waren mir bekannt und gefällig, die restlichen erstaunten mich wie gut sie sind, mochte ich doch früher gar kein Santana.

Difficult listen for me. Santana was a model for T and he loved this album.

3.5. Cool listen

Generally good but inconsistent.

Honestly did not realize that Santana was so old. Especially for being released in 1970, this album is amazing. Great job, y'all!

Ultimate come over and chill music. Good vibes but missing lyrical depth for me.

Good background music but needed more Rob Thomas ;)

Not for me. 3/5

Cool album! I liked the sound and the overall feel you got from the album, felt quite exotic somehow. I didn't find any particular song that I liked, but I think all of them were pretty good. 'Black Magic Woman / Gypsy Queen' makes me think of an old coffee commercial though. The album felt cohesive and it worked well to listen to it in one sitting. Got a bit samey after a while, but not enough to get boring. I'm missing some more bangers for it to give it higher rating, still strong 3 though!

Surprised me as I was expecting endless noodling guitar solos. Instead i was treated to a fusion of an album where the songs still fitted to together. "Black Magic Woman" was really the star of the show with it's smooth latin beats and reminded me of listening to it while playing "Guitar Hero". The blend of latin beats, blues and rock worked really well. Strong 3.

This album took me on a trip - it had highs and it had lows.

Black Magic Woman and Incident at Neshabur have some nice grooves. Samba Pa Ti features a pleasant guitar solo. A pretty nice album with some latin beats.

Liked the most: Singing Winds, Crying Beasts Liked the least: Se a Cabo

6.8

I'm sure I'll get hate for saying Santana was "just all right". Maybe you have to be in the right mood for it to strike you.

Some standout tracks and Latin grooves.

Relationship between artist and guitar feels intimate throughout. Folky vocals simple but effective.

Good

Some serious classic bangers on this! To think he’d eventually fulfil his life long life dream and work with Rob Thomas! We all have to start somewhere I suppose. All a bit too guitar-y for me. This is what Rob Thomas does so well - pulls the guitar back down to laymen’s terms so we can all understand just how incredible it is. 3.1

Santana y su guitarra. Correcto. Sin más.

Listened while cooking and it was pretty good background music.

Some songs are great and some songs sound like hold music. I feel like the keyboard/organist/piano player takes the spotlight more than Santana. Anyway, it’s a fine album, but instrumentals aren’t my usual thing.

Solid if unspectacular

Pleasant enough in the background but I wouldn’t choose to put it on

Very interesting - I had never heard Santana before. Although maybe not something I will listen to a lot in the future, I did enjoy it

I really wanted to like this. 3.4

Abraxas is a fuckin VIBE. Really cool to hear the synthesis of a few different cultures - latin beats & melodies combined with classic american rock. Santana shreds a bit too hard for my taste in the later part of the album, but Black Magic Woman & Oye Como Va are what make this album special.

Busy day yesterday, catching up four albums. This was not as good as expected, probably a bit dated thematically and sound wise.

I enjoyed this album. I wanted more Latin beats and less guitar hero stuff. Still, an enjoyable listen that makes me want to spin up more Latin music.

Beautiful guitar playing, the few times there is singing it feels superfluous. Real jams, I particularly like Oye Como Va.

Fun album with some groovy tracks

Sweet sounds

Great guitar player

It's hard to rate an album with so little depth. Sure, the music is easy to dance to and cheers you up on a miserably British rainy day. But skip forward a few tracks and you realise it doesn't get any better.

A little too much instrumental/guitar solo stuff for my liking. Just getting back from PR, I can see how this would be OK hanging out out a beach bar, but nothing I would seek out to listen on a regular basis. Oye Como Va will always make me think of Tito Puente and Puerto Rico. A couple tunes were rockers and after Oye Como Va, were probably my favorite songs off the album, Mother's Daughter and Hope You're Feeling Better. I would have enjoyed this album a lot more if most of the songs were like these 2. Anyway, can't say I was impressed, but just another OK album. I'm going with a 3 here, but mainly for Tito's song. Me encanta Puerto Rico. 3

3 The only songs that I knew by Santana going into this were Black Magic Woman because of Guitar Hero III and that one he did with Rob Thomas from Matchbox Twenty in the 90s. I’ve never really loved either, but I’ve always found Black Magic Woman at least to be pretty decent. It also happens to be probably the best song here (and is also apparently a Fleetwood Mac cover??), but the psychedelic nature of it makes it feel a little out of place on an album that bounces back and forth between a more traditional Latin style and the occasional bluesy track. Still, I didn’t think anything here was bad, and I found Santana’s guitar work to be pretty incredible across the board regardless of the genre he was taking on, though personally, I think this could have benefitted from having more vocals throughout. I know the guitar work is what he’s known for, but I think relying less on instrumentals would have kept my interest a little more. That to say, I do have to call out one mostly instrumental track in particular, that being Oye Como Va. I kept thinking to myself “Why does this song sound so familiar?”, and wouldn’t you know it, it’s a cover of a song from my family’s favorite Puerto Rican musician and Mr. Burns murder suspect, Tito Puente. Now, I’m not certain which version of the song I’m more familiar with, it may very well be Santana’s, but regardless, it’s a song that I know I’ve heard during my stays in Puerto Rico and that was absolutely perfect to hear in preparation for my next departure to the territory. I’m sadly back home and back to work as of the submission of this review, but giving this one last listen felt like a small taste of the island’s piña coladas I hold near and dear to my heart. If you ever find yourself in or nearby Fajardo in Puerto Rico, do yourself a favor and pick one up from El Cayo. Anyway, this didn’t really alter my opinion on Santana’s music in any particular way, but I appreciated the Tito Puente cover and the memories of vacation it brought along with it.

Nice, but sounds dated. Not something I will go back to

It's OK, but so much of this sounded like an intro waiting to become a song. I've never been blue-balled so hard before. Well, maybe once or twice ...