| Abraxas | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Album cover from Annunciation by Mati Klarwein | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | September 23, 1970 | |||
| Recorded | April 17 – May 2, 1970 | |||
| Studio | ||||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 37:36 | |||
| Language | English, Spanish | |||
| Label | Columbia | |||
| Producer | ||||
| Santana chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Abraxas | ||||
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Abraxas is the second studio album by Latin rock band Santana. It was released on September 23, 1970, by Columbia Records and became the band's first album to reach number one in the United States. [1]
The title of the album originates from a line in Hermann Hesse's 1919 book Demian , quoted on the album's back cover: "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..." [2]
Carlos Santana had been interested in Fleetwood Mac's leader and songwriter Peter Green, having seen him perform at the Fillmore West in San Francisco, and decided to cover the band's song "Black Magic Woman". (Both had also been influenced as guitarists by B.B. King.) The band added a cover of Gábor Szabó's instrumental "Gypsy Queen" to the end. [3] : 34–35 "Oye Como Va" was a hit by Tito Puente in the early 1960s and the group played it live regularly, as they realized it was good for audiences to dance to. [3] : 35
"Incident at Neshabur" was co-written by Santana and his friend Alberto Gianquinto, who played piano on the track. Gregg Rolie played the other keyboards, contrasting with Gianquinto's jazz-influenced style. It ran through various time and key signatures. [3] : 36
The instrumental, "Samba Pa Ti" ("Samba for You"), was written by Santana when he saw a jazz saxophonist performing in the street outside his apartment. [2] [2] : par. 5 [3] : 36 It was later covered by José Feliciano, who added lyrics, and also by Angélique Kidjo, who put lyrics in Yoruba, on her album Oyo. It is also one of the tracks featured in Nick Hornby's book 31 Songs . [4]
The first three songs on side one segue into each other, creating a 14-minute, 28-second mini-suite.
The album cover features the 1961 painting Annunciation by German-French painter Mati Klarwein. [5] According to the artist, it was one of the first paintings he did after relocating to New York City. Carlos Santana reportedly noticed it in a magazine and asked that it be on the cover of the band's upcoming album. [6] On the back of the record sleeve the cover art is just credited to 'MATI'. It is now considered a classic of rock album covers. [5] [7] [8] Klarwein went on to design album artwork for many notable artists, including Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Earth, Wind & Fire, and Gregg Allman.
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |  [9] |
| Christgau's Record Guide | C+ [10] |
| Rolling Stone | (favorable) [11] |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [12] |
| The Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [13] |
In 2003, the album was ranked No. 205 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, [14] at No. 207 on the 2012 revision of the list, [15] and then again at No. 334 in its 2020 release. [16] In 2000, it appeared at No. 202 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums . [17] The album was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die . [18] In 2015, the album was listed among Billboard's 50 Essential Latin Albums of the 50 Past Years. [19]
Rock critic Robert Christgau, in one of his capsule reviews in The Village Voice , at the time of the album's release, gave it a rating of only C+, which denotes "a not disreputable performance, most likely a failed experiment or a pleasant piece of hackwork". [10]
Abraxas was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress and was selected for preservation in their National Recording Registry in 2015. [20]
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Singing Winds, Crying Beasts" (Instrumental) | Michael Carabello | 4:51 |
| 2. | "Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen" | Peter Green/Gábor Szabó | 5:24 |
| 3. | "Oye Cómo Va" | Tito Puente | 4:17 |
| 4. | "Incident at Neshabur" (Instrumental) | Alberto Gianquinto, Carlos Santana | 4:58 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Se a Cabó" | José Areas | 2:50 |
| 2. | "Mother's Daughter" | Gregg Rolie | 4:25 |
| 3. | "Samba Pa Ti" (Instrumental) | Santana | 4:45 |
| 4. | "Hope You're Feeling Better" | Rolie | 4:10 |
| 5. | "El Nicoya" | Areas | 1:30 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 10. | "Se a Cabó" (Live at the Royal Albert Hall, London, England, April 18, 1970) [21] (1998 edition) | 3:47 |
| 11. | "Toussaint L'Overture" (Live at the Royal Albert Hall, London, England, April 18, 1970) (1998 edition) | 4:52 |
| 12. | "Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen" (Live at the Royal Albert Hall, London, England, April 18, 1970) (1998 edition) | 4:57 |
| Chart (1970–1974) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Albums (Kent Music Report) [27] | 1 |
| Canada Top Albums/CDs ( RPM ) [28] | 3 |
| Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) [29] | 3 |
| Finnish Albums (The Official Finnish Charts) [30] | 2 |
| French Albums (SNEP) [31] | 7 |
| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) [32] | 4 |
| Italian Albums ( Musica e Dischi ) [33] | 4 |
| Japanese Albums (Oricon) [34] | 7 |
| Norwegian Albums (VG-lista) [35] | 3 |
| UK Albums (OCC) [36] | 7 |
| US Billboard 200 [37] | 1 |
| Chart (2013) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| UK Rock & Metal Albums (OCC) [38] | 25 |
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Canada (Music Canada) [39] | 3× Platinum | 300,000^ |
| France (SNEP) [40] | Platinum | 300,000* |
| United Kingdom (BPI) [41] | Gold | 100,000^ |
| United States (RIAA) [42] | 5× Platinum | 5,000,000^ |
* Sales figures based on certification alone. | ||
Carlos Humberto Santana Barragán is an American guitarist, best known as a founding member of the rock band Santana. Born and raised in Mexico where he developed his musical background, he rose to fame in the late 1960s and early 1970s in the United States with Santana, which pioneered a fusion of rock and roll and Latin American jazz. Its sound featured his melodic, blues-based lines set against Latin American and African rhythms played on percussion instruments not generally heard in rock, such as timbales and congas. He experienced a resurgence of popularity and critical acclaim in the late 1990s.
American Beauty is the fifth studio album by American rock band the Grateful Dead. Released in November 1970, by Warner Bros. Records, the album continued the folk rock and country music style of their previous album Workingman's Dead, released earlier in the year.
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Santana is the debut studio album by American Latin rock band Santana. It was released on August 22, 1969. Over half of the album's length is composed of instrumental music, recorded by what was originally a purely free-form jam band. At the suggestion of manager Bill Graham, the band took to writing more conventional songs for more impact, but managed to retain the essence of improvisation in the music.
Sticky Fingers is the ninth studio album by the English rock band the Rolling Stones. It was released on 23 April 1971 on the Rolling Stones' new label, Rolling Stones Records. The Rolling Stones had been contracted by Decca Records and London Records in the UK and the US since 1963. On this album, Mick Taylor made his second full-length appearance on a Rolling Stones album. It was the first studio album without Brian Jones, who died two years earlier. The original cover artwork, conceived by Andy Warhol and photographed and designed by members of his art collective, the Factory, showed a picture of a man in tight jeans, and had a working zip that opened to reveal underwear fabric. The cover was expensive to produce and damaged the vinyl record, so the size of the zipper adjustment was made by John Kosh at ABKCO records. Later re-issues featured just the outer photograph of the jeans.
Gregg Alan Rolie is an American keyboardist, singer and songwriter. Rolie served as lead singer of the bands Santana and Journey – both of which he co-founded. He also helmed rock group the Storm, performed in Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band until 2021, and since 2001 with his Gregg Rolie Band. Rolie is a two-time inductee of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, having been inducted both as a member of Santana in 1998 and as a member of Journey in 2017.
Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab is a record label that specialized in the production of audiophile issues. The company produces reissued vinyl LP records, compact discs, and Super Audio CDs and other formats.
Michael Shrieve is an American drummer, percussionist, and composer. He is best known as the drummer of the rock band Santana, playing on the band's first seven albums from 1969 to 1974. At age 20, Shrieve was the second youngest musician to perform at Woodstock. His drum solo during "Soul Sacrifice" in the Woodstock film has been described as "electrifying", although he considers his solo during the same piece in 1970 at Tanglewood the superior performance.
Abdul Mati Klarwein was a German painter best known for his works used on the covers of music albums.
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Santana is an American rock band formed in San Francisco in 1966 by Mexican-born guitarist Carlos Santana. The band has undergone various recording and performing line-ups in its history, with Santana being the only consistent member. After signing with Columbia Records, the band's appearance at the Woodstock Festival in 1969 increased their profile, and they went on to record the commercially successful and critically acclaimed albums Santana (1969), Abraxas (1970), and Santana III (1971). These were recorded by the group's "classic" line-up, featuring Gregg Rolie, Michael Carabello, Michael Shrieve, David Brown, and José "Chepito" Areas. Hit songs of this period include "Evil Ways", "Black Magic Woman", "Oye Como Va", and the instrumental "Samba Pa Ti".
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"Oye Cómo Va" is a 1962 cha-cha-chá song by Tito Puente, originally released on El Rey Bravo. The song achieved worldwide popularity when it was covered by American rock group Santana for their album Abraxas. This version was released as a single in 1971, reaching number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100, number 11 on the Billboard Easy Listening survey, and number 32 on the R&B chart. The block chord ostinato pattern that repeats throughout the song was most likely borrowed by Puente from Cachao's 1957 mambo "Chanchullo", which was recorded by Puente in 1959.
"Samba pa ti" is an instrumental by Latin rock band Santana, from their 1970 album, Abraxas. In English, the title means "Samba for You." It was released as a single in 1973. The song charted at No. 11 in the Netherlands, No. 43 on the German charts, and No. 27 on the UK Singles Chart, Santana's first single to chart in the United Kingdom.
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'Samba Pa Ti' was conceived in New York City on a Sunday afternoon. [...] I opened the window I saw this man in the street, he was drunk and he had a saxophone and a bottle of booze in his back pocket. And I kept looking at him because he kept struggling with himself. He couldn't make up his mind which one to put in his mouth first, the saxophone or the bottle and I immediately heard a song. [...] I wrote the whole thing right there.
