''Abraxas'' is the second studio album by

Latin rock Latin rock is a term to describe a subgenre blending traditional sounds and elements of Latin American and Hispanic Caribbean folk with rock music. However, it is widely used in the English-language media to refer any kind of rock music featurin ...

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.

Title

The title of the album originates from a line in

Hermann Hesse Hermann Karl Hesse (; 2 July 1877 – 9 August 1962) was a German-Swiss poet, novelist, and painter. His best-known works include '' Demian'', '' Steppenwolf'', '' Siddhartha'', and ''The Glass Bead Game'', each of which explores an individual' ...

's book ''

Demian ''Demian: The Story of Emil Sinclair's Youth'' is a Bildungsroman by Hermann Hesse, first published in 1919; a prologue was added in 1960. ''Demian'' was first published under the pseudonym "Emil Sinclair", the name of the narrator of the story, ...

'', 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...."

Songs

Carlos Santana had been interested in

Fleetwood Mac Fleetwood Mac are a British-American rock band, formed in London in 1967. Fleetwood Mac were founded by guitarist Peter Green, drummer Mick Fleetwood and guitarist Jeremy Spencer, before bassist John McVie joined the line-up for their eponym ...

's leader and songwriter Peter Green, having seen him perform at the

Fillmore West The Fillmore West was a historic rock and roll music venue in San Francisco, California, US which became famous under the direction of concert promoter Bill Graham from 1968 to 1971. Named after The Fillmore at the intersection of Fillmore Str ...

in San Francisco, and decided to cover the band's song "

Black Magic Woman "Black Magic Woman" is a song written by British musician Peter Green, which first appeared as a single for his band Fleetwood Mac in 1968. Subsequently, the song appeared on the 1969 Fleetwood Mac compilation albums '' English Rose'' (US) and ...

". Both were influenced as guitarists by

B.B. King Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), known professionally as B.B. King, was an American blues singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, shimm ...

. The band added a cover of Gabor Szabo's instrumental "Gypsy Queen" to the end. "

Oye Como Va "Oye Cómo Va" is a 1962 cha-cha-chá by Tito Puente, originally released on ''El Rey Bravo'' ( Tico Records). The song achieved worldwide popularity in 1970, when it was recorded by American rock group Santana for their album ''Abraxas''. This ...

" 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. "

Incident at Neshabur "Incident at Neshabur" is the fourth track from the 1970 Santana album ''Abraxas''. Co-written by pianist Alberto Gianquinto and Carlos Santana, the instrumental has several jazz-inspired rhythm and time signature changes. Origins, composition a ...

" was co-written by Santana and his friend Alberto Gianquinto, who played piano on the track.

Gregg Rolie Gregg Alan Rolie (born June 17, 1947) is an American singer and keyboardist. 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 A ...

played the other keyboards, contrasting with Gianquinto's jazz-influenced style. It ran through various time and key signatures. The instrumental, " Samba Pa Ti" ("Samba for You"), was written by Santana after he saw a jazz saxophonist performing in the street outside his apartment. It was later covered by José Feliciano, who added lyrics, and also by

Angélique Kidjo Angélique Kpasseloko Hinto Hounsinou Kandjo Manta Zogbin Kidjo (; born July 14, 1960), known as Angélique Kidjo, is a Beninese singer-songwriter, actress, and activist who is noted for her diverse musical influences and creative music videos. ...

, who put lyrics in

Yoruba The Yoruba people (, , ) are a West African ethnic group that mainly inhabit parts of Nigeria, Benin, and Togo. The areas of these countries primarily inhabited by Yoruba are often collectively referred to as Yorubaland. The Yoruba constitute ...

, on her album ''Oyo''. It is also one of the tracks featured in Nick Hornby's book '' 31 Songs''.

Cover art

The album cover features the 1961 painting ''

Annunciation The Annunciation (from Latin '), also referred to as the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Annunciation of Our Lady, or the Annunciation of the Lord, is the Christian celebration of the biblical tale of the announcement by the ange ...

'' by German-French painter

Mati Klarwein Abdul Mati Klarwein (April 9, 1932 – March 7, 2002) was a French painter of German origin best known for his works used on the covers of music albums. Personal life Mati Klarwein was born in Hamburg, Germany. His mother Elsa Kühne was an ...

.Artists You Should Know: Mati Klarwein
by Tom Schnabel,

KCRW KCRW (89.9 MHz FM) is a National Public Radio member station broadcasting from the campus of Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, California, where the station is licensed. KCRW airs original news and music programming in addition to program ...

, 27 May 2011 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. 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. Klarwein went on to design album artwork for many notable artists, including Miles Davis,

Herbie Hancock Herbert Jeffrey Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is an American jazz pianist, keyboardist, bandleader, and composer. Hancock started his career with trumpeter Donald Byrd's group. He shortly thereafter joined the Miles Davis Quintet, where he helpe ...

Earth, Wind & Fire Earth, Wind & Fire (EW&F or EWF) is an American band whose music spans the genres of jazz, R&B, soul, funk, disco, pop, big band, Latin, and Afro pop. They are among the best-selling bands of all time, with sales of over 90 million re ...

, and

Gregg Allman Gregory LeNoir Allman (December 8, 1947 – May 27, 2017) was an American musician, singer and songwriter. He was known for performing in the Allman Brothers Band. Allman grew up with an interest in rhythm and blues music, and the Allman ...

Critical reception

In 2003 the album was ranked number 205 on '' Rolling Stone'' magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, 207 on the 2012 list, and then at number 334 in a 2020 edition of the list. In 2000 it was voted number 202 in

Colin Larkin Colin Larkin (born 1949) is a British writer and entrepreneur. He founded, and was the editor-in-chief of, the ''Encyclopedia of Popular Music'', described by ''The Times'' as "the standard against which all others must be judged". Along wit ...

's ''

All Time Top 1000 Albums ''All Time Top 1000 Albums'' is a book by Colin Larkin, creator and editor of the ''Encyclopedia of Popular Music''. The book was first published by Guinness Publishing in 1994. The list presented is the result of over 200,000 votes cast by the ...

''. The album was also included in the book ''

1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die ''1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die'' is a musical reference book first published in 2005 by Universe Publishing. Part of the ''1001 Before You Die'' series, it compiles writings and information on albums chosen by a panel of music critics ...

''. In 2015, the album was listed among ''Billboard''s 50 Essential Latin Albums of the 50 Past Years. 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."

Legacy

''Abraxas'' was deemed "culturally, historically, or artistically significant" by the Library of Congress and was selected for preservation in their National Recording Registry in 2015.National Recording Registry Recognizes "Mack the Knife," Motown and Mahler
, Library of Congress, 23 March 2016

Track listing

Original release

1998 bonus tracks

Personnel

Santana

Carlos Santana Carlos Humberto Santana Barragán (; born July 20, 1947) is an American guitarist who rose to fame in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band Santana, which pioneered a fusion of Rock and roll and Latin American jazz. Its sound feature ...

– lead guitar, backing vocals, producer *

– keyboards, lead vocals * David Brown – bass * Michael Shrieve – drums * José "Chepito" Areas –

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

, conga, timbales *

Michael Carabello Michael Carabello (born November 18, 1947) is an American musician, best known for playing percussion with Santana during that band's early years. He is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Career Carabello was born in San Francisco and h ...

– percussion, conga, possible keyboards on "Singing Winds, Crying Beasts" (the latter disputed by Santana)

Additional personnel

*Rico Reyes – backing vocal on "Oye Como Va", backing vocal and percussion on "El Nicoya" *Alberto Gianquinto – piano on "

" * Fred Catero - Producer *John Fiore, David Brown – engineer * Bob Venosa – graphics * MATI – illustrations *Marian Schmidt, Joan Chase - photography

Release history

*In 1990, CBS/Sony published a remastered edition on Audio CD ( Universal Product Code: 7464301302 ). *In 1991,

Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab (MFSL or MoFi) is a record label specializing in the production of audiophile issues. The company produces reissued vinyl LP records, compact discs, and Super Audio CDs and other formats. History Recording engineer Br ...

released a remastered version on their Ultradisc (24K) Gold CD (UDCD 552). *In 1997, ARS (Audiophile record service Joerg Kessler) of Germany, released a 180 gram 100% virgin vinyl pressing mastered from the original analog tape. It is (Pallas) Germany pressed. Catalog # Ars 32032. *In 1998, Sony published a remastered version, which included three previously unreleased live tracks: "Se a Cabó", "Toussaint L'Overture" and "Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen," recorded at the Royal Albert Hall on April 18, 1970. *In 1998,

SME records , often abbreviated as SMEJ or simply SME, and also known as Sony Music Japan for short (stylized as ''SonyMusic''), is a Japanese music arm for Sony. Founded in 1968 as CBS/Sony, SMEJ is directly owned by Sony Group Corporation and is opera ...

in Japan, part of Sony Music, also released the remastered version as an

SACD Super Audio CD (SACD) is an optical disc format for audio storage introduced in 1999. It was developed jointly by Sony and Philips Electronics and intended to be the successor to the Compact Disc (CD) format. The SACD format allows multiple au ...

. This disc is stereo only, and furthermore, it is a single layer SACD, which means that ordinary CD players will not play it. This disc contains the same bonus tracks as the ordinary 1998 remastered CD. *In 2008, Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab released a remastered version on their Ultradisc II (24K) Gold CD (UDCD 775) & GAIN 2™ Ultra Analog LP 180g Series (MFSL305). *In 2016 Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab released a new, limited edition, 45 rpm 2-LP box set of Abraxas called the 1 step (UD1S). The set was limited to 2500 copies worldwide and involved a process where several of the traditional steps in making a vinyl record were bypassed in order to get a more original sound. It is mastered using a 1/4" / 15 IPS analog master to DSD 256 to analog console to lathe.

Charts

Certifications

References

Citations Sources * {{Authority control Santana (band) albums 1970 albums CBS Records albums Columbia Records albums Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipients Albums produced by Carlos Santana Jazz fusion albums by American artists Jazz fusion albums by Mexican artists Spanish-language albums Albums produced by Fred Catero Albums recorded at Wally Heider Studios Albums with cover art by Mati Klarwein United States National Recording Registry recordings United States National Recording Registry albums