''Abraxas'' is the second studio album by American

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 Santana may refer to: Transportation * Volkswagen Santana, an automobile * Santana Cycles, manufacturer of tandem bicycles * Santana Motors, a former Spanish automobile manufacturer * Sailboat designs by W. D. Schock Corp ** Santana 20 ** Santan ...

. It was released on September 23, 1970, by

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...

and became the band's first album to top the ''Billboard'' 200 in the United States. In 2020, ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' magazine ranked the album number 334 on its list of the "

500 Greatest Albums of All Time 5 (five) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number, and cardinal number, following 4 and preceding 6, and is a prime number. Humans, and many other animals, have 5 digits on their limbs. Mathematics 5 is a Fermat pri ...

Title

The title of the album originates from a line in

Hermann Hesse Hermann Karl Hesse (; 2 July 1877 – 9 August 1962) was a Germans, German-Swiss people, Swiss poet and novelist, and the 1946 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His interest in Eastern philosophy, Eastern religious, spiritual, and philosophic ...

's 1919 book ''

Demian ''Demian: The Story of a Boyhood'' is a bildungsroman by Hermann Hesse, first published in 1919 in literature, 1919; a prologue was added in 1960 in literature, 1960. ''Demian'' was first published under the pseudonym "Emil Sinclair", the name of ...

'', 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 Abraxas (, variant form romanized: ) is a word of mystic meaning in the system of the Gnostic Basilides, being there applied to the "Great Archon" (), the princeps of the 365 spheres (). The word is found in Gnostic texts such as the '' Holy ...

..."

Songs

Carlos Santana had been interested in

Fleetwood Mac Fleetwood Mac are a British-American Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1967 by the singer and guitarist Peter Green (musician), Peter Green. Green named the band by combining the surnames of the drummer, Mick Fleetwood, and the bassis ...

'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 ...

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, 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 had also been 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 guitarist, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, sh ...

). The band added a cover of

Gábor Szabó Gábor István Szabó (March 8, 1936 – February 26, 1982) was a Hungarian-American guitarist whose style incorporated jazz, pop, rock, and Music of Hungary, Hungarian music. Early years Szabó was born in Budapest, Budapest, Hungary. He bega ...

's instrumental "Gypsy Queen" to the end. "

Oye Como Va Oye is Spanish for "hey" or "listen". Oye or Oye! or OYE may refer to: Geography *Oye, Ekiti, a town and LGA in Ekiti State. *Oye-Plage, a commune in Pas-de-Calais, France *Oyes, a commune in Marne, France People *Kenneth A. Oye, an American pol ...

" was a hit by

Tito Puente Ernest Anthony Puente Jr. (April 20, 1923 – May 31, 2000), commonly known as Tito Puente, was an American musician, songwriter, bandleader, timbalero, and record producer. He composed dance-oriented mambo and Latin jazz music. He was also k ...

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" 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 keyboardist, singer and songwriter. Rolie served as lead singer of the bands Santana (band), Santana and Journey (band), Journey – both of which he co-founded. He also helmed rock group The ...

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 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 ...

" ("Samba for You"), was written by Santana when he saw a jazz saxophonist performing in the street outside his apartment. It was later covered by

José Feliciano José Montserrate Feliciano García (; born September 10, 1945) is a Puerto Rican musician. He recorded many international hits, including his rendition of the Doors' " Light My Fire" and his self-penned Christmas song "". Music genres he explo ...

, who added lyrics, and also by

Angélique Kidjo Angélique Kpasseloko Hinto Hounsinou Kandjo Manta Zogbin Kidjo (; born July 14, 1960) is a Beninese- French singer-songwriter, actress and activist noted for her diverse musical influences and creative music videos. Kidjo has won five Grammy A ...

, who put lyrics in Yoruba, on her album ''Oyo''. It is also one of the tracks featured in

Nick Hornby Nicholas Peter John Hornby (born 17 April 1957) is an English writer. He is best known for his memoir '' Fever Pitch'' (1992) and novels ''High Fidelity'' and '' About a Boy'', all of which were adapted into feature films. Hornby's work frequen ...

's book ''

31 Songs ''Songbook'' (published in the United Kingdom as ''31 Songs'') is a 2002 collection of 26 essays by English writer Nick Hornby about songs and (more often) the particular emotional resonance they carry for him. In the UK, Sony released a stand- ...

''.

Cover art

The album cover features the 1961 painting ''Annunciation'' by German-French painter

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

. According to the artist, it was one of the first paintings he did after relocating to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. 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 Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th century music, 20th-century music. Davis ado ...

Herbie Hancock Herbert Jeffrey Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is an American jazz musician, bandleader, and composer. He started his career with trumpeter Donald Byrd's group. Hancock soon joined the Miles Davis Quintet, where he helped to redefine the role of ...

Earth, Wind & Fire Earth, Wind & Fire (abbreviated as EW&F or EWF) is an American band formed in Chicago, Illinois in 1969. Their music spans multiple genres, including jazz, R&B, soul, funk, disco, pop, Latin and Afro-pop. They are among the best-selling ba ...

, 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 B ...

Critical reception

In 2003, the album was ranked No. 205 on ''

'' magazine's list of

the 500 greatest albums of all time "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" is a recurring opinion survey and music ranking of the finest albums in history, compiled by the American magazine ''Rolling Stone''. It is based on weighted votes from selected musicians, critics, and indu ...

, at No. 207 on the 2012 revision of the list, and then again at No. 334 in its 2020 release. In 2000, it appeared at No. 202 in

Colin Larkin Colin Larkin (born 1949) is a British music writer. He founded and was the editor-in-chief of ''The Encyclopedia of Popular Music''. Along with the ten-volume encyclopedia, Larkin also wrote the book ''All Time Top 1000 Albums'', and edited th ...

'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 criti ...

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

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and later became a ...

, in one of his capsule reviews in ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village, New York City, known for being the country's first Alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, ...

'', 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 aesthetically significant" by the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

and was selected for preservation in their

National Recording Registry The National Recording Registry is a list of sound recordings that "are culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant, and inform or reflect life in the United States." The registry was established by the National Recording Preservation ...

in 2015.

Track listing

Original release

1998 bonus tracks

Personnel

Santana

Carlos Santana Carlos Humberto Santana Barragán (; born July 20, 1947) is an American guitarist, best known as a founding member of the Rock music, rock band Santana (band), Santana. Born and raised in Mexico where he developed his musical background, he r ...

– lead guitar, backing vocals, producer *

– keyboards, lead vocals * David Brown – bass *

Michael Shrieve Michael Shrieve (born July 6, 1949) 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 youn ...

– drums * José "Chepito" Areas –

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

, congas,

timbales Timbales () or pailas are shallow single-headed drums with metal casing. They are shallower than single-headed tom-toms and usually tuned much higher, especially for their size.Orovio, Helio 1981. ''Diccionario de la música cubana: biográfic ...

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

– percussion, congas, possibly 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 " Incident at Neshabur" *

Fred Catero Fred Catero (February 4, 1933 – October 6, 2022) was an American record producer and engineer. Catero was originally from New York City, where he worked for CBS Records/Columbia, recording artists such as Chicago and Blood, Sweat & Tears. In ...

– 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 ( UPC: 7464301302). * In 1991,

Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab (MFSL or MoFi) 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. History Recording engine ...

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. 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.