Abraxas
What more can be said about Abraxas, released 50 years ago today; the classic second album by Santana that defined their sound? I’ve had a copy since a friend taped it for me at school and, like several friends, I’ve never stopped listening to it.
Santana were the big breakout act of Woodstock, raising expectations for their first album. But that was a lacklustre affair, a bit too safe. Abraxas has all of the fire that ignited the Woodstock stage. It isn’t enough to say there isn’t a bad track on it: every track on it is just right, and most are classics.
What changed? Well, partly the band’s own dissatisfaction with their first album, partly internal tensions within the band, and thirdly (I’m guessing) the atmosphere in Wally Heider’s when they recorded it, with the Grateful Dead in an adjacent studio recording American Beauty, and various members of CSNY and Jefferson Airplane hanging out.
For all of Carlos Santana’s later career and albums, some of which get a lot of play in the office, this is the one that cemented the sound of the band and the player. I suspect most people who read this will already have a copy and know exactly what I mean when I say that, when I put it on a couple of days ago for a listen, I couldn’t help but listen to it three times.
It’s on streaming places, but you won’t care about that because you already have a copy, don’t you?
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