ABRAXAS

Now I don't usually do this in a review, but I am going to start off by being very blunt. This album is a good album all by itself, but in comparison it just does not stack up with some of the other Santana albums. Maybe it is the frequent airplay of "Black Magic Woman" and "Oye Como Va", but the world may never know that. Now where was I? Oh right, the review:

Side 1, wait there was a side 1? I must have fallen asleep and missed it. That just shows you how much of a lasting impact it has on the listener. Sure it is good music, but it seems like just random noise when you look back and analyze it. It just doesn't grab you and hold you like a lot of Santana's works to come. I must say that they did get "Oye Como Va" right, however. Written by Tito Puentes originally, the solo presented here was one of Santana's finest early works. Side 2 is a huge improvement over side 1, and it really saves this album from being a complete write-off. "Se A Cabo" is just an intense fury of percussions and strings and unlike the first side, this grips you and just doesn't let go. The vocals are a tad disjointed, but luckily there are only about 4 lines of singing. "Mother's Daughter" is an excellent blues song, one of my two favorites from the album. Great guitar work here. "Samba Pa Ti" is another very Latin oriented track thrown in there, and it just seems kind of rambling to me. The highlight of this album to me is "Hope You're Feeling Better", at least in my eyes. the guitars sound very industrial with some short and quick riffs, while the singing is absolutely intense. "El Nicoya" ends the album, and trust me when I say that it is just noise for the sake of noise. Really.

The main thing about this album is the fact that it is the first album to show that Santana as a group is a team effort. Carlos himself only contributes one song, and I much prefer the works of Gregg Rolie to Santana here. Also, amazing cover art. I know it doesn't mean much, but when side 1 is boring you at least you can stare at the cover.

3 stars. Overly ambitious but still mediocre.