ABRAXAS

While Caravanserai steals the spotlight on this prog-oriented website, and deservedly so, Abraxas should, at the least, have an equal share of praise. Never before and never again has Santana's seamless blend of latin, hard rock, psychadelic rock and jazz been treated with such dazzling writing and performing. At the start of the spacey intro, "Singing Winds, Crying Beasts," you're put into a daze by the ethereal sonics of this album, and you never get out of it until the end. Santana & co. turn out some of their best collective and individual performances especially in the instrumental/jam-based pieces "Incident at Neshabur," "Se a Cabo" and "Samba Pa Ti." The album also did well in the mainstream with a rendition of "Black Magic Woman" - most would agree that Santana's version, especially with the added end of "Gypsy Queen" is the definitive version of the song - and Tito Puente's "Oye Como Va." Arguably having the most recognizable and delicious tone of his time, Carlos belts some of the tastiest note nuggets of his career. While his tone may be great to this day, he certainly has lost some of his creativity and soul in his modern work as both a guitarist and a writer. Fortunately, albums like Abraxas almost give the man the right to play the same solo in all of his current collaborative pop smash singles. In brief, this album is melodic, intricate, dynamic and atmospheric. What more could you ask for?