ABRAXAS

"Abraxas" is the 2d full-length studio album by US jazz rock/fusion act Santana. After the huge artistic and commercial success of the platinum selling debut album "Santana (1969)", the group released "Abraxas" in September 1970 through Columbia Records. "Abraxas" turned out to be another platinum selling album for the group. The album follows much the same formula as the debut but adds more latin flavors and an even more eclectic musical approach.

The music on "Abraxas" is predominantly instrumental but there are a few tracks featuring vocals. Santana´s maybe most famous track "Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen" are among those. The music features influences from both anglo rock, blues, jazz, fusion, african and latin music. With two percussionists and a drummer there is great emphasis on rythmic playing which is a trademark on the early albums by the group. Carlos Santana´s guitar playing and Gregg Rolie´s organ playing are also a big part of the sound on the album as well as the great bass playing by David Brown. The vocals by Gregg Rolie suits the music well too.

The production is organic, warm and enjoyable.

While "Abraxas" is a greatly enjoyable album by Santana, I was sligthly more impressed by the debut album. "Abraxas" is a more varied album than "Santana (1969)" but somehow not quite as interesting to my ears. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is still deserved for a high quality release.