ABRAXAS

With this album Carlos Santana made sure that in the froth of inter-genre experimentation on the rock scene at the time - with jazz, folk, blues and other genres mingling in - that Latin rhythms and styles would not be brushed under the carpet. Mingling blistering psych-fusion with Latin-influenced arrangements with songs like his excellent cover of Fleetwood Mac's Black Magic Woman (which I firmly believe is better than the original), Santana's second album exploded onto a scene eager to hear new sounds and delivered precisely that. The compositions do tend to blend together after a while, and whilst it's always at a high standard there are few truly set-your-hair-on-edge *wonderful* moments, but there's no question that this is a great album which came out at precisely the right time to ensure it was a major commercial success as opposed to sinking like a stone.