Abraxas

Released

Santana’s second album, 1970’s Abraxas, includes the group’s two classic hits, a medley of Fleetwood Mac’s “Black Magic Woman” and Gabor Szabo’s “Gypsy Queen” and a cover of Tito Puente’s “Oye Como Va,” but the original compositions hint at the inclinations toward fusion and even spiritual jazz that would propel a revamped lineup’s journey to the stars a couple of years later. The opener, “Singing Winds, Crying Beasts,” with its panning cymbal washes and ominous harp and piano, promises a weirder album than we get, but tracks like “Incident at Neshabur,” the Rare Earth-ish “Hope You’re Feeling Better,” and “Se a Cabo” surge like the ocean, Gregg Rolie’s hard-driving organ and Carlos Santana’s searing guitar charging forth on a bed of complex rhythm.

Phil Freeman

Suggestions
Don't Hear It... Fear It! cover

Don't Hear It... Fear It!

Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell
Imagine cover

Imagine

The Flux Fiddlers, Yoko Ono, John Lennon
Ys cover

Ys

Il Balletto di Bronzo
Oktubre cover

Oktubre

Patricio Rey y sus Redonditos de Ricota
O’Keefe cover

O’Keefe

Danny O'Keefe