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Abraxas is the second studio album by the American rock band Santana. It was released on September 23, 1970, by Columbia Records and became the band’s first album to top the Billboard 200 in the United States.

Reception

Abraxas was deemed “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” by the Library of Congress and was selected for preservation in their National Recording Registry in 2015.

In 2020, Rolling Stone magazine ranked the album number 334 on its list of the “500 Greatest Albums of All Time”.

The AllMusic review by Alex Henderson awarded the album 5 stars out of 5 and stated:”The San Francisco Bay Area rock scene of the late ’60s was one that encouraged radical experimentation and discouraged the type of mindless conformity that’s often plagued corporate rock. When one considers just how different Santana, Jefferson Airplane, Moby Grape, and the Grateful Dead sounded, it becomes obvious just how much it was encouraged. In the mid-’90s, an album as eclectic as Abraxas would be considered a marketing exec’s worst nightmare. But at the dawn of the 1970s, this unorthodox mix of rock, jazz, salsa, and blues proved quite successful. Whether adding rock elements to salsa king Tito Puente’s “Oye Como Va,” embracing instrumental jazz-rock on “Incident at Neshabur” and “Samba Pa Ti,” or tackling moody blues-rock on Fleetwood Mac’s “Black Magic Woman,” the band keeps things unpredictable yet cohesive. Many of the Santana albums that came out in the ’70s are worth acquiring, but for novices, Abraxas is an excellent place to start.”

Track listing
Original release
Side one
1. “Singing Winds, Crying Beasts” Michael Carabello 4:51
2. “Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen” Peter Green/Gábor Szabó 5:24
3. “Oye Cómo Va” Tito Puente 4:17
4. “Incident at Neshabur”
Alberto GianquintoCarlos Santana
4:58
Side two
1. “Se a Cabó” José Areas 2:50
2. “Mother’s Daughter” Gregg Rolie 4:25
3. “Samba Pa Ti” Santana 4:45
4. “Hope You’re Feeling Better” Rolie 4:10
5. “El Nicoya” Areas 1:30

Personnel

Santana in 1971:
Carlos Santana – lead guitar, backing vocals, producer[23]
Gregg Rolie – keyboards, lead vocals
David Brown – bass
Michael Shrieve – drums
José “Chepito” Areas – percussion, congas, timbales
Michael Carabello – percussion, congas, possibly keyboards on “Singing Winds, Crying Beasts” (the latter disputed by Santana)
Additional personnel:
Rico Reyes – backing vocal on “Oye Como Va”, backing vocal and percussion on “El Nicoya”
Alberto Gianquinto – piano on “Incident at Neshabur”

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Released: September 23, 1970
Recorded: April 17 – May 2, 1970
Studios:
Wally Heider Studios, San Francisco
Pacific Recorders, San Mateo, California
Label: Columbia
Producers: Fred Catero, Carlos Santana