174. Abraxas - Santana

I'm probably more familiar with Santana's Smooth with Rob Thomas than I am with any of his earlier, more seminal work - such is the nature of being born in the mid-80s. Smooth featuring the Matchbox Twenty singer was ubiquitous in 1998, and, catchy as it was, it never made me want to explore more of his back catalogue. My guitarist friends always spoke highly of Santana's melodic style, opting for tone rather than outright speed, and how influential he has been.

The album, Santana's second, was a monstrous success for the band, going 5 times platinum in the US, and Gold in the UK. It was selected this year to be kept in the US's National Recording Registry for its cultural and artistic significance. The cover art is pretty distinctive too; a 1961 painting by Mati Klarwein called "Annunciation". The album title comes from the Hermann Hesse novel Demian, "We stood before it and began to freeze inside from the exertion. We questioned the painting, berated it, made love to it, prayed to it: We called it mother, called it whore and slut, called it our beloved, called it Abraxas....".

Singing Winds, Crying Beasts sounds both (a) exactly as the title suggests and (b) exactly like a Santana instrumental should. It's full of subtle tones and textures, with the most cymbal rolls ever recorded in one place. Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen is a Fleetwood Mac cover merged into Gabor Szabo's 1966 instrumental. It has a lovely Latin feel to it, all swaying bass and dancing lead guitar, and the intensity really steps up at the transition. Oye Como Va you may know from the Big Lebowski, and is obscenely catchy, with a great use of keyboard and guiro; there are so many things going on at any one time it takes a while to get a real feel for it, but when you do, it is hard to shake off. This track was also a cover - it was originally penned by Tito Puente. Incident at Neshabar is a delicate instrumental that has a lovely ebb and flow to it. Se a Cabo adds some urgency to proceedings, with some powerful, polyrhythmic drumming, and a guitar line that dances over the top. Mother's daughter kicks off in a remarkably similar way to Hendrix's Fire - no bad thing. It is powerful stuff, but doesn't quite match the urgency of the Hendrix song. Samba Pa Ti is another song you'll know, although it's a bit background-y for me. Hope You're Feeling Better kicks in with a great organ riff, and then there's some stirring drumming. The vocals are a bit affected, but also feel like they're delivered with conviction alongside an aggressive sounding guitar and a solo as good as I hoped more of them would be. El Nicoya is a slightly damp squib, its only remarkable feature being how forgettable it is.

Whilst I can only imagine the impact this album had on Western audiences when released, the diversity of musical influences currently around means that it is hard to experience that in the same way. I can hear the technical brilliance, and togetherness of the band, but it also doesn't really grab me unless I'm fully focused on it due to the complexities within it. It's an album I tried to appreciate, but I didn't enjoy it as much as I'd hoped.

Chloe's rating: 6

Chloe's favourite track: 6. Mother's Daughter

Olly's rating: 6

Olly's favourite track: 3. Oye Como Va

Next week is 545. Treasure by the Cocteau Twins. Don't know them well, but most people whose music tastes I trust love them, so looking forward to that.