Abraxas Birmingham AL

Abraxas

Santana

Columbia Records, 1970

REVIEW BY: Christopher Thelen

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 04/26/1997

Too often these days, I'm seeing bands from the Woodstockgeneration being destroyed by their greatest enemy - time.

Some bands like Quill were almost immediately forgotten afterall the garbage was picked up from Max Yasgur's farm. Others, likeTen Years After, have just been forgotten by time.

Then there is the story of Santana. Coming from out of nowhere,they made a big splash at Woodstock, and then went on to releasetheir at-the-time groundbreaking second disc, Abraxas. But what was special (and, judging from thepainting of the naked woman on the cover, controversial) in 1970 istired and weak in 1997.

Oh, sure, the two hits off this one are still very enjoyable."Black Magic Woman," the cover of the Fleetwood Mac song, stillblows me away, and is some of Carlos Santana's best guitar playing.The merge into "Gypsy Queen" adds a Latin flavor to the track thatsounds like it belonged there all the time. And Tito Puente's "OyeComo Va" is great, though I wish that Santana had just cut loose onthis one instead of playing more controlled, rhythmic solos.