Santana, "Abraxas"

Dr. Ken hopes you're feeling better

, and

Feb 16, 2022

Ken’s Pitch:

Contrary to what half the people in this country think, Mexico doesn’t send us drug dealers or rapists. They send us hard working people and their families looking for a better life, and sometimes they come bearing fabulous gifts of science, art, literature, or music. They send us artists like Frida Kahlo, writers like Octavio Paz, actors like Salma Hayek, professional athletes like golfer Carlos Ortiz (who had an amazing hole in one last weekend at the 16th at TPC Scottsdale), and musicians like Carlos Santana. It seems that Mexico is bringing a lot more to the table than your book-banning, anti-vaxx, believe-the-big-lie hamlet down in the Confederacy.

While Santana is one of the defining bands of the San Francisco rock scene of the late ‘60s, its leader’s Mexican heritage isn’t a passing note, it helps define the sound of the band. Being inspired by American blues and jazz like B.B. King and Miles Davis, Santana is also heavily influenced by the late Richie Valens and bandleader Tito Puente. At a time when rock musicians were incorporating different aspects of American music together - The Grateful Dead were embracing jazz progressions, Jimi Hendrix was marrying blues with experimental hard rock, and The Byrds were fusing folk and psychedelic rock - there was hardly anyone mixing in ingredients from other parts of the world, and then came Santana.

Santana was introduced to the world on the biggest stage imaginable, the Woodstock festival in August 1969. Their first album wouldn’t be released until a couple weeks after the festival, but their performance to this day is still considered legendary. By September of 1970, Santana was a worldwide hit, and they followed up their first album with the crown jewel in their discography, Abraxas.

With an unmistakable Latin sound, highlighted by two massive hits in the covers of Peter Greene and Gabor Szabo’s “Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen” and Tito Puente’s “Oye Como Va”, Santana brings a get-up-and-dance vibe on several tracks, while others like “Incident at Neshabur” are instant Latin jazz classics.

While Carlos wows us throughout with his innovative guitar playing, and Gregg Rolie channels his inner Thelonius Monk on the keys, the real heroes of Abraxas are the percussionists. Starting with prodigy (and the youngest performer to play at Woodstock) Michael Shrieve behind the drum kit, whose intricate work and impeccable timekeeping drive the entire band, every track also includes congas, bongos, and a ton of “extra” percussion as if the band wants to make sure we don’t forget this is Latin music.

As if pioneering a new sound and being the defining face of Latin American rock wasn’t enough, Satana also gives us the greatest baby-making music by anyone not named Barry White with the gorgeous instrumental “Samba Pa Ti”. I first heard “Samba” when I was in my late teens, and I put it on repeat for the next hour or so. It is Santana’s masterpiece and it alone deserves a spot in the Newbury St. Collection.

So guys, it’s winter in New England, but we may be coming toward the end of this horrible pandemic. I hope you’re feeling better; at least well enough to vote Abraxas into Newbury St.

Mitch’s Response:

There's an old legend about two wolves that I always thought was Mexican (because I first read it on the menu at a Mexican restaurant, obviously) but turns out to be Cherokee in origin. Since there are a lot of wolves in Mexico, and it involves food, I’m going to go with it anyway:

A grandson is struggling and asks his grandfather for advice. The kid says that there are two wolves inside of him - one evil and one good - fighting for dominance, and he wonders which wolf will win. The Grandfather wisely instructs him that all people fight the same battle, and the wolf that will win is the wolf that he feeds.

There are also two wolves inside of Santana’s Abraxas. On the one paw, you have the good wolf - Santana as Latin jazz-rock band with the lyrical guitar player who delivers energetic, rhythmic songs that sound like no other. On the other paw, you have the evil wolf - Santana as a truly awful Woodstock-era rock band that makes me yearn for the delicate charms of Sha-Na-Na.

The combination of “Mother’s Daughter” and “Hope You’re Feeling Better” are among the worst two songs we’ve ever covered at EONS. They’re so bad even Mother Love Bone would say, “no más.” If I ever make a movie with an acid-flashback freakout scene, I know exactly what songs on Abraxas to license. Did I mention how much I hate those two migraine-inducing songs?

Yet, in between, and far, far apart, is “Samba Pa Ti” - one of the most gorgeous songs ever made, and some of the finest guitar playing ever put down on wax. My love for “Samba Pa Ti” far exceeds my hate for those other two songs.

And it’s not just “Samba Pa Ti”. It’s also the guitar line that comes in at 2:49 during “Incident at Neshabur”. It’s the fact that both covers - “Oye Como Va” and “Black Magic Women” - greatly improve upon the originals. It’s the vibe created in “Singing Winds, Crying Beasts” and “Se a Cabo”. It’s the fact that this album is totally original and innovative and grooves so damn hard.

Sure, there are way too many bongos and congas and everything else Michael Shrieve is constantly banging on, but that’s a “me” problem, not a Santana problem. Without a doubt, Carlos Santana is the good wolf - his guitar playing is transcendent - and it’s feeding time on Newbury St.

Pitch Successful (Samba Pa Ken)

CJ’s Response:

I needed Carlos Santana Roseannadanna this week. To quote his “cousin” Roseanne, “It’s always something. If it’s not one thing, it’s another.” Between frustration at work, dismay at national and global politics and a weather pattern that brought the Boston area sixty-degree weather one day and six inches of snow the next, I was pretty much done with all of it.

Then I put on Abraxas and let the music wash over me. I felt like Mitch Kramer at the end of Dazed and Confused. After sneaking in from a sleepless night of partying and somehow avoiding punishment from his mom, Mitch Kramer puts on his headphones, cranks up “Slow Ride” and makes the world disappear.

It’s impossible to be miserable when you’re listening to Santana’s masterpiece. Whether it’s the silky, languid jazz instrumentals like “Se a Cabo” or “Samba Pa Ti” or the legendary classics like “Black Magic Woman” and “Oye Como Va”, this is joyous music. Even when the subject matter is not, as in “Incident at Neshabur”.

Being who I am, my favorite two songs on the album are the self-styled ‘70s rockers “Mother’s Daughter” and “Hope You’re Feeling Better”. They make me think of The James Gang and Peter Green-era Fleetwood Mac (obviously). However, unlike Ken’s early ‘70s jazz-rock heroes The Edgar Winter Group, Santana innovates rather than duplicates. Carlos Santana’s signature guitar tone coupled with Gregg Rolie’s hard-driving vocals create a distinctive sound that defines the period.

Roseanne Roseannadanna had a lot to say on many different topics. When describing a trip to the dentist where they used a variety of instruments on her teeth, she quipped, “My mouth, it looked like Woodstock. And you know what happened at Woodstock.”

Yeah, Santana stole the show.

Pitch Successful (Smooth. Even without Rob Thomas.)

Ken’s pitch was muy bueno and Santana’s Abraxas has been added to the Newbury St. Collection.

The best way for you to change your evil ways is to swing by the comments section and play the game of love. Is Santana’s Abraxas a winning album?

Exile on Newbury St.

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