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Abraxas Album cover from a painting by   by  ReleasedSeptember 23, 1970RecordedApril 17–May 2, 1970Studio
(San Francisco, California)
Pacific Recording Studios
(San Mateo, California) Length37:10,  chronology
(1969)Abraxas
(1970)
(1971) from Abraxas ""
Released: 1970 ""
Released: 1971 "Hope You're Feeling Better"
Released: 1971 ""
Released: 1973

Abraxas is the second studio album by  band . It was released on September 23, 1970 by  and became the band's first album to reach number one in the United States.

Title

The title of the album originates from a line in 's book , quoted on the album's back cover: "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...."

Songs

Carlos Santana had been interested in 's leader and songwriter , having seen him perform at the  in , and decided to cover the band's song "". Both were influenced as guitarists by . The band added a cover of Gabor Szabo's instrumental "Gypsy Queen" to the end. "" was a hit by  in the early 1960s and the group played it live regularly, as they realized it was good for audiences to dance to.

"" was co-written by Santana and his friend Alberto Gianquinto, who played piano on the track.  played the other keyboards, contrasting with Gianquinto's jazz-influenced style. It ran through various time and key signatures.

The instrumental, "" ("Samba for You"), was written by Santana after he saw a jazz saxophonist performing in the street outside his apartment. It was later covered by , who added lyrics, and also by , who put lyrics in , on her album Oyo. It is also one of the tracks featured in 's book .

Cover art

The album cover features the 1961 painting  by German-French painter . According to the artist, it was one of the first paintings he did after relocating to . Carlos Santana reportedly noticed it in a magazine and asked that it be on the cover of the band's upcoming album. On the back of the record sleeve the cover art is just credited to 'MATI'. It is now considered a classic of rock album covers. Klarwein went on to design album artwork for many notable artists, including , , , and .

Critical reception Professional ratingsReview scoresSourceRatingC+(favorable)

In both 2003 and 2012, the album was ranked number 207 on  magazine's list of , and then at number 334 in a 2020 edition of the list. In 2000 it was voted number 202 in 's . The album was also included in the book . In 2015, the album was listed among Billboard's 50 Essential Latin Albums of the 50 Past Years.

Rock critic , in one of his capsule reviews in , at the time of the album's release, gave it a rating of only C+, which denotes "a not disreputable performance, most likely a failed experiment or a pleasant piece of hackwork."

Legac

Abraxas was deemed "culturally, historically, or artistically significant" by the  and was selected for preservation in their  in 2016.

The album is briefly mentioned in the 2009 film , though the film is set three years before the album was released.

Track listing Original release Side oneNo.TitleWriter(s)Length1."Singing Winds, Crying Beasts" ()4:512."/Gypsy Queen"/5:243.""4:174."" (Instrumental)Alberto Gianquinto, 4:58Side twoNo.TitleWriter(s)Length1."Se a Cabó"2:502."Mother's Daughter"4:253."" (Instrumental)Santana4:454."Hope You're Feeling Better"Rolie4:105."El Nicoya"Areas1:30