Abraxas- Santana (1970)

Rating-- 6.5/10

I don't think anything feels quite as summer-y as Latin music, to me. Maybe it's just part of being a teenager in Summer 2018, when songs like "Despacito" and "I Like It" can easily hit #1 on the Hot 100. In my free time, I might listen to one of those modern Latin songs, but I also very much enjoy old Latin music. The Tito Puente version of "Oye Como Va", for example, is on my "Chill Summer Music" playlist, along with a lot of bossa nova, cumbia, and some cool 70s rock music that I felt blended in somehow. Santana's 1970 album Abraxas fits firmly into this summer-y Latin-infused rock genre-- although that might be part of my problem with it.

This album was added to the National Recording Register in 2016, so fairly recent-- but yet a full year before Latin would take the United States by storm-- again. It seems that Santana happens to pop up whenever Latin music is cool. For example, last year, the song "Wild Thoughts" heavily sampled Santana's "Maria Maria", which popped up in 2000, along with "Smooth", which won a lot of Grammy awards that year-- back in the early 2000s, when Shakira was singing about how she came from Colombia and everything. These two songs, from the 1999 Supernatural album, were Santana's comeback, after the height of their popularity in the early 1970s-- with this album.

Abraxas is clearly a combination of older influences, just like almost everything. My favorite song from the album ("Oye Como Va") is based on a song I already liked, one from 1963, based on a composition from 1937. With the addition of electric guitars and 70s rock elements, it is brought into the multicultural late-1960s-early-1970s music scene. 

But I'm not sure I like it too much. At best, it's really good background music to relax to-- and it is good. At worst, it doesn't add anything to the original songs, and seems identical to the existing genre. Even immediately after listening to the album, the most interesting thing about it is that cool 70s album cover, which is actually a painting from 1961. 

I actually much prefer the modern Santana music-- there's a lot more to look at.

Today's "Music Was Better Back Then" comment--

my, oh! my! why did he abandon rock for that crap pop hip hop or whatever nonsense they call it? why was he given a grammy for a crappy song while he had so many glorious rock songs with bewitching guiter works?