Santana – Abraxas

This sounds excellent. AB’d this to both the 1970 Terre Haute and Indianapolis pressings, and I much prefer this one. The vinyl has a quieter background, soundstage is a bit wider and overall separation is better.

Santana is a genius. From '70, this early career masterpiece is among his best work. A perfect amalgam of afro latin, jazzy, psych-rock, Abraxas is driving and adventurous, bathed in conga and timbale. The guitar leads are enormous and wailing, even on the tender tracks. His tone is marvelous, and he articulates with thumb and forefinger for a softer initial string attack; this may contribute to his very expressive horn-like sound.

Why waste your money on a Mo-Fi DSD-cut lacquer 'one step', this is all you need. A clean early pressing with great dynamics and punch, sounds better as you crank it.

5 stars, recommended.

I bought this release and the matrix had a scratched off letter on side A so it reads like "PAL 30130 1-#D" (pretend the # is the scratched off letter). My matrix is etched on both sides except for the little "o"s which are stamped that come after the "PAL 30130 1-#D" (side A) and "PBL 30130 1-D" (side B) (the "o" on side B could actually be a "c" but maybe the stamp just didn't go all the way around). Also, I noticed a very faint "1" or "I" as well as a "C" on both sides as well as some other even fainter letters that also may not really be part of the matrix. I haven't been able to exactly match my copy with this release or any other release on Discogs (I checked all of them with this cat number) so if anyone knows about any of this, let me know! Thanks!

I came across a phenomena where some cuts seem to have the channel audio reversed. I discuss it here:
https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/santana-abraxas-us-original-variations.937653/

Wheres the Columbia legacy white vinyl release barcode 194397011418. LC 00162/ 88875194291 on the cover.

"I don't want Santana Abraxas! I've just been in a terrible auto accident!"

Terre Haute press reviewed originally, should be the same however:
Im very happy with the US first Terre Haute Pressing of this album. Coming from the first/second press UK I was wondering if it could be topped like I hoped it would, and it just might have been. Comparing the two was done on side 1 through a few listens back and forth.
The first impressions are that the US press has at least one aspect over the UK, that being sound staging and or stereo imaging. It was a bit surprising since I sort of expected things to be the other way around with the US taking the lead with a meaty bass but the UK actually goes deeper in the low end and maybe also high end, but its hard to call right now. Usually I tend to prefer my bass filled pressings over counterparts but what I think I realize now might be even more important is a balanced sound. The US delivers a tighter bass instead and more pronounced instruments because of that soundstage and it fits together more coherently.
One way to describe the two is to say that the UK has a more vertical sound, not as wide but tall with the deep bass and soaring highs, while the US has a horizontal sound with wider imaging.
The record I would probably reach for first at the moment is the US copy even though there are a few more pops on it, but through more listening I will be sure to update if I feel like I can explain further, but it seems like my assumption was right from the start about the UK. It will also be exciting to see what QRP can bring for their 2018 Santana releases, even better than the Mofi I hope.

Current preferred releases:
1. US First Press ( This )
2. UK First Press ( Review: https://www.discogs.com/Santana-Abraxas/release/3309279 )
3. ???

Equipment used:
Rega RP1 with Nagaoka MP-110 cartridge
Cyrus 2 Amplifier
System Fidelity SF-3050 tower speakers
Custom made HQ speaker cables

While I wasn’t lost in the jungles of Viet Nam when Abraxas blossomed, I was certainly sucking down endless breaths of red baked clay dust as chopper after chopper landed at the Evac Hospital when I first heard this essentially jubilant album that created a seamless sense of musical ecstasy, one that was both new and fresh, like nothing else I’d heard before, creating an atmosphere that was besieged by mysticism that seduced my very soul, if not my entire being.

Abraxas was foreign music for those of us in a foreign land, coming from a country most of us could barely remember as we put one foot in front of the other to usher us through our tours one day at a time. And like Viet Nam, the album was as mood changing and versatile as the events unfolding in this land of green, belaying a controlled inspirational aggressiveness, one laced with traditional yet enthusiastic rhythmic Latin and Afro grooves that while not jazz in the broader sense, were solidly fabricated on the foundations of the improvisations of jazz. Yet within those grooves, Carlos Santana and his band of musical gypsies incorporated the immediacy of rock n’ roll, dynamically allowing their songs to rush headlong, as if each track was composed of one solo laid on top of another solo, to the point where the crescendo was nearly overwhelming, though with that being said, nothing was lost in the haze of this musicianship, because each song and each note was crystal clear, devoid of faulty distortion, carrying the listener to a nether region of volume and intensity that was absolutely boundless and transcendent.

Not meaning to demean any of the other works by Santana, Abraxas stands as a singular inspirational moment in time, defining the notion that jamming was not off the cuff, but rather well considered, explorative and extremely substantial. Much of that I believe is due to the quality of the recording process, where unhappy with the sound of their first outing, Santana set about to deliver an album that sounded bright, full, and with an attention to detail that few had been achieving at this point in time … and if you think you knew the music then, find yourself a mobile high fidelity recording (MoFi), and be prepared to be blown away yet again.

Even with all of it’s swirling guitars and psychedelic organ runs, Abraxas came across sounding classy and exotic, standing apart from what other likeminded musicians such as the Mahavishnu Orchestra were doing with their sound, where their music came across with a snob appeal, while Santana crafted a shimmering path that tapped into the primal spirit that lives within each of us, and brought that spirit nearly hypnotically and captivatingly dancing forward.

*** The Fun Facts: The album’s title comes from a line in Hermann Hesse's book, "Demian," and is 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 ..." The word "Abraxas" has deep usage within Gnostic cosmology.

The album’s cover art features the deeply symbolic 1961 painting "Annunciation" by painter Mati Klarwein. According to the artist, it was one of the first paintings he did after relocating to New York City. Carlos Santana reportedly noticed it in a magazine and asked that it be on the cover of the band's upcoming album. Abraxas is now considered to a classic among rock album covers.

Review by Jenell Kesler

Can someone please suggest a definitive CD edition of Abraxus? (In between turntables at present, though it sounds like I should invest in the Abraxas, 2xLP, Album, Ltd, Num, RE, RM, Box, UD1S 2-001)