[albummaster]

Today's album of the day

Abraxas by Santana (View album | Buy this album)

Year: 1970.
Country:
Overall rank: 511
Average rating: 81/100 (from 243 votes).

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Tracks:
1. Singing Winds, Crying Beasts
2. Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen
3. Oye Como Va
4. Incident At Neshabur
5. Se A Cabo
6. Mother's Daughter
7. Samba Pa Ti
8. Hope You're Feeling Better
9. El Nicoya

About album of the day: The BestEverAlbums.com album of the day is the album appearing most prominently in member charts in the previous 24 hours. If an album, or artist, has previously been selected within a x day period, the next highest album is picked instead (and so on) to ensure a bit of variety. A full history of album of the day can be viewed here.

[Infinity183]

This album is in my personal top 10. It packs the same brilliant balance of latin and psychedelia found on Santana's self-titled debut but expands dramatically upon that release's structural complexity and originality. The groovy cover of Tito Puente's Oye Como Va is of course a staple of latin music in general, but in context of the album, it serves mostly as a way to balance out the rest of the tracks, most of which are more intricate and unpredictable, but all of which are masterpieces. Predominantly instrumental songs like Singing Winds, Crying Beasts; Incident At Neshabur, and Se A Cabo advance the album perfectly, while the more rock-oriented Hope You're Feeling Better adds some much-welcomed variety towards the album's conclusion without sounding out of place. Carlos Santana's signature guitar riffs heavily spice up songs with otherwise relaxed ambiances, such as Sambi Pa Ti and the aforementioned Oye Como Va. The highlight is definitely track 2, on which the already breathtakingly seductive Black Magic Woman progressively segues into the uptempo syncopation delight that is Gypsy Queen.

Abraxas is an accomplished and eclectic album that sounds attractive under almost any context. It's smooth enough to play during relaxation time, intense enough as a wake-up call, and diverse enough for just a compelling listening experience from start to finish. For these reasons, it's one of my most-listened to albums of all time.