336: Abraxas, by Santana

Santana (Mexico/USA)
Abraxas (1970)
9 tracks, 38 minutes
Spotify ∙ iTunes

I’ve talked before about the incredible fertility of rock music in the short period of the late-60s and early-70s, but I think Abraxas by Santana is a perfect example of this.

Abraxas is a classic rock album. It was huge at the time of release, and has been regarded as an important work ever since, frequently included in lists of best rock albums ever. But it’s so much more than ‘classic rock’ and all the images and associations that term conjures. That element is definitely there, yes, and seedlings of what would be ‘heavy rock’ can be heard occasionally throughout, but it’s far from the most noticeable aspect of the album. In fact, a defining feature of Abraxas is that it’s difficult to even fit it easily into the category of ‘rock’ at all.

It begins with ‘Singing Winds, Crying Beasts’, a moody and atmospheric instrumental piece with mysterious jazzy chords, a Latin rhythm and only a few glimpses of Carlos Santana’s wailing guitar among the waves of vibrating cymbals. That opening piece lasts for nearly five minutes and it’s a proper statement for what’s to come: whatever it will be, it’s not going to be what you’d expect. That piece segues into a cool version of Fleetwood Mac’s blues ‘Black Magic Woman’ and then into the Eastern European-influenced ‘Gypsy Queen’…and then it’s straight into a rocked-up but faithful version of Tito Puente’s cha-cha ‘Oye Como Va’. The next one, ‘Incident of Neshabur’ is a driving jazz-rock that sounds even Bitches Brew-like at times. And all that in just the first side! What a rollercoaster. The rest of the album also features the smooth jazz of ‘Samba Pa Ti’, the heavy metal premonition of ‘Hope You’re Feeling Better’ and ends up with the percussion-and-voice rumba of ‘El Nicoya’.

Holding it all together is, it almost goes without saying, a core of amazing musicians. The group themselves are so tight together that they can switch things up so often and know that everyone else on the band is going to be on the same page. Gregg Rolie’s keys are solid all the way through and his turns on the Hammond organ and electric piano really kick up the funk; the Latin percussion from José ‘Chepito’ Areas, Michael Carabello and Rico Reyes ground the whole album in a rhythmic basis that hadn’t – and still hasn’t, really – been explored in a rock realm but that fits it so well; and, of course, Carlos Santana’s lead guitar work that flits through the album’s many genres with ease, and really lets him stretch his muscles as an exciting and forward-thinking soloist.

You never know where you stand with Abraxas. Every track is different in its own way, but it all fits together in terms of the energy and atmosphere created and curated throughout the whole listening experience. That’s so rare; it’s an album that has the ability to surprise at every turn without making the whole endeavour feel like an exercise in wilful quirkiness. ‘Rock’ may be the wrong word and ‘Latin-blues-rock-prog-jazz’ is just stupid…but ‘classic’ is definitely the right word.

229: Rodrigo y Gabriela, by Rodrigo y Gabriela

Rodrigo y Gabriela (Mexico)
Rodrigo y Gabriela (2006)
9 tracks, 43 minutes
Bandcamp ∙ Spotify ∙ iTunes

With this album, their third, Rodrigo y Gabriela received quite a bit of notoriety, albeit rather short-lived in the mainstream. Their line-up is so simple: two Mexicans playing nylon-stringed guitars with techniques largely inspired by the flamenco players of Andalucia…and that’s it. All acoustic, all instrumental, no plectra. Rodrigo generally takes the lead role with Gabriela providing the rhythm (that’s chords and percussion, derived from slapping the guitar, slapping the strings and all other manner of ingenious guitar manipulation).

When they first started getting attention, a lot of the discussion around them focussed understandably on their guitar wizardry, but I remember hearing them referred to most as flamenco guitarists, or their music as Latin, but I actually don’t think that’s right – or at least it’s not where their popularity comes from.

Because although flamenco is extremely evident in the strumming patterns and the way the instruments combine and share roles, and there are definite elements of Latin music in there (as well as bossa nova, tango and jazz), their core is something very different. This is metal. Yes, they’re nylon-stringed acoustics, but it feels like every piece on this album starts from a place of metal of some kind, whether that’s thrash, death or melodic. Where they go from there varies (even to include an improvised solo from Hungary Romani violinist Roby Lakatos on the track ‘Ixtapa’), but play these pieces on wailing guitars and stick a chugging bass and speed drums behind them and there would be no doubt. I’m actually surprised that apparently only one YouTuber has taken it upon themselves to make this a reality:

It’s not as if their metalness is a secret. The two were in a metal band before they formed the duo, and this album even features a cover of Metallica’s ‘Orion’. A lot of the press surrounding the album talks about their metal influences, but on the ground, all I heard was ‘flamenco’ and ‘Latin.’ Weird. I find it interesting what makes us put complex music like this into narrow boxes and why we choose what boxes we do.

But whatever you call them doesn’t matter really, does it? This is a great album of guitar interplay that presents familiar sounds in an unfamiliar way. There’s also something so entrancing about two instruments playing in such a close manner that even makes the brain go a bit strange – there are points that you’d swear there are some piano chords going on, or a miniature flute choir or something. They play hard and they play gentle, but there’s always a passion and a fire in their fingers.

Metal, flamenco, Latin, jazz or whatever – Rodrigo y Gabriela is an album by two amazing guitarists making their own thing in an interesting way. Now all I need is more metal YouTubers to get their fingers around this one…

196: LDA v the Lunatics, by Los de Abajo

Los de Abajo (Mexico)
LDA v the Lunatics (2005)
15 tracks, 65 minutes
Spotify ∙ iTunes

Before this album, Los de Abajo were seen as the kings and queen of ‘salsa punk,’ but on this album they took a bit of a change of direction. Salsa and punk are still very much in evidence, but so are ska, mariachi, cumbia, dub and mestizo music, all rolled up together. We’ve already seen that Latin music and ska are a potent mix with Ska Cubano, but Mexican music has a bit more of an edge to it, and I think that comes from their culture’s much stronger connection to their pre-Columbian heritage. It means that LDA’s music is a meeting of three different sound worlds, the Latin, the African and the Mesoamerican. They even sing in the indigenous language of Zapotec on the track ‘Tortuga Dub’.

What prompted LDA’s proliferation of styles? Probably a lot of things, I don’t know them personally. BUT I reckon a big part of the sound of this album comes from the producers, UK duo Temple of Sound. We’ve featured Temple of Sound quite a bit so far on this blog (and we’ll continue to throughout the year) although not in that name yet, I think. They are Neil Sparkes and Count Dubulah (nowadays known as Nick Page), founder members of Transglobal Underground whose music together was on the much more dubby side. The elements of their production can be heard all over LDA v the Lunatics, but they don’t steamroller it – every sound that they add is in harmony with the band’s groove, only serving to accentuate their musical message rather than turning it into something it’s not trying to be.

But enough of the deep-dive, what is it like?? Well…it’s a total party, of course. This is excellent music for no-thoughts-required hour-and-a-bit of revelry. Maybe my thoughts are influenced by the fact that I’m writing this on the evening of the hottest day of the year so far, but this is proper cider in the park music. Even when its themes are serious (‘Resistencia’, for example, features a speech by revolutionary Comandanta Esther), it doesn’t become dry, it just adds more passion to the music, and more fuel to the party fire. And then there’s just the straight up bangers like the two covers (one Spanish, one English) of Fun Boy Three’s ‘The Lunatics (Have Taken Over the Asylum)’ with guest spots from Dennis Rollins on trombone and FBT’s own Neville Staple.

I’m not sure there’s much more to say about this one without ruining it. Want a punky, dubby ska party that’s totally Mexican all the way through? Play this, loud.