Living Force were formed from the ashes of another obscure New Zealand band called Spacefarm. In reviewing their sole album, 1972-1974 era Santana is the obvious blueprint here. Plenty of Sri Chinmoy spirituality references, not to mention Carlos' trademark sustain guitar style. A bit out of its era, but wonderfully so. The Santana reference also is apparent on the percussion heavy instrumentals. The songwriter tracks are more in line with other bands from Australasia during the 70s. I hear bits of Pantha in particular, and smaller doses of Dragon, Ragnarok, and Sebastian Hardie. The album's only misstep is 'Sail This Boat', an insipid pop number that wouldn’t be out of place on a time travel American Idol episode. One wishes they would have attempted an entirely instrumental album... that would’ve been a killer.
Ownership: 1977 Atlantic (LP)
No legit reissues have surfaced as of 3/28/25.
1998 (first listen); 11//04; 2006; 11/10/20 (review / new entry)
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