Shanti Das - Servant Of Peace [USA folk psychedelic 1973]

This is a commune band, also known as ‘Center Family’. The album is mostly mystical folk, and includes a ‘chant instructional’. A lot of it isn’t far from standard ‘70s singer-songwriter music, other than the spiritual lyrics. Tempos are generally sluggish and the songwriting simple, though a few songs have catchy choruses. The songs are just acoustic guitar and vocals (mostly male, though some female too), with flute or harmonica on a few, and electric guitar on one. They definitely suffer from lack of variety. Not really the kind of thing that can hold a listener’s interest for a full half hour.

Shanti Das