The theme is spiritual divine medicine to counter the fever-pitch fear that's permeating this planet right now... Every era has its song ... to help alleviate the condition of brutality and war.
Editors at AllMusic rated this album 3 out of 5 stars, with critic Thom Jurek writing that the music is "loose, but everybody brought their chops to the party" and is the sound of great musicians enjoying one another's company.[2] Writing for The Arts Desk, Thomas H. Green gave this album 2 out of 5 stars, writing that there are "passable moments" on the album, but the music "slump[s] into a bland string of slowies".[3]The Independent, Andy Gill rated this album 3 out of 5 stars, calling it "not entirely successful", but noting strong performances on particular tracks.[4] At Louder Sound, Julian Marszalek gave this collaboration 3 out of 5 stars, characterizing it as "not quite a harvest for the world but no spoilt crops either".[5]
Paste's Douge Heselgrave gave this album a 5.8 out of 10, writing "With so much common ground and shared history, having high expectations of such a collaboration is fairly reasonable. And plenty of their fans will probably enjoy Power of Peace quite a lot. It's an impressively produced piece of work. The songs are well-arranged, creatively charted and, for the most part, beautifully performed.", but calling it "a lot less captivating than it should be" and "predictable".[6] Tristan Kneschke of PopMatters scored Power of Peace a 6 out of 10, stating that there are "rough edges" to the music, but that "the album connects us with the expression of love across 20th century songwriting, a sentiment that often seems to have vanished".[7] Daryl Easlea of Record Collector scored this album 4 out of 5 stars, writing that it "is exactly what it is; people old enough to have long packed up this business, getting down to it, having enormous enjoyment doing it".[8]Rolling Stone's Will Hermes rated Power of Peace 3 out of 5 stars, praising Ronald Isley's vocals and Carlos Santana's guitar work.[9] In Spill Magazine, Aaron Badgley gave this work 3.5 out of 5 stars, writing that it is "exactly as you would expect, slickly produced, full of amazing playing and some of the sweetest vocals this side of Heaven".[10]
Track listing
"Are You Ready?" (Julian Chambers) – 3:26
"Total Destruction to Your Mind" (Jerry Williams, Jr.) – 4:23
Cindy Blackman Santana – drums, lead vocals on "I Remember", backing vocals on "God Bless the Child", arrangement on "Higher Ground", production on "Higher Ground"
