ALBUM REVIEWS
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ALBUM REVIEWS |
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Chuck Prophet
!LET FREEDOM RING! COOKING VINYL 7.9.09 @www.vanguard-online.co.uk
“I’m a man of few words, baby. And I think by now you heard them all.” He’s a trouper, Chuck Prophet. Still beating the bounds of scuzzy clubs after oh so many years. Half of the heart of Green On Red (est. 1984), the forerunners of all that alt-americana stuff, he’s kept the flame alive. From the dissolute dissipation of Green On Red’s loping blues to today, he has become the embodiment of what he once set out to emulate. Rolling the words out relaxed and fronting country-blues guitar lopes, Chuck has stepped outside time into a world Wilco once lived in before they became all self-conscious. “What I’m trying to tell you, is how much I love you…. How much I love you in that dress.” Romance, in Chuck’s world is one of easy loves and easy loss, long lamented. It’s one of scruffy life, illustrated with tight musicianship, dressed as a bar band. Seriously, there is some tight stuff here. From the telecaster guitar attacks Chuck lays out to the funky swing of the band, this is an accomplished offering from a new assemblage of folks. Recorded in Mexico, just as swine flu arrived and an earthquake hit, you can conjure up your own mental image of Prophet & Co locked in a studio, playing as if the end of the world has arrived (though their manager was probably busy trying to book air tickets out asap). “You and me, baby, we can get it on like it’s Saturday night”. Chuck acts the eternal loser and dreamer, living for the paycheck and the weekend, while spinning out dreams for others to live by. Yearning and hopeful guitar lines accompany the rough and right vocals. The dirty street life of Lou Reed gets an update, lying in the gutter but looking at the stars. Lyrics occasional touch on the Dylanesque (Hot Talk) and at other times are simply a picture of hard lives, lived romantically with aspiration and inspiration. Cooing girly backing choruses aptly recall the newly departed Willy De Ville, now strutting his Spanish Stroll across the stars somewhere. This is an album to celebrate life amongst collapse and disaster, swinging, singing and walking Spanish down the hall. “Well life is only so long, don’t let it rub you raw”. www.chuckprophet.com |
