Cool Album of the Day: Chuck Prophet – Temple Beautiful

Chuck Prophet has carved out exactly the type of career he would have envisioned when he joined the psychedelic roots rock band Green on Red in the early 80’s.  Since then with his musical collaborations with Cake, Kim Carnes, Solomon Burke, and most recently with Alejandro Escovedo where he played guitar and wrote half of the songs for the fine album Real Animal, Chuck has set out on his own uncompromising  roots rock journey creating musical masterpieces along way.

Between writing credits for Warren Zevon, Kelly Willis, Jewel, and Heart among others, Prophet has released several critically acclaimed albums on his own that while they may be much different in theme and texture, rather than genre hopping, they all seem to be genre enhancing and artistically pure. Developing his style of Lou Reed speak-singing along the way his solo material has included a political album, iLet Freedom Ring!, a series of suburban noire tunes with Homemade Blood, and an album of cover songs, Dreaming Waylon’s Dreams, that was only available on his 2008 tour and recorded as a tribute to one of his idols.

The evolution continues with the latest release Temple Beautiful,  a 12 track homage to San Francisco, made in  San Francisco, by San Franciscans. While Chuck Prophets’ somewhat alternative perspective of the history of “The City By the Bay”  may not be my grandmothers pre-earthquake San Francisco, my parents cable car, play land at the beach, Cliff House San Francisco, or even my own Fillmore West, Cow Palace, Candlestick Park  San Francisco.  It is however, a brilliant people-centric sort of man on the street historical montage  of one of the most beautiful, eclectic, and often misunderstood cities in the world. Stylistically and musically the record does

not take the easy route and solely pay tribute to the musical epicenter that was San Francisco in the late 60’s. In fact, there is hardly a direct reference to The Summer of Love, Jefferson Airplane, Haight Ashbury, or the Grateful Dead in this tome. There is some jangle pop present, but mostly the vibe is Lou Reed style vocals and lyrically dense word smithing with Chuck Prophets’s signature telecaster providing the real bones of the soundtracks.

The Subject matter that was chosen for these cliff notes version history lessons include “Willie Mays is Up at Bat” that talks of the real SF Giants home king Willie Mays, where the baseball Icon is compared to that other buxomly endowed San Francisco treat, stripper Carol Doda, who was the first topless stripper in America, and held court for decades in the Condor room on Broadway.

Let that settle in for a moment, yes I said decades. “And meanwhile Carol Doda stood up and said “I won’t be ignored”  she showed them everything she had and then she showed them all a little more.” “White Night, Big City” is a beautiful, poignant tribute to slain civil rights leader Harvey Milk who was killed along with Mayor George Mosconi in 1978. The song along with the official video that includes historical footage from those tumultuous times in The City is a somber, reflective tribute to a man that stood up for what he believed in despite what turned out to be insurmountable odds. “

“He Came From So Far Away” (Red Man Speaks) obliquely references the occupation of Alcatraz Island, and “Emperor Norton in the Last Days of his Life (1880)” references a famous old-time San Francisco eccentric character of a man that would wander the streets of the city providing brilliant oratory to anyone who would listen.  Although seemingly homeless he was so well known and entrenched in city life that he would have an open seat at all of the operas and playhouses and have a free ticket to any show that he chose to attend. Chuck really did his homework with this one.

Once again Prophet takes us to the seedier side of San Francisco with “The Left Hand and the Right Hand” the story of Jim and Artie Mitchell, two brothers whose relationship makes the Ray and Dave Davies sibling rivalry seem like a Donny and Marie Love-Fest.  The onetime owners of the O’Farrell Theatre and producers of one of the first “big-budget” XXX-rated movies, Behind the Green Door, whose empire came to a crashing end when Artie Mitchell committed fratricide by breaking into his brothers’ home in 1994 and shooting him with a .22 rifle.  You know your life must have taken a wrong somewhere when Marilyn Chambers stands up for your defense at your murder trial and Charlie Sheen, in one of the most spot-on examples  of type casting since Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, plays you in a movie as he did in the movie Rated X alongside his own brother Emilio Estevez. And of course, no journey through the Streets of San Francisco is complete without a nod to some of the eclectic neighborhood bars scattered the city, and two of Chuck’s favorite watering holes are represented here in The Albion Bar and The Temple Beautiful the bar that also happens to the former home of Jim Jones’ Peoples Temple and also a defunct punk club. For the record, my favorite hang outs are Geno and Carlo’s and Cap’s Corner in North Beach, and The Buena Vista Café on Grant street near Fisherman’s Wharf. Take a listen to the song “Temple Beautiful” and see why it is on heavy rotation on the Little Steven Underground Garage satellite radio broadcast where it is considered “One of the Coolest Songs in the World”.

To provide that extra dose of S.F. Rock and Roll authenticity legendary bay area drummer Prairie Prince, who has played with both Journey and The Tubes, appears on the album along with Roy Loney of the famous San Francisco –centric garage band The Flaming Groovies. Even if the subject matter were not so close to my heart this

record would still be considered by me to be one of the best albums of the year, if not one of the best in recent years. It is thoughtful, introspective, and handles important subject matter with an artistic delicate brush that  warrants careful and frequent  listens to fully appreciate and understand the historical and socio-political landscape that is presented.

On February 7th 2012, the day the album was released, a guided bus tour was offered of the sights and sounds presented in Temple Beautiful. Those lucky enough to be on that bus were treated to a an almost first person voyage back in time via the way-back machine courtesy of the perspective of a brilliant artist and a brilliant album. I just wish I could have been there.

Cool Album of the Day: James Gang – Yer’ Album

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Contrary to what popular opinion and what Don Mclean will tell you, the music did not die on February 3rd 1959 when the plane carrying The Big Bopper, Ritchie Valens, and Buddy Holly crashed into an Iowa corn field. 

In reality, “The Day the Music Died” was actually that fateful day in 1977 when the novelty song “Disco Duck” made it to number one on the Billboard charts.  Sure there had been other apocalyptic signs that rock music had “jumped the shark” and was destined for decades of mediocrity, not the least of them being the popularity of Air Supply, the song “Horse with No Name”, which was probably better than naming your dog “Boo”, and of course Barry Manilow. And we are speaking to you Debby Boone, you’re in luck, rock was already dead when you released your god-awful song “You Light Up My Life” in 1977, so you’re off the hook.

But, I digress. The James Gang’s “Yer’ Album released in 1970 was the first album by the power boogie- rock trio of Joe Walsh on guitar, Jim Fox on Drums, and Tim Kriss on Bass. Not yet able to find it’s true identity this eponymous release was an eclectic mix of cover tunes including the “worth the price of admission alone” and beautiful version of the Buffalo Springfield tune “Bluebird”  and the Yardbirds’ classic “Lost Woman” which features fine extended guitar, bass, and drum solos that are “live and in concert” worthy.

“Funk 48” is not as good as “Funk 49,” it is actual one less better, but is still a great tune and showcases the guitar wizardry of Joe Walsh.  It does make me wonder, however, what happened to the first 47 Funks.

The first official cut on the album “Take A Look Around”  begins with a piano interlude, kicking into an organ riff, followed by the unique vocal style of Joe Walsh which is one of those truly one-of-a-kind voices that seems to come from some sort of auto-tune device buried in his throat somewhere near the tonsils. The song slowly builds, reaches a sort of crescendo, then drifts back down, and somewhere near the bottom of this groovy roller coaster ride you realize that you are listening to one cool song and one groovy band.

The final song on the album “Stop” weighing in at a whopping 12:04 has almost a free-flow jazz feel to it with each band member showing off their considerable music chops until out nowhere the song kind of mysteriously and abruptly, as the name implies, stops.

The album as a whole may seem a bit rambling and disjointed to some and their subsequent album is a much tighter and cohesive affair yielding the hits “Funk 49” and “The Bomber”.  If this album only serves to capture a unique sounding band in its’ embryonic stage while unleashing the beast that is Joe Walsh on to an unsuspecting public, then it has done its’ job.

The party wouldn’t last long of course.  A solo career and a money grab stint with the Eagles were still ahead for Joe Walsh.  But in the end “Yer’ Album” is my album, a fine example of the purity of music that existed before the day the music died.

Five Cool Ones: Five New (ish) Artists That Should Be On Your Radar

Here are five new artists who are in heavy rotation in the halls of Rock is the New Roll H.Q.

John R. Miller

Cutting his teeth playing with guitar bands in the Shenandoah Valley, John R. Miller soon added the fiddle to his oeuvre which started his Americana journey. His grit, storytelling acumen, and countrified sensibilities are on full display on his latest record, The Great Unknowning.

These Wicked Rivers

Shades of Deep Purple, these Derby-based riff machines deliver a swagger that is palpable. Their upcoming record, Fire and Folklore., should be a scorcher. Coming from an ethos just before grunge scorched the earth, consider them living proof that the guitar solo in rock bands is alive and well.

Ghosthounds

The rustling of the leaves that you are hearing is the buzz surrounding this band of newcomers that combine an outlaw heft with a lead singer with soulful pipes that brings to the mind’s ear the devil child of Darius Rucker and Sam Cooke. The new record, Justified, comes out in August.

Zac Schulze Gang

Their cover of Tony Dowler’s Robert Johnson inspired “Hellbounds On My Trail” tells you all you need to know about this band and their reason for living. Brash, swinging hard and chest out is the way they go about their business.

Sam Elmore

Once a fixture on the D.C. punk scene, Sam Elmore turned his skills to a more eclectic Americana, Roots Rock bent. Think The Hold Steady with a side order of the Waterboys with some serious songwriting chops.

His latest long player, It’s All On Fire, is out now.

Video of the Day: The Womack Sisters – If I Let You

Daptone Records never fail to bring out great, soulful music and the Womack Sisters are case in point.

Soul royalty, BG, Zeimani, and Kucha Womack are the daughters of Womack and Womack, the nieces of Bobby Womack, and the granddaughters of Sam Cooke, a lineage that permeates every pore of their sound. The new self titled record comes out on August 11.