Chuck Prophet The Land That Time Forgot LP

Chuck Prophet, San Francisco's savior-songwriter, has returned with his new album The Land That Time Forgot. It got off the ground in the Money Belt, only to find its legs in the Borscht Belt. Musically it has deep roots, from the Southern Delta to the discos of Munich. There's a kind of folkish inevitability to it, lots of acoustic instruments, on top of each other and side by side. But as much as folk music is the soil all music grows from, it never hurts to have a boiler room. So, there's always a rhythm section shuffling under your feet here.

Varying from the rich heartland rock of songs like "Best Shirt On" to the building drum machine of "Marathon" and all the way back to stripped back words and guitar of "Nixonland" and "Get Off the Stage," Prophet's work defies classification. Chuck Prophet is a rock and roll star in a country that has forgotten that it needs rock and roll stars. America turns its popular musicians into celebrities (as if that's what we need more of). Meanwhile, the true grit, write it like you live it and live it 'til it kills you musical artist exists in obscurity, kicking ass and taking names in small clubs every night while sweating blood over making records. Thankfully, we live in the same timeline as Chuck Prophet.

Prophet sets each song in a soundstage filled with bell-toned guitars and well-honed rhythms, a master at work on his craft.