Chuck Prophet

Let Freedom Ring (Yep Roc)

You’ve got to hand it to Chuck Prophet. While the rest of the world was panicking about the swine flu outbreak, the San Francisco-based songwriter was holed up in a sound studio in Mexico City, recording what ranks as the most staggering rock record of 2009. From the blistering opening chords of “Sonny Liston’s Blues” to the plaintive refrain of “Leave the Window Open,” Prophet has produced a suite of songs whose exuberance will call to mind not just the mid-‘70s heyday of the Stones, but also vintage Cheap Trick.

Prophet’s voice is pure Southern California drawl, and his Stratocaster seems never to have met a lick it couldn’t shred. But what stands out here is Prophet’s ability to survey the moral landscape of America, as the nation faces up to the brutal economic hangover of the go-go Bush years. “Let there be markets, let them run wild,” he sings, on the rousing title track, “as the sisters of mercy just laugh/All the lost brothers can drink themselves blind/While good fortune breaks hard work in half.” Not even the shimmering chorus can blunt the sting of that sort of truth. What’s most remarkable about this album is that Prophet has told the ugly truth about our imperial ills and made it impossible for us not to sing along.—Steve Almond