Holed up in a studio in a Mexico City ravaged by earthquakes and firmly in the grip of a swine flu epidemic, Chuck Prophet could be forgiven for playing it safe, keeping his head down and taking it a tad easy. Yet, this is the same Prophet who let loose for eight years with Green On Red when barely a fresh-faced kid out of high school, the same Prophet whose incendiary guitar playing leaves jaws dropped wherever he plays, and the same Prophet whose whole career thus far has been a journey down the B-roads of the American dream. No, ‘Let Freedom Ring,’ far from being safe is hard hitting and dangerous.

Eleven tracks knocked out as live in just over eight days this is an album that is a fresh, vibrant, and essential. From the opening ‘Sonny Liston’s Blues,’ a loose, lithe boogie channelling into the mind of one of America’s troubled mythical sporting giants. A man on the fringes of the accepted, misinterpreted and mythologized by the mainstream, Liston was a man from the other side of the tracks unable to be truly appreciated, resorting instead to drugs and drink. It’s a sad indictment that the ‘dream’ only ever seemingly works for the chosen few. It’s an air of unjust resignation that blows through the album like a freak gale. The title track kicks along like a Stones cover, and Prophet lets loose some blistering guitar work alongside the equally fluid band of Ernest ‘Boom’ Carter, Tom Ayres, and Rusty Miller. At the controls Greg Leisz just lets them get on with it – plug it in, play, record. Simple.

Whilst ‘American Man’ – “folded like a page / from the book of the damned/ I’m your American Man” – is ballsy and unforgiving, there is little respite for the immigrant father (‘Barely Exist’) whose escape from “dying on a cattle farm, a face without a name, no two ways about it” comes at the expense of his son. A side swipe at the lunacy of Wall St (‘Hot Talk’) – “Were gonna see how Wall Street takes the news / when Wall St finds New York City’s gone” – is prime-time Prophet, a social observer who judgments are subtle yet brutal.

Nine albums in and this is the best yet. Here’s to the next nine.