Thursday, 16 April 2015

Chuck Prophet [Feast Of Hearts]

I remember first getting into this disc, back in 2003, driving in a van around London, and having this playing, and thinking 'wow!, this is a great album', i've tried to delve into other Chuck Prophet albums, but with no success, they're not a match on this once, i played this today while sitting on a park bench and writing my Journal, and what a great album it is, Prophet sings of all sorts of issues, a great life commentator, this disc has featured in my Blog quite heavily [19th March 2012 & 16th March 2013].

Chuck Prophet is American, he's now 51, wow he's even younger than me!, he has a major back catalogue of albums, and even used to have a Rock group 'Green On Red', he recorded this in 1995 [happy 20th birthday!], i'm not sure what he's been up to since, i hear he's got a new album out, this one has the most stunning front cover booklet [photo by Kim Stringfellow], highly coloured, it's that flowery shirt that does it, great use of Autumn colours, the motel room [i guess] is a sickly yellow, looks quite psychedelic really, the face is rather a sickly yellow too, somewhat washed out, dark shadow lines on the left, wonder if the whole thing has been touched up with dayglo colours, and a great use of lettering emblazoned across his chest, i love the finished product, it almost shouts out that this album was composed in a load of motel rooms while travelling the country.

On this listening i really loved tracks 1, 8 & 10, and i would like to talk deeper about each one,
1 What it Takes - The album opener, and it's a nice rocker, nice use of twangy guitar, nice little mid instrumental where Prophet shouts 'here i go' [1:48-2:02], best lyric 'Before the fools-golden sun, sets on your million dollar view'.
8 Oh Mary - My favourite track of the whole album, starts off with the drums, and there's such a lovely beat there, those lovely treble toms sound so good, it's a complex and off kilter drumming vibe [Michael Urbanok], i think it's the drums and bass that make it sound sort of funky, it really makes the whole track, plus it's a great tune also, the second verses lyrics are great 'i followed you through the churchyard, down your crooked path', when he sings 'churchyard', in comes the organ swirls, a nice little touch, it's incredibly catchy. 
10 Madam Rosa's - About a Brothel run by Madam Rosa, starts off with what sounds like a national guitar, nice and dull sound, again a great tune, great beat, great use of strumming guitars too, best lyric 'with so many rooms to hide in, and only the light of the moon to follow you around'.

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