Temple Beautiful is named after a long-closed rock and roll club on Geary Street that was between Bill Graham's iconic Fillmore and the storefront church founded by the Reverend Jim Jones.

I’ve been tapping into the history, the weirdness, the energy and spontaneity that brought me here in the first place.” Prophet wrote the entire record with his main songwriting partner, klipschutz (pen name of Kurt Lipschutz).

In late 2013, Prophet and band performed the 12 song cycle Temple Beautiful with a string octet (scored and conducted by Brad Jones) in San Francisco; a documentary and album (Strings in the Temple: Live with Orchestra at the Great American Music Hall[10]) of this were subsequently released.

"[1] PopMatters called it "a fun, tuneful rock 'n' roll record that's both straight from the gut and as wonderfully curved as the city which inspired it.

"[11] Poetic Justice praised the album with its wide cast of characters as a San Francisco equivalent of London Calling.