Tag: tesla

It’s been a while since I gave this a spin. You forget what a near perfect hard rock masterpiece this is.

This was album number two for Tesla released in ’89, Geffen must have thought they had struck gold with it. Hang Tough is such a great tune to open up with and then boom, Lady Luck with those huge backing vocals nips in behind. The dirty blues of Heavens Trail follows that opening, major props to the record company for releasing this as a single. It’s a great dirty sounding tune. Be A Man sounds as though it belongs in the Deep South instead of California. You can pick any of the first three as my favourite tune as they are all equally as good.

I won’t do song by song breakdown here because this is such a class album that all melodic rock fans will know intimately, but I will tell you the album has been certified double platinum and still gets squillions of streams. Class will always be class.

Tesla are still releasing albums with quality tunes and long may they do so.

9.5/10 from The Grooveman.

This is the band’s third album, released in the dark days of ’91 (well, at least for rock bands anyway). But that didn’t stop Tesla from releasing one of their best albums and going out and doing good business on tour. I mean, eventually it did have an effect on them as after the next album (Bust A Nut), they would not release an album until 2004. This is a 2016 reissue and it still has Man Out Of Time listed on the cover but crossed out.

The opener, Change In The Weather is a killer opening track with a very raw rock n’ roll vibe. Edison’s Medicine kicks off with some guitar histrionics and leads into one of the best on the album. What a killer tune, great hook and melody. Don’t De-Rock Me is a serious up tempo monster with an epic riff, and sees the band rocking faster than they ever have; it is my favourite on the album. That middle eight!!! Call It What You Want follows, and is a classic hair rock anthem. Song & Emotion is a tribute to their friend Def Leppard’s Steve Clark, and is quite a heartfelt piece. That twin guitar attack of Frank Hannon and Tommy Skeoch is one of the best in the business, and on Time they are giving it their inner Aerosmith with a superb dirty groover.

Government Personnel is a good old country/folk Americana piece. Freedom Slaves starts off real slow before that massive guitar hook kicks in. Had Enough has a very simple riff in the same vein as Judas Priest, but is a great fun tune. Another country infused track is next in What You Give, and just like Poison, every band knows that a little country goes a long way.

Onto the final side now, Stir It Up starts with a psychedelic vibe and as the volume goes up that little bit of country creeps in. Can’t Stop has a killer intro that just builds the anticipation into a great rock song and hats off to the wonderful middle section. The album closes out with Toke About It; again, that Aerosmith vibe is strong with a hint of funk thrown in. Tesla don’t make bad albums and it’s good to see them still cranking out great tunes.

9/10 from The Grooveman.

Although having been a band since ’81, it wasn’t until ’86 and the release of their first album, Mechanical Resonance, that the band’s career took off. Although having been a band for all that time, there have been periods of inactivity where they have gone their own separate ways to record solo projects. This is the band’s 11th studio album that came out in 2019, and was produced and co-written by Def Leppard’s Phil Collen. You can definitely tell his involvement on tracks like Taste Like as this could have been a Leppard song – although the main chord progression is a steal from Bad Company.

There is no denying that the band have a knack of writing great songs, and this album is full of catchy sing-a-long anthems. You Won’t Take Me Alive is a great opener as the groove and melody is killer. The title track is an awesome slow groove monster that builds into a huge chorus. Tied To The Tracks has a great riff and stomps along with a nice groove – this what the band are best at doing. I Want Everything has a big Cheap Trick vibe, and Comfort Zone (which closes the album) has that Leppard vibe again. My only problem here is there are a few too many syrupy songs that kill the vibe somewhat, but it’s a great record nonetheless.

9/10 from The Grooveman.