Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Tesla
Label: Frontiers Records
Released: 2016
Running time: 59:24
Rating: 4/5
A solid thirty-five years have gone by since the hard rock outfit with the strangest name of all time first came together (the City Kid years count too). I’m talking about Tesla, the legendary hard rockers from Sacramento, who are currently out on a big new tour, where else, (once again) only across the US, in the company of their buddies Def Leppard (and REO Speedwagon). 2016 is special for Tesla for another reason too. It’s been thirty years since the release of their studio debut, named after one of the famous experiments of Nikola Tesla, the pioneer of alternating current. That’s the album »Mechanical Resonance«, which today counts as one of the best debuts of the whole rock’n’roll era.
The band, who have sold over 25 million copies of their albums to date, decided to celebrate the thirtieth birthday of »Mechanical Resonance« by playing the entire album on stage, from head to toe. Start to finish. Not in the order we know from the record, though. Tesla shuffled the songs around for this live run so the album could be put to better use and build a bigger punch in the concert atmosphere. So the show doesn’t open with Ez Come Ez Go but with the raging Rock Me To the Top, which turns out to be a superb opening catalyst. It instantly cranks the mood in the room up to boiling point. And Tesla hold the crowd at that high tension and intensity right up to the last note and beat, when the two big hits off »Mechanical Resonance«, Lil’ Suzie and of course Modern Day Cowboy, close out the live document. You couldn’t have expected anything else.
Tesla are seasoned musicians with serious road mileage. You can’t fault the performances of the material on this release in any way either. The album comes across as incredibly coherent in terms of execution and still extremely tight in the energy voltage Tesla generate today. The bonds between the sound builders, including the full-bodied, unmistakably trademark vocals of unique frontman Jeff Keith front and center, seem woven from bulletproof granite. Before Ez Come Ez Go, Jeff greets the crowd, and it’s not hard to tell from that greeting that we’re in the middle of a show in Salt Lake City (in the US state of Utah). The rhythm section digs in with extreme commitment, building the undercarriage of the live sound, while Hannon’s and Rude’s guitars coexist in constant intuitive sync and create a massive wall of sound by complementing each other unbelievably well. The guitars develop a seriously fat rock tone.
Though the picky ones might have wanted the full two-hour dose of Tesla’s show on this new live document, it’s worth stressing that you could hardly wish for a nicer setlist, unless Tesla (utopianly) played its successor »The Great Radio Controversy« in full after this album. For the band, the decision to play songs from the debut album that hadn’t turned up in Tesla’s regular live repertoire for years is a special kind of challenge. A way to relive their years of innocence and big hopes, and at the same time to test how those very songs hold up on concert stages after thirty years. Rust simply can’t cling to such a flawlessly written album, and there’s no need to debate that »Mechanical Resonance« today ranks among the timeless evergreen classics of hard rock that should grace the collection of every household that puts any stock in good rock’n’roll.
In the mix, the deliberate adjusting of the level of Keith’s vocals is a bit distracting, as they jump too far to the front of the sound from time to time. We first run into this in Gettin’ Better, and then later in Before My Eyes.
Now, to make this release even more attractive (purchase-wise), Tesla put a brand-new song on it called Save That Goodness, written entirely for Tesla by Def Leppard guitarist Phil Colen, who also took care of the production of the track. It’s a solid number, but nothing special, since Tesla can do much better! The move brings a crazy amount of fun for everyone involved, especially for Colen, who also appears in the music video for the song. It would fit best on Tesla’s latest album, »Simplicity«, though preferably on none at all. It has a whiff of southern rock and country, which suits the band’s usual artistic stance.
In short: »Mechanical Resonance Live« is an exceptionally nice live document, and with it Tesla prove they’ve kept their remarkable onstage sharpness and executional focus well into their mature years. Even the vocal wear Keith has picked up over the years doesn’t show this time around; the man clears every performance hurdle of the studio debut in exemplary fashion. Along with that comes the lovely realization of how superbly the individual tracks on this album work. I’m thinking especially of the dramatic Before My Eyes or We’re No Good Together. Neither is a typical hard rock smasher. Maybe precisely because they’re the overlooked gems of »Mechanical Resonance«.
From mechanical resonance to a mechanical renaissance!
Tesla – Save That Goodness (official video):
Line-up
Jeff Keith – vocals
Frank Hannon – guitar, backing vocals, piano, bass
Dave Rude – guitar, backing vocals, bass
Brian Wheat – bass, backing vocals, piano
Troy Luccketta – drums, percussion
Production
Tesla
Tracklist
01. Rock Me to the Top
02. Ez Come Ez Go
03. Gettin’ Better
04. Comin’ Atcha Live
05. Changes
06. Before My Eyes
07. 2 Late 4 Love
08. We’re No Good Together
09. Love Me
10. Cover Queen
11. Lil’ Suzie
12. Modern Day Cowboy
13. Save That Goodness (bonus track)
