Label: Frontiers Music Srl.
Release date: 26.08.2016
Production: Tesla
Album length: 59.24 min
Genre: Hard Rock
A solid thirty-five years have gone by since the beginnings of the hard rock outfit with the strangest name of all time (counting the City Kid years, too). We’re talking about Tesla, the legendary hard rockers from Sacramento, who are currently out on a big new tour, where else, but (once again) the US, keeping company with 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 inventor of alternating current. That’s the album “Mechanical Resonance,” which is today regarded as one of the best debuts of the entire 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 whole album on stage, from head to toe. Start to finish. But not in the order we know from the record. Tesla shuffled the songs around for this live run to squeeze more out of the album and crank up the atmosphere in the room. 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 fantastic opening catalyst. It instantly sends the mood at the gig straight to boiling point. And Tesla keep the crowd in that high-voltage intensity right up to the last note and beat, when the two big hits from “Mechanical Resonance,” Lil’ Suzie and of course Modern Day Cowboy, close out this live document. You couldn’t have expected anything else.
Tesla are seasoned players with an insane amount of live mileage, and you can’t fault their performance of this material in any way. The album comes across as remarkably coherent in terms of delivery, and still extremely tight in the energetic voltage Tesla generate today. The bond between the sound-builders, including the integral and unmistakably trademark vocals of the one-of-a-kind frontman Jeff Keith front and center, seems woven from bulletproof granite. Before Ez Come Ez Go, Jeff greets the audience, and it’s not hard to figure out from that greeting that we’re in the middle of a show in Salt Lake City (Utah, USA). The rhythm section digs in with extreme commitment, building the foundation of the live sound, while Hannon’s and Rude’s guitars feel each other out constantly and create a massive wall of sound by complementing each other incredibly well. The guitars have a distinctly fat, juicy rock tone.
Although the picky ones might have wanted the full two-hour set from Tesla on this new live document, it’s worth pointing out that you could hardly wish for a nicer live setlist, unless Tesla had (utopian, I know) played its successor “The Great Radio Controversy” in full after this album. For the band, the decision to play songs from the debut that haven’t made it into 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 same songs work on stage after thirty years. Rust simply can’t get a grip on such a flawlessly composed album, and it’s pointless to debate that “Mechanical Resonance” is today one of those timeless evergreen hard rock classics that should grace the collection of every household that puts any stock in good rock’n’roll.
In the mix, the deliberate adjustment 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. The first time we run into this is in Gettin’ Better, and then again later in Before My Eyes.
Now, to make this release even more attractive (as far as buying it goes), Tesla included a brand-new song on it called Save That Goodness, written entirely for Tesla by Def Leppard guitarist Phil Colen. He also handled the production of the track. It’s a solid number, but nothing special, because Tesla can do way 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,” but then again, better on none of them. It has a whiff of southern rock and country, which suits the band’s usual artistic pose.
In short: “Mechanical Resonance Live” is an exceptionally nice live document, and with it Tesla prove they’ve kept their live sharpness and performance focus well into the mature stage of their career. Even the vocal wear and tear that has clung to Keith over the years doesn’t stick out at all this time, and the man clears every performance hurdle of the studio debut in exemplary fashion. On top of that, it’s a lovely discovery how well the individual tracks on this album work. I’m thinking especially of the dramatic Before My Eyes or We’re No Good Together. Neither of them is a typical hard rock smasher. Maybe precisely because they’re the overlooked gems of “Mechanical Resonance.”
From mechanical resonance to a mechanical renaissance!
author: Aleš Podbrežnik
rating: 8.5 / 10
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)
Lineup:
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
