Welcome to another “Album by Album Challenge.” For those that are new here, the “Album by Album Challenge” is where I take a band’s entire discography and listen to every album in order of release from front to back. With my unforgiving and well-aged ear, I call it how I hear it. In some cases, I find that what I once thought was good is actually pretty crappy and sometimes crap manages to age into something pretty kick ass. And in some cases, face melting is still just good ol’ face melting.
For this first AxA Challenge of 2015 I give unto you, TESLA! Tesla is a band that I hold very close to my heart as being a band that was truly a big part of the soundtrack of my life. I’ve been a fan of Tesla since 1987 and followed the band until just after the release of their album Psychotic Supper. The band put out another four albums after that one that I didn’t even really give much (if any) attention to so this challenge was an exciting one for me. I hope y’all dig this one and, as always, I hope to hear your thoughts on my opinions of these albums. Enjoy!
Mechanical Resonance
Release Date: December 8, 1986
The Good: EZ Come EZ Go, Cumin’ Atcha Live, Gettin’ Better, 2 Late 4 Love, Rock Me to the Top, We’re No Good Together, Modern Day Cowboy, Changes, Little Suzi, Love Me, Cover Queen, Before My Eyes
The Bad:
The Indifferent:
1986. Goddamn. Has it really been this fucking long? I remember hearing this album for the first time in 1987 and it was love at first listen for me. It’s so fucking great to hear this album sound like a healthy, thriving piece of classic rock. The one thing I have to say is that I never thought of just what a terrible opening song EZ Come EZ Go is. Matter of fact, I had to go back and listen to it after Getting Better and I found that I really like the song. If they changed the sequencing, that song would stand a better chance.
How about all those “crazy” spellings? “EZ Come, EZ Go”, “Cumin’ Atcha Live”, “2 Late 4 Love”? That is so 80’s but ya know what? Who gives a fuck because those songs all kick fucking ass. While I’m here, can we just say that “Cumin’ Atcha Live” just may be one of the single greatest fucking hard rock songs ever? Tesla really had such a diverse sound here. One minute they were Def Leppard, the next minute Dokken, and the next minute The Allman Brothers Band. This is what made me love Tesla and ya know what? It’s about 10x more awesome than it was in ’87. A fine wine indeed.
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The Great Radio Controversy
Release Date: February 1, 1989
The Good: Hang Tough, Heaven’s Trail, Be a Man, Lady Luck, Lazy Days Crazy Nights, Yesterdaze Gone, The Way it Is, Flight to Nowhere, Love Song, Paradise, Party’s Over
The Bad:
The Indifferent: Did It For the Money, Makin’ Magic,
Ok, “Hang Tough” is the most ridiculous song title but this song is fucking amazing. I mean, what a great fucking song. That little bit where the band breaks shit down after the solo just kills me every time. Going in to “Lady Luck” which is a fucking killer tune. Tesla had a great way of taking ridiculous song titles and story concepts but making them sound so fucking bad ass. I mean, “Be A Man”? Really? Yeah, that song fucking kicks ass. “Heaven’s Trail” is another song. Good fucking god. I just realized I’m gooing all about this album but I don’t give a fuck. It’s bad to the bone. Even the two songs that I found myself indifferent of didn’t really suck. I just felt that they teetered too much on the “glam” side and weren’t nearly as strong as the others.
This album is definitely a growth for Tesla. Not only to the songs themselves sound more matured but the overall way the band plays has matured greatly. With Mechanical Resonance, Tesla was pretty much on the fence. They could’ve gone either the more glam metal route of their peers or teetered more on the side of the tradition roots oriented rock n’ roll. Tesla chose to be more of a roots rock band with their feet dipped into glam rock waters. This move totally worked as it solidified Tesla as a band that would stand alone from the pack and this album is a prime example of that.
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Psychotic Supper
Release Date: August 30, 1991
The Good: Change in the Weather, Edison’s Medicine, Don’t De-Rock Me, Call It What You Want, Song and Emotion, Time (last child), Government Personnel, Freedom Slaves, Had Enough, What you Give, Stir It Up, Can’t Stop, Toke About It
The Bad:
The Indifferent:
Ok. Much like with the debut, I can’t help but feel they should’ve switched the order of the first two songs. I mean, “Change in the Weather” is a cool song but the minute you hear that intro to “Edison’s Medicine” you completely forget that you even heard a song before it. Aside from that I have to say that this album has aged extremely well. I remember back in ’91 not loving this album so much but goddamn this is a fucking solid album from start to finish.
On Psychotic Supper, Tesla sounds like they really grew up and grew into their sound. I also love that on this album the band wears their influences on their sleeves a bit. On “Time” you have Tesla nodding to the Aerosmith classic “Last Child” and I’ll be damned if “Freedom Slaves” couldn’t have been a fucking kick ass Def Leppard song at some point. “What You Give” is like a fine wine and it still gives me the feels just like the first time I ever heard it. “Call it What You Want” is a song I didn’t love back when but I really find myself loving and “Toke About It” just may be one of my favorite album closers. Psychotic Supper is a gem of album that I’m so glad I re-discovered only to appreciate the greatness that I totally overlooked more than 20 years ago.
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Bust a Nut
Release Date: August 23, 1994
The Good: The Gate/Invited, Shine Away, Try So Hard, Need Your Lovin’, Action Talks, Mama’s Fool, Cry, Earthmover, A lot to Lose, Rubberband, Wonderful World, The Games People Play
The Bad:
The Indifferent: Solution, She Want She Want,
Ya know, I never owned Bust a Nut. By the time Tesla had put this one out I had moved on and was finding new musical interests outside of the hard rock/metal stratosphere. I’ll be honest. I was a bit nervous about listening to this one. At this point in time, even bands like Warrant, Bon Jovi, and Poison were adopting a new image and even trying to change their style of playing to try and keep up with the changing of the seasons (aka: grunge/alternative) and failing. It was a really pleasant surprise to hear Tesla not only sticking to their guns but making an even more rocking album that most of their peers were putting out.
Bust a Nut totally lives up to its name as this is a totally ass kicking album. This one almost feel a bit more in the classic hard rock of Zeppelin and Aerosmith as opposed that kind of rootsy almost southern kind of vibe that was on their previous efforts. This album sounds like a really mature, grown up band that just took a chance and made a really great hard rock album. The opening track is a totally facemelter while “A lot to Lose” just may be my favorite power ballad. What a great song. Let me also point out that this album closes with, hands down, two of Tesla’s greatest songs to date: “Wonderful World” and “The Games People Play.” This album really covers a lot of ground and feels a bit more diverse than anything they’ve put out up to this point. While there are a small number of duds, for the most part this is a surprisingly fantastic album that I will totally be revisiting again and again.
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Into the Now
Release Date: March 9, 2004
The Good:
The Bad:
The Indifferent: Into the Now, Look at Me, What a Shame, Heaven Nine Eleven, Words Can’t Explain, Caught in a Dream, Miles Away, Mighty Mouse, Got No Glory, Come to Me, Recognize, Only You
So in 2004, Tesla made a comeback after being gone for nearly 11 years. Unfortunately, this album just didn’t do a damned thing for me. I listened to this album straight through, front to back, and while nothing made me feel like it was horrible, nothing really grabbed me as particularly good. It just sounded almost, and I hate to say this, like a fucking Nickleback album. It just sounded like they were kind of grasping at a more modern sound and it just didn’t really seem to appeal to me.
As the album progressed, song after song, it just didn’t feel like a really sincere album. This wasn’t the Tesla that I grew up with and loved so much. While I’m all for a band growing and expanding, I’m also all about a band sticking to their guns and doing what it is they do the best. This just didn’t sound or feel like a Tesla album. Where are the goosebumps? Where are the chills? Where is the heart and the roots? It’s not a terrible album by any means but it’s just not a good Tesla album. This is an album I would do fine never hearing again in all honesty.
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Forever More
Release Date: October 7, 2008
The Good:
The Bad:
The Indifferent: Forever More, I Wanna Live, One Day at a Time, So What, Just In Case, Fallin’ Apart, Breakin’ Free, All of Me, Pvt. Ledbetter, In a Hole, The Game
Forever More is pretty much an exactly replica of the previous album, Into the Now. This time around is really no different in that this album just sounded like Tesla striving to be a more modern radio friendly hard rock band. In all honesty, they pulled it off. I mean, I could’ve heard any and every one of these songs on AOR radio sandwiched between Shinedown and Fuel or some shit like that. They pulled off being able to sound like modern hard rock band but again, this just isn’ the Tesla that I love.
Forever More is an album that sounds like it was made as an attempt to appeal to a newer, maybe even younger audience at the time but in all honesty, I just felt somewhat dusted. This is that fork in the road where, as a fan, you have to ask yourself, “Am I on this ship still or am I just going to bail and go back to where I remember things being great and things being how I liked them best?” Forever More just didn’t do anything for me and just sounded like a band that had strayed so far from its roots that I wondered if it was even possible for them to get back there if they ever wanted to do so.
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Simplicity
Release Date: June 6, 2014
The Good: MP3, Ricochet, So Divine, Cross My Heart, Flip Side, Other Than Me, Break of Dawn, Burnout to Fade, Life is a River, Sympathy, Time Bomb, ‘Til That Day
The Bad:
The Indifferent: Rise and Fall, Honestly,
Right out the fucking gates it was loud and clear that Tesla went back to where it all began. They found their way back to their roots and put out an album that totally reminded me just why I fell in love with this band in the first place. “MP3” is Tesla addressing the modern technological shift in the way we listen to music while “Cross My Heart” is something that very well could have been on The Great Radio Controversy.
Listening to Simplicity is like hearing a band celebrating a homecoming of sorts. This is Tesla back where they belong and making the kind of music that I love them so much for. The songs are introspective, moving, and, whoa, there it is; the goosebumps. “Life is a River” is Tesla how I love them best. I feel moved and I feel like they really dug deep into their roots and tugged hard on them. Simplicity is a great testament that Tesla’s best days are still ahead of them. What a great way close out this challenge. Welcome home fellas. I missed y’all!
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