When you think of late 80s hard rock bands, the image that invariably comes to mind is that of the teased-hair guitarist wearing spandex pants and slinging a hot pink guitar. Image was everything and record sales were often proportional to the quantity of buxom teenagers appearing in music videos. Bands with actual talent were aped by bands who could play instruments who were in turn aped by bands with a pretty lead singer and not much else.
Now I'm the first to admit that I love all those bands, even the ones that weren't very good. I do have to admit that it's refreshing to find a good band that didn't rely on image or leather pants to achieve success. Tesla is just such a band. And the best thing about Tesla is that they were a band.
I can name the Bobbie Blotzers, the Don Dokkens, the Tommy Lees, and even the Mark Kendalls and Adrian Vandenbergs. Fans of those hair bands knew everybody in the bands. They were almost always famous, and their pictures were in all the magazines. Now I want to see a show of hands people, how many of you can name a member of Tesla? Anyone who can off the top of their head gets big points in my book. I had to look their names up for this review, and that's a rarity. Tesla was a cohesive whole, a gestalt if you will, but apart they were basically faceless.
It's true that Tesla doesn't really fall into the hair-band milieu, but their timing and style of music forces them to be lumped in with all the other bands. Tesla had a more bluesy influence than most bands of the era, but with the ability to crank out some great hard rock tunes when they wanted to.
In 1991, Tesla released their 4th album, Psychotic Supper, right as the alternative movement was taking off. The previous year they had come out with the hit Five Man Acoustical Jam which had scored them a wider audience than they'd had before. This album certainly rocks in places, but the more laid back influence of FMAJ can be felt as well. While this album may not be as heavy as some of their others, the heady subject matter that Tesla had become known for is still here.
A perfect example of this is Edison's Medicine, which is basically the story of how Thomas Edison has received much of the credit rightly due to inventor Nikola Tesla, who is obviously the band's namesake. Not exactly typical heavy metal fare. Strangely enough Edison's Medicine is possibly the closest sounding song on the album to the standard late 80s metal sound.
The main problem with this album is that Tesla had already accomplished so much that at times they sound as if they're just following their own formula. The two biggest singles on the album were Song & Emotion and What You Give. S&E is almost a throwback to early Tesla. Once the song kicks off it's got that dark and angry vibe, that recalls Modern Day Cowboy and Heaven's Trail. It's great and deservedly a hit, although the radio edit is much better as it eliminates over 2 minutes of unnecessary noise tacked onto the end of the song. What You Give is this album's Love Song but it's not as strong a song. You have to give the boys credit though; even when they sound derivative, they still sound good.
The album's opening track Change In The Weather is catchy enough, but seems to be lacking something in my opinion. Tesla liked to come out of the gate rocking, but Change is almost a misfire. It's a fast paced rocker with generous guitar licks, but the lyrics aren't quite up to par. Ultimately the song just isn't as satisfying as it should be. Don't De-Rock Me makes up for this with a good song that just happens to have a really stupid title. It's a full-tilt rock boogie guaranteed to impress even if the lyric content is a little juvenile. I mean, how can you not like a song when the band is obviously having this much fun?
Looking for that Five Man Acoustical Jam influence? Check out Call It What You Want. This song isn't acoustic at all, but the sparse arrangement makes it seem tailor made for an acoustic performance. Satisfying, but it obviously could have been a whole lot more. Stir It Up gives me the exact same feeling, but it's a weaker song. Toke About It is another sparse song, but I can't imagine it sounding good in any setting, acoustic or not. Definitely a track that should have been left off the final mix.
A few songs such as Can't Stop and Had Enough manage to perfectly showcase Tesla's bluesy roots while keeping their hard rock influence in the picture as well. Both are excellently crafted songs, and really save the album from being 4 hits and some filler. While they aren't going to show up in any career retrospective, they do push the album over towards the recommended side.
Tesla was obviously trying to be a little more experimental on this album, but it's almost as if they were afraid of straying too far from their established sound. Everything here sounds like Tesla, even when the band wants to branch out a little more. Most people will find themselves enjoying Psychotic Supper, but the "we've heard this before" feeling is hard to shake.
With over 65 minutes of music on this album, and some classic Tesla tracks, you have to recommend this album, but not as strongly as I'd like. Honestly I came into this review expecting to give the album 4 stars, but found that it only really deserves 3. It just doesn't shine as brightly as some of Tesla's other work. For those who really enjoy the band, Psychotic Supper is needed, but for those with only a casual interest, Time's Making Changes: The Best Of Tesla is probably the way to go. Oh, and for those who care, the members of Tesla are: Jeff Keith on vocals, the underrated duo of Tommy Skeoch and Frank Hannon on guitar, Brian Wheat on bass and Troy Luccketta on drums.
Track Listing
1. Change in the Weather - 3:38
2. Edison's Medicine - 4:47
3. Don't de-Rock Me - 5:11
4. Call It What You Want - 4:29
5. Song & Emotion - 8:29
6. Time - 5:12
7. Government Person - :58
8. Freedom Slaves - 6:40
9. Had Enough - 4:49
10. What You Give - 7:13
11. Stir It Up - 5:41
12. Can't Stop - 5:27
13. Toke About It - 5:27
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