The Return of Tesla

There are days in which the music industry does not seem like such jerks to me. Okay, let me clarify that. The RIAA is basically the legal music mafia as far as I am concerned, but sometimes, some band or artist will help renew my faith in music.

I love all kinds of music. My favorite album changes depending on my mood. Same with my favorite band, or performer. But for years, Tesla has been a band whose albums I always enjoyed, and would rush out to pick up when a new one was released.

Tesla came out during the middle of the 1980’s Hair-Band era, though they were never that type of band. Their first album, Mechanical Resonance, was different than any other album the year it was released, 1986. I loved it, and could not tell you how many people I turned on to Tesla over the next year with that album. While a true straight-up rock album, it showed more musicality than most other new rock bands of the time. If anything, I thought of it as a fusion of hard blues and hard rock. I really dug it.

Then came The Great Radio Controversy in 1989, a long hiatus for any new band, and potentially a good way to loose your fan base. Besides which, most bands sophomore album stinks. Most bands have one good album, and that’s it. After that first big album, they go downhill in a hurry. With The Great Radio Controversy, Tesla showed a growth as musicians and staying power. The Great Radio Controversy was, and remains, a great album. I had to buy twice on cassette tape, as I literally wore out the first one.

I did not have long to wait for a new Tesla album. 1990 saw the release of my all-time favorite live record album, Five Man Acoustical Jam. Remember the big ‘Un-Plugged’ craze during the 1990’s? Every time you turned on MTV or stopped by a record store, there was another musician playing their music unplugged. Well, guess who started that craze? You guessed it; Tesla did, though few, if anyone, will give proper credit to them. They did it first and best, though Alice in Chains came damn close with their MTV Unplugged album.

What made Five Man Acoustical Jam so good were not only the quality of the recording, but also the energy of the show. It was very easy, for me at least, to imagine myself sitting there in Philadelphia listening to them play it live. It was a great album, one I can still listen to and enjoy almost as much as I did the first time I heard it.

Psychotic Supper was their 1992 release, and it was simply a great album. It felt like a continuation of The Great Radio Controversy. It has so many good songs, it was for a while my favorite Tesla album. But after time and four albums, the pure brilliance of their very first album kept coming back to me when I wanted to hear some Tesla. Nevertheless, Psychotic Supper held a special place in my CD collection.

And finally, in 1994, Tesla released Bust A Nut, which would turn out to be their last ‘real’ album. While a decent record, it was the weakest of all. I like it, but it simply did not measure up to the other albums. But it was Tesla, and I had to own it. It was the last new Tesla CD I would ever buy.

Around 1996 or so, I remember asking around about a new Tesla album. I was told that they had actually broken up, though a ‘best-of’ had come out in 1995. Since I already had every album they made, I saw no point in spending money on a best-of album.

The thought of Tesla breaking up was painful for me. I loved their music, even if the last real album they had done was pretty weak. I felt that they would have bounced back, but it appeared Bust a Nut was it, the last Tesla album, forever.

Skip ahead ten years, early March 2004. I had just dropped of the kids at school. Once they are out of the car, and I am alone, I usually pop a CD in and crank it up. But this particular morning, I tuned in a radio station instead. After singing along (badly) to ‘The Spirit of Radio’ by Rush, a new song started. After just a few bars, I knew’Then the voice’ the melody’ I knew every Tesla song ever recorded, knew it has been TEN YEARS since I had heard a new Tesla song, but… THIS WAS TESLA! A new Tesla song, titled ‘Caught in a Dream.’

Ten Years later, on March 9th, 2004, I used iTunes Music Store to buy a new Tesla album, ‘Into the Now‘, providing truth that Nut was the last actual Tesla CD I would ever buy. I would make my own, now.

Unlike so many other bands who come back after years away, Tesla did not change their style. This is an album that could have come out eight years ago, and would not have felt out of place. While not as good as either Mechanical or Controversy, it is damn good, far surpassing Bust a Nut, and is about even with Psychotic Supper in my book. (High praise, indeed.)

I have always felt Tesla was one of the best unknown, or at least underrated, bands out there. I hope this album, with its rich and timeless sound, will propel them to the forefront of today’s music scene. With so much of the new Rock I hear on the radio, Tesla brings a ‘This is REAL Rock and Roll’ to the table that is missing from most bands, it is hard to imagine true Rock fans ignoring this record for long.