Revisited Tesla's "Mechanical Resonance

[Rezz]

All three times it was to see Ratt. Warren Dimartini was/is a monster guitar player, Juan Crocier (however you spell it) was a great showman as was Robbin and Blotz had one of the better drum solos I have ever heard, although his drum work on the actual albums was fairly pedestrian. Stephen Pearcy was rather average sounding live, but they had good music.
Bryant

I saw Ratt many times back in the '80's and they sucked every time. Loved the albums, but they sure couldn't pull it off live.

I've seen Tesla 6-7 times also and they always put on an awesome show. Mechanical Resonance and The Great Radio Controversy are two that I try and revisit frequently. Probably time to do so now...

 

[Bryant]

I saw Ratt many times back in the '80's and they sucked every time. Loved the albums, but they sure couldn't pull it off live.

I've seen Tesla 6-7 times also and they always put on an awesome show. Mechanical Resonance and The Great Radio Controversy are two that I try and revisit frequently. Probably time to do so now...

Hmmm...... I always thought the band was fairly tight when I saw them. Pearcy had a hard time with some of the higher stuff, and in fact, didn't even try for many of the notes, but even at the fairly young age I was back then, I had a pretty trained ear. I thought the band was solid, especially Blotz who was like the Michael Cartellone of the 80's. He put more Razzle-Dazzle in his live stuff as opposed to on disc.
I also felt like Tesla live was about equal to Ratt live. Jeff struggled a little with the vocals, but his stuff was a little more challenging than Pearcy's to say the least. The only thing I recall NOT liking about Tesla was that the soundman panned Frank more on his side of the stage and Tommy to his. I was certainly not just hearing monitors panned, but I was pretty much in front of Frank during one show and couldn't hear the rhythm when he did a solo, nor could I hear Tommy's solos very well over Frank's rhythm. I bet if you were dead center, the panned guitars gave a great stereo effect, but it sucked for most of us who weren't. It was still a fun show though.


Bryant

 

[BRAND SPRAGINS]

Bryant,

I could not agree with you more on this one. This is probably one of my top 10 albums of all time. I was just a very young teen and i remember listening to metal shop onmy local radio station and they played modern day cowboy. I was hooked right then. I went to the camelot the next day to buy the tape. Needless to say, this whole album rocks from top to bottom. I loved Before My Eyes, which is probably my favorite song from that album. I still listen to this cd at least once a month. Great songs and for a debut it is smoking. Frank is a very underateed guitarist. I do like Tesla but none of their other cd's match the quality of this one.

GREAT CALL!!

Brand

 

[Creeps]

Monster album.

 

[ConnieOH]

Never got into any other Tesla album, but this one rules! Still listening to it to this day.

 

[Andy Laudano]

Love Tesla and this is one of the great 'guitar' albums of all time.
Probably still my favorite album by them. My faves are the ones that don't get played too often like 'Rock Me To The Top' and 'Cover Queen'.

I LOVE Tesla and this is one of my all time favorite albums. There isn't a bad song on it and I totally agree about the lesser played songs - I love "2 Late 4 Love" and "Gettin' Better." I saw them live at the Texxas Jam (with Boston, Aerosmith, Whitesnake and Poison w/special guest Paul Stanley) on the MR tour and they were awesome. Seen them a dozen times since and they've always kicked ass. Real nice down to Earth guys too. Their last couple of albums - Into the Now and Forever More are really good too.

 

[batmura]

Vito Bratta (formerly of White Lion) remains one of my fave guitarists of all time.

+1

 

[zekeyou]

The only Tesla I own...

Saw them touring for this album-- hadn't heard it yet (other than "Modern Day Cowboy"), and when the lights went out I could see people walking around the stage, smoking, and could hear a bunch of feedback and thought they were still doing the soundcheck.

Then the drums and lights kicked in and it was "Cumin' atcha Live" and my jaw dropped...

 

[General Zod]

But that live stuff I saw on VH1 last year was terrible.

I've seen them live on ten occasions and each time they've been some varying degree of spectacular.

The vocals were worse than Vince (Cartmen) Neil.

Jeff's vocals usually go on him half way through the set. However, it doesn't stop him from putting every ounce of his heart and soul into every syllable he sings. For what it's worth, one of my wife's all time favorite concert experiences was watching Jeff blow out his voice three songs into a set, and then watching him just kill himself, forcing every note out like it was the last he'd ever sing. Never saw anyone work harder on stage.