Tesla-Mechanical Resonance 1986 Geffen Records


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


One of the "BETTER" debuts that the 80's offered. From the ashes of City Kidd comes Tesla. A distinctive vocalist, two kick @$$ guitar players and a flair for melodic blues based hard rock, bordering on "metal" here and there. Of course that is subjective and a waste of time debating here. This is about the music, the songs and the band.

The first thing that grabs one's attention is the guitar interplay at the begining of Cumin Atcha Live. Then you have the step back in time with We're No Good Together. Modern Day Cowboy and Changes brought the band attention on the various media outlets of the day.

The intro to Little Suzi was originaly recorded in a bathroom of a gas station in Orangevale, Calif. This song is a cover originaly done by PH.D and their video was the 5th video shown on MTV first day of broadcast.
The song Cover Queen is one of my favorites on this lp.

The biggest break they got was opening for Def Leppard after this lp was released. All in al... a solid release that was a breath of fresh air compared to what most of the major labels were dumping down our throats.

I took this from an online dictionary, a context of "resonance"

2 a : the intensification and enriching of a musical tone by supplementary vibration b : a quality imparted to voiced sounds by vibration in anatomical resonating chambers or cavities (as the mouth or the nasal cavity) c : a quality of richness or variety d : a quality of evoking response

Kinda/Sorta sums things up I suppose ?

I have to agree with James one of the best debuts that came out of the 80's. I always loved the raspy vocals and the two guitartist where and are very underrated. I guess in the age of Lynch, Malmsteen, Vai and other flashier guitarist, these two guys where just not flashy enough.

'EZ Come EZ Go' is a great opening number and the bluesy ballad ' We're No Good Together' has a great emotional vocal performance from Jeff Keith. The first single 'Modern Day Cowboy' is another great tune, the lyrics regarding the USSR dates this tune.

I saw them live on this tour opening up for David Lee Roth, great band.

Fantastic debut. I agree with what was already posted.

I bought this as an impulse buy for $5.99 on cassette at National Record Mart. I expected typical hair metal, but got a superb hard rock offering. This album and its follow-up are untouchable albums of the genre, IMO.

This album was one of my favorites as a kid but I STILL enjoy it allot. Heavy and groovy and some of them were locals! The whole Sacramento valley was buzzing about Tesla! Our one claim to metal fame.

I can only agree with whats already been said.Great Debut! These guys were just a good ol rock-n-roll band.

A brilliant debut, followed up by three more brilliant albums, in my opinion. And Five Man Acoustic Jam is fantastic.

Into The Now and Forever More are great albums, but not quite up to the standards set by Mechanical Resonance, The Great Radio Controversy, Psychotic Supper, and Bust A Nut.

Either way, there isn't a dud in their entire catalog.

Fantastic debut ! I first heard the whole thing at an outdoor bonfire/party and was blown away by it. Went out and bought it the next day.Great band !

Never heard these guys. The description sounds pretty good, so I'll check 'em out sooner or later.

Great debut, I was 6 when it came out and I totally dug it. Looking back JK's vox got better and Tommy Skeoch kicks arse and is highly underrated. Fave songs are Rock Me To The Top, Modern Day Cowboy & We're No Good Together.,

I remember hearing Modern Day Cowboy on AM radio when it came out and practically peed myself. This dude had a radio show in town that played new stuff and when the song was over I drove to Tower and bought the album. Also saw the DL tour they opened on and was blown away by the guitar attack. You're going to get a lot of, I love that album, gushing from me in this thread.

Great album, good songs, I love the guitars.

What everybody else has said.

I saw them on this tour opening up for Def Leppard as well and saw the band play in the round .

I think this is their best album. Lots of great tracks on this one. Modern Day Cowboy, EZ Come EZ Go, Cumin' Atcha Live and my two favorites, Gettin' Better And Little Suzi (I'm a sucker for songs that start acoustic but end up rockin').

"Little Suzi's on the up...."

Won't see much of me here. All I've got from Tesla is a Best Of thing.

Fantastic debut, but now in 2010, it's probably the least-listened to in my Tesla collection. Probably mostly from back-in-the-day burn-out. This tape got lotsa play in the old Walkman. It sounds a little dated to me now and I think Tesla got better with each release. They found their unique sound later on. This was a better than average sign of the times / typical of the era release though.

Great debut album - not much more needs to be added here. Not my favorite one (that's Psychotic Supper) but it's a good one for sure.

I love this album. I didn't buy it until years after owning Great Radio Controversy and even after Into the Now. Tesla was/is unfairly categorized as a hair band, but they did some pretty good hair metal songs on this album!

Tesla-The Great Radio Controversy (1989 Geffen Records)

1. "Hang Tough" (Jeff Kieth, Tommy Skeoch, Frank Hannon, Brian Wheat) – 4:21
   
2. "Lady Luck" (Keith, Skeoch, Hannon, Wheat) – 3:39
   
3. "Heaven's Trail (No Way Out)" (Keith, Skeoch) – 4:41
   
4. "Be a Man" (Keith, Hannon, Skeoch) – 4:20
   
5. "Lazy Days, Crazy Nights" (Keith, Skeoch) – 4:26
   
6. "Did It for the Money" (Keith, Skeoch, Hannon) – 4:25
   
7. "Yesterdaze Gone" (Keith, Hannon) – 3:43
   
8. "Makin' Magic" (Keith, Skeoch, Hannon, Wheat) – 5:03
   
9. "The Way It Is" (Keith, Troy Luccketta, Skeoch, Hannon) – 5:14
   
10. "Flight to Nowhere" (Keith, Skeoch, Hannon, Wheat) – 4:43
    
11. "Love Song" (Keith, Hannon) – 5:20
    
12. "Paradise" (Keith, Wheat, Hannon) – 4:59
    
13. "Party's Over" (Keith, Hannon, Skeoch) – 4:24
    

The old cliche' regarding sophmore slump definitily got kicked to the curb with Tesla's second release. The first song "Hang Tough" has a kick @$$ groove. They had success with "Love Song" and for the most part touched base with a total 70's blues rock sound.

The two guitar players stepped up quite a bit more than the debut exhibited and the singer seems to be more comfortable in his role. The song writing improved and put more emphasis on groove and melody.

Tesla's second album was another excellent 80's metal platter. The songs where more hard edged both lyrically and sonically. 'Hang Tough' is a good opening number but the third song and first single 'Heaven's Trail' showed a band determined to avoid the so called sophomore slump.

At this point I was sick of ballads and I did not care for 'Love Song' but over the years the song has won a spot in one of the best ballad of the 80's. How this band was ever labeled as pop metal/hair metal act is beyond me since this band had alot more going for it both musically and lyrically.

Love Song is one of my favorite songs ever. That classical guitar intro is so cool!

This is probably my favorite Tesla album. I'm pretty sure I had this one before I got their debut. And like their debut, this tape spent lots of time in the Walkman. THis album has one of my favorite songs by the band on ther as well, 'Paradise'. I love that it starts off all slow and ballady-like then builds up, kicking into overdrive at the end. The twin guitar attack just shreds. This was their 'Stairway to Heaven'.

***NERD ALERT***: After seeing Jeff Keith's "footprint" pants in the 'Love Song' video, I handmade a similiar pair for myself with ripped jeans and handprints in purple & black paint. Paired with my black suede cowboys boots, leather jacket & jew-fro mullet, I was the ultimate chick magnet. Too bad no chicks thought the same.

This is a great album - the first Tesla album I heard from beginning to end. For the longest time Love Song was my only sampling of this great band. Once I found Ult's site and read his review for the Tesla catalog, I listened. Songs 1-4 rock really well, especially Track #3 - what a great song. Track #9 - The Way it is - IS my favorite track on this album. It's just perfect, especially the last minute of the song - it jams. Like I said before, great album. James said it perfectly before in his review: The two guitarists stepped it up another notch on this album and it shows. I just love Tesla - keep up the reviews!