Tesla MECHANICAL RESONANCE LIVE

Tesla: Jeff Keith (vocals); Frank Hannon (acoustic & electric guitars, mandolin, keyboards, background vocals); Tommy Skeoch (electric guitar, background vocals); Brian Wheat (electric bass, background vocals); Troy Luccketta (drums).
Additional personnel: Michael Barbiero (background vocals).
Recorded at Bearsville Studios, Bearsville, New York.
Personnel: Frank Hannon (vocals, guitar, keyboards); Dave Rude (vocals, guitar); Jeff Keith, Brian Wheat (vocals); Troy Luccketta (drums).
Audio Mixer: Brian Wheat .
Liner Note Authors: Joe Elliot; Phil Collen.
Photographer: Ross Halfin.
Tesla was a bit of an anomaly on the '80s scene. While making concessions to the Sunset Strip mentality of the era (song titles littered with slang, tracks laced with thinly veiled euphemisms), the music itself holds a great deal more in common with rough-and-tumble hard rock than with watered-down glam. The record's greatest assets are vocalist Jeff Keith, who combines an authentic blues delivery with competent melodic range, and guitarist Keith Hannon, who supplies ample electricity amid the four-measure riffing without devolving into showy, soulless solos. There are a handful of slowed-down offerings on RESONANCE, although, unlike pandering power ballads of the era, songs like "Changes" display a knack for tasteful instrumentation and clever arrangements. Listening to RESONANCE, it's not difficult to see how Tesla later came up with their classic stripped-down 1990 cover of Five Man Electrical Band's "Signs."

• Format: CD
• Genre: Pop