TESLA: Real To Reel (Tesla Electric Company Records)
By Fizz
Rating: 5.5
What the hell is wrong with Tesla these days, goddammit?! After a welcome reunion in 2000, one of the best bands of the ‘80’s and early ‘90’s took four years to deliver a new studio album that was, well, good for what it was, but was well below the high standard set by previous albums. And now, three years after that, Tesla are doing what many other, lesser bands are doing these days: releasing an album of cover songs. This is just fine and dandy for a lazy bunch of amateurs like Poison, or L.A. Guns, whose lineup was in total disarray at the time, or even for the now completely irrelevant Def Leppard, but Tesla? The whole thing had a bad taste from the start.
And then there’s the way this thing is being marketed. It’s actually a two-disc set, but you only get the first CD in the (admittedly nifty) packaging. To get the second disc, you have to go to a show, where the other half of the set is included in your ticket price. Singer jeff Keith said something about how “lots of people can’t afford a double-CD.” An extra five bucks or so for “Reel Two,” as it’s called, versus $35 or $40 for a concert ticket, plus parking and refreshments, not to mention the show’s probably not just down the street from most fans … well, you get the idea.
Oh well, what the hell. I figured if any band could pull off a covers album and make it work, it would be Tesla, a band who has done a number of superb remakes in the past. And so I coughed up, and eagerly awaited Real To Reel’s arrival in my mailbox.
If nothing else, you can’t say the band chose the same old tired classic rock tunes to cover as everybody else, at least in most cases. Just compare it with the Poison covers album (which was released on the same day, incidentally), and it’s easy to see which band is and always has been the better of the two. Also on the plus side is that guitarist Frank Hannon hasn’t forgotten how to play good guitar after all, despite the oddly simplistic guitarwork on 2004’s Into The Now. The real star on many of these songs, though, is drummer Troy Luccketta. Just listen to his solo on the album-opening version of Deep Purple’s “Space Truckin’.” Jeff Keith himself, however, is another matter. It was already pretty apparent that his voice has suffered in the past decade or so, probably from heavy smoking. And while he sounds pretty damn good on some of these songs, he trudges his way through others in the tired, monotone croak he adopted for most of Into The Now.
There are some highlights here. Chief among them would be the band’s heartfelt rendition of Led Zeppelin’s “Thank You.” This tune (wisely chosen as the first single) is just perfect for Tesla, and would’ve been right at home on their underrated 1994 album Bust A Nut. The oft-covered Temptations classic “Ball Of Confusion” gets a makeover as well, and ends up sounding like one of the funkier tracks from 1991’s masterpiece Psychotic Supper. Only Jeff Keith could belt out a line like “Good googa-mooga, can’t you hear me talkin’ to ya?” and mean every word.
Elsewhere, faithful versions of James Gang’s “Walk Away” and UFO’s “Rock Bottom” stand out as well, the latter for its extended guitar jamming. Frank Hannon and new axeman Dave Rude totally smoke on this song, and help make up for Keith’s deadpan delivery. The same can be said of their version of Traffic’s “Dear Mr. Fantasy.” The outlaw shuffle of Uriah Heep’s ‘Stealin’” is another instant favorite, with its ominously quiet intro leading into a full-blown rocker. JK even lets out a pretty decent scream going into the solo.
Those are the good parts. Unfortunately, most of the rest of the songs just fall flat. My favorite covers have always been the ones that bring something new to the table, rather than a strict, note-by-note reading of the material. So many of these songs just don’t distinguish themselves. Some suffer because of Keith’s poor vocals. Others are just uninteresting. The version of ‘Honky Tonk Women” is a good example, mimicking every one of Keith Richards’s guitar licks, yet somehow lacking the fire and sass of the Stones classic. “Bell Bottom Blues” has excellent guitarwork, just as you’d expect of a Clapton cover, but the vocals drag it down into a snorefest. Even Thin Lizzy’s “Bad Reputation” seems lifeless here.
I really, really wanted Real To Reel to be the remake album to break the mold and to prove itself worthy. Alas, it’s just another average album of cover tunes meant to be a quick cash-grab for a band not exactly brimming over with new ideas. Hell, the band even admits proudly that these songs were all done in two or three takes, so you know how much work was put into them. The sound quality is almost demo-ish, and it’s not because it was recorded entirely on analog equipment. I’ve heard better-sounding albums made on the same type of setup.
And what of Reel Two? I’m sure in a few months, after the tour is over, it will be made available for purchase to all the fans who couldn’t make it to a show. And I bet it’ll be full price, too. Me, I wouldn’t turn down a free copy, but will be in no hurry to spend money on it. If I should happen to get ahold of it, I’ll put up a supplementary review.
I don’t want to give the impression that I’m just down on Tesla, or that this is a horrible release. I count Tesla among my very favorite bands, and there’s nothing egregious about any of these songs, per se. But if I were making a Tesla compilation for someone, to show what this band is all about, I doubt any of these songs would make the cut. It really sucks to be saying all this about a band I used to regard as a model of consistency and quality. I thought Tesla would be just about the last band to let the fans down. Guess I was wrong. Longtime Tesla fans will want to have Real To Reel for the sake of completeness, and I’m not saying I regret buying it, exactly. But I don’t think it’ll be getting very much spin time months, or even weeks, from now.
In the end, the rating above reflects not only the extremely average nature of most of the material, but also that I’ve just come to expect better from this band.
Best Songs: “Thank You,” “Ball Of Confusion,” “Stealin’”
Worst songs: “I’ve Got A Feelin’” “Bell Bottom Blues”
