I remember running out to buy
\nThe Great Radio Controversy<\/i>, the second album from
\nCalifornia-rockers Tesla, the day it hit the stores way back in
\n1989. I had become a fan of the band thanks to
\nMechanical Resonance<\/i>, and was eager to hear if they had been
\nable to recapture the magic on this new disc. That afternoon, I
\nthink I discovered what “sophomore slump” meant in the music
\nbusiness. I was extremely disappointed, and filed the record away,
\npulling it out on rare occasion to see if I had missed
\nanything.<\/p>\n
Twelve years later, I still find myself disappointed in
\nThe Great Radio Controversy<\/i>, though I’ll admit that time has
\nshone more light on a few of these tracks. Jeff Keith and company
\ndid have the daunting task of living up to high expectations with
\nthis release. Some of my colleagues in this industry call this
\nrelease Tesla’s best. Sorry, my voice won’t be joining them.<\/p>\n
Oh, all of the trademarks that Tesla established on
\nMechanical Resonance<\/i> were along for the ride the second time
\naround. You had the dueling lead guitar work of Tommy Skeoch and
\nFrank Hannon filling the air with some great solos; you had Brian
\nWheat bringing his bass to the forefront when the moment called for
\nit. You had Keith slowly becoming the next incarnation of Steven
\nTyler with his hoarse shouts and vocals, and you had Troy Lucketta
\nsolidly anchoring the band with his drumwork. So far, so good.<\/p>\n
Where things took a downturn was in the songwriting itself.
\nWhere
\nMechanical Resonance<\/i> had a few clunkers (which is almost
\nforgivable on a band’s first effort),
\nThe Great Radio Controversy<\/i> is padded with them. Tracks like
\n“Lazy Days, Crazy Nights,” “Yesterdaze Gone,” “Did It For The
\nMoney” and “Paradise” all fall flat like a bottle of soda left
\nuncapped overnight. The talent is there musically, but if you don’t
\nhave the songwriting to back it up, musical ability means
\nnothing.<\/p>\n
This isn’t to say that
\nThe Great Radio Controversy<\/i> is without merit. True, had I
\nwritten this back in 1989, I’d be pooh-poohing the entire album.
\nBut time has shown me that the opening suite of songs – “Hang
\nTough,” “Lady Luck” and “Heaven’s Trail (No Way Out)” actually are
\nstrong efforts on all fronts, and suggested that Tesla might just
\nhave beaten the sophomore slump. If only they didn’t lemming off
\nthe cliff right after that.<\/p>\n
The centerpiece of this disc was, and remains, “Love Song”. This
\nis another track that I’ve had to warm up to over the years, but it
\nhas proven to be one of Tesla’s best songs in their catalog.
\nBuilding the power from the guitar instrumental (which is almost
\nnever heard on the radio) to the eventual chorus (which seems
\nalmost operatic in comparison), Tesla prove they can have mastery
\nover their domain when the material is there to back them up.<\/p>\n
Tesla was a better band than the bulk of the material on
\nThe Great Radio Controversy<\/i> lets on to, and there are times
\nwhen Keith and crew rise above the mundane to bowl over the
\nlistener with their talents. I’d be lying if I said this was their
\nworst disc – but I’d also be lying if I said this was their best
\nwork. It’s worth checking out – but approach it with caution.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28056,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[6142],"rating":[5614],"class_list":["post-39450","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-tesla","rating-rating-c-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39450","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39450"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39450\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=39450"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=39450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}