Frontiers www.frontiers.it [Released 9.6.14]
It’s hard to think that Tesla’s first album, “Mechanical Resonance”, came out in 1986- and now here we are nearly 30 years later and their seventhstudio album “Simplicity” is about to be released (although, if you take into account the two volumes of “Real to Reel” and 2011’s much underrated “Twisted Wires”, it is actually their tenth).
The album is a good balance between the band’s recent heavier approach and classic sounding Tesla and is pretty much the perfect Tesla album, and in my opinion the best they have released since reforming in 2000. Relative new boy Dave Rude (he joined in 2006!!) is an exceptionally good fit for the band and if you isolated the guitar parts you would be stunned by the quality of the interplay with fellow guitarist Frank Hannon, the solos and the little runs. Then we get to the vocals- the distinctive style and power of Jeff Keith’s voice do not appear to have been ravaged by the passage of time and “Time Bomb” is a great example of this.
“Simplicity” opens with the track “MP3”, an ode to the ever changing face of music, and the influence that Aerosmith has had on the band is clear to see in “Ricochet” and my favourite track on the album “Flip Side”. It is also heard again on “Cross My Heart” which features some Lynyrd Skynryd style piano and has a Tesla meets country meets Aerosmith vibe.
There are a couple of slower, but not quite ballad tracks in “So Divine”, the excellent “Honestly”, and “Life Is A River” and then the out and out love songs of the gentler “’Til That Day” and “Other Than Me”, the latter complete with a Beatle like intro. “Break of Dawn” is another outstanding track and then we come to the pairing of “Burnout To Fade”- the album version and the bonus track, which is the writing demo version, side by side these show exactly how good Tesla are at putting a great song together.
With “Simplicity” Tesla have shown that they are still as good as they were back in 1986 and show no signs of slowing down and, I for one, am happy about that. *****
Review by Nikk Gunns
Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK
Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions, streamed via Facebook.
Next session: Sunday 19 January
Check out videos here: https://www.facebook.com/getreadytorockradio
David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast on 1 December 2024.
UK Blues Broadcaster of the Year (2020 and 2021 Finalist) Pete Feenstra presents his weekly Rock & Blues Show on Tuesday at 19:00 GMT as part of a five hour blues rock marathon “Tuesday is Bluesday at GRTR!”. The show is repeated on Wednesdays at 22:00, Fridays at 20:00). This show was first broadcast 3 December 2024.
How to Listen Live?
Click the programming image at the top of the page (top right of page if using desktop)
Listen via Windows Media Player. Click or tap here and “open file”
Listen via other media player (eg. VLC) Click or tap here and “open file”
Get Ready to ROCK! Radio is also in iTunes under Internet Radio/Classic Rock
Listen in via the Tunein app and search for “Get Ready to ROCK!” and save as favourite.
More information and links at our radio website where you can listen again to shows via the presenter pages: getreadytorockradio.com
Power Plays w/c 9 December 2024
In this sequence we play ‘The Best of 2024′ GRTR! reviewer selections
Featured Albums w/c 9 December 2024
09:00-12:00 The Best of 2024 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2024 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2024 (Singer Songwriter)
PDF - you can delete unwanted sections
