Published on Sep 11, 2001
Replugged Live is the album that documents what most fans of
Tesla thought they’d never get the chance to see. Once word came
down a few years ago that Tesla had thrown in the towel (for
whatever reasons were rumored – and there were a few), it seemed
like there was too much bad blood between the five guys in the band
to ever get them back together. Ah, but times change, and the
public’s cry for Tesla to come back together were finally heeded –
but would the magic still be there?
This two-disc set taken from various concerts during Tesla’s
2001 tour (including a selection of dates from LaCrosse, Wisconsin,
one of the few cities singer Jeff Keith salutes from the stage)
shows a band who still have their chops musically, and still know
how to put on one helluva show. It also occasionally shows the
weakness that could undermine the band, though those moments can
differ, depending on which period of Tesla’s career one thought was
weak.
If you’re keeping score at home,
Replugged Live touches on all of the band’s releases,
including “What U Give,” which was only on the best-of
Time’s Makin’ Changes. What’s interesting is not that the
group’s weakest effort
Bust A Nut only has one track culled from it, but that the
song, “Mama’s Fool,” is one of the surprising points of the whole
disc in its strength and the band’s performance. It’s almost as if
Keith and crew went out of their way to show the audience what they
missed with this particular album.
Replugged Live breathes new life into several songs in this
fashion. When
Psychotic Supper was released, I really didn’t appreciate
the track “Song & Emotion” as a real tribute to Steve Clark
from Def Leppard – but after years of wisdom (as well as watching
the “Behind The Music” episode of Def Leppard more times than I’d
like to admit), the true beauty of this song comes forth, and “Song
& Emotion” is allowed to stand on its own. If only some other
tracks, like “Edison’s Medicine” and “The Way It Is,” had been
granted the same magical touch.
Replugged Live pulls many tracks off of Tesla’s two big
albums,
Mechanical Resonance and
The Great Radio Controversy, but it’s what the kids want, so
give it to ’em. Besides, most of these turn out to be the best
moments of the whole show, especially the numbers from
Mechanical Resonance. (I do wonder, though, why Tesla chose
to resurrect “We’re No Good Together” and why not, say, “Rock Me To
The Top”.) Admittedly, some personal preference will come into play
for the listener – I still haven’t totally warmed up to songs like
“Heaven’s Trail (No Way Out)” or “Hang Tough” – but there’s going
to be more than enough material on this disc to leave you smiling.
(And, yes, Virginia, drummer Troy Lucketta actually
did play a solo during the concert’s opening number “Cumin’
Atcha Live”. Why, I don’t know.)
What’s interesting about this album is that while you’ll find
tracks you don’t particularly like, you can’t imagine
Replugged Live being as complete an effort without them. I
don’t know how Tesla pulled that off, but a number of bands would
like to know that secret.
Where
Replugged Live hits snags is in two areas. First, some of
the shows seem to feature the band when Keith’s voice sounded more
ragged than it usually does. On songs like “EZ Come EZ Go” and
“Hang Tough,” sometimes it seems as if Keith is having difficulty
making it to the high notes a la Steven Tyler. Admittedly, I didn’t
expect note-for-note precision – the guys in the band are 15 years
older than the group which recorded
Mechanical Resonance – but one has to imagine there was at
least one other show which had Keith sounding in better voice.
The second is, ironically, the hardest to explain. While
Replugged Live has the feel of the most complete Tesla show
one could imagine, it’s not the most engaging listen.
Production-wise, it’s fine; performance-wise, it’s fine. But
energy-wise, it’s too easy for the listener to push the disc to the
background and let their memory go onto auto-pilot. So while this
is a disc that fans have been begging for, it’s also one which
listeners might only dig out from time to time.
Don’t get me wrong;
Replugged Live is a welcome disc from a band who never got
the credit they deserved, and is a nice stepping stone into the
group’s new future. But it’s also a disc which needed a little more
heart to keep the listener’s fists pumping in the air.