The 1991 album ‘Psychotic Supper’ has been touted by Tesla’s band members as the best album of their catalog. A tall order I reckon, considering their first two studio albums were pretty good by any stretch of the imagination.
Written by: gdmonline
ARTIST: Tesla
ALBUM: Psychotic Supper
LABEL: Geffen
SERIAL: GEFD-24424
YEAR: 1991
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA
LINEUP: Jeff Keith – lead vocals * Frank Hannon – electric & acoustic guitars, keyboards, backing vocals * Tommy Skeoch – electric, acoustic & slide guitars, backing vocals * Brian Wheat – bass, backing vocals * Troy Luccketta – drums, percussion
TRACK LISTING: 01 Change In The Weather * 02 Edison’s Machine * 03 Don’t De-Rock Me * 04 Call It What You Want * 05 Song And Emtion * 06 Government Personnel * 07 Freedom Slaves * 08 Had Enough * 09 What You Give * 10 Stir It Up * 11 Can’t Stop * 12 Toke About It
WEBLINKS: Site Link
Background
The 1991 album ‘Psychotic Supper’ has been touted by Tesla’s band members as the best album of their catalog. A tall order I reckon, considering their first two studio albums were pretty good by any stretch of the imagination.
But if any people were qualified to make that statement, then it would probably be the band members themselves. And who would argue? The recipe continues from those earlier efforts, i.e. same label, same personnel, same producers etc. In fact, producer Michael Barbiero even had a hand in the songwriting department, contributing to five of the tracks.
1991 was a funny year, what I have called ‘the year of denial’ by many in the melodic hard rock ranks. Some not even realising what was about to happen on the musical industry/horizon. Tesla could be accused of this stance too, but I guess many of these bands were locked away in a studio, so living in a virtual vaccum had its advantages (or in many other cases.. dis-advantages).
Despite the fall of the hard rock empire around their feet, Tesla were still one of the bands that continued to be successful during the early 90’s. Though their financial success wasn’t as lucrative when compared to the late 80’s era, the same could be said for all the other major label acts operating at the same time, except they weren’t as successful as Tesla when the 90’s rolled around.
The Songs
Onto the album. It’s a rather large at that; over 60 minutes long with some lengthy tracks within the laser etched grooves. The boisterous opening to ‘Change In The Weather’ sets the scene for the album. Gang chants, muscular guitars and an overall toughness.
The same can be said for second-up track ‘Man Out Of Time (Edison’s Medicine)’, describing the man that the band is named after to a tee. Tesla lift for the highly accelerated and turbo charged ‘Don’t De-Rock Me’, but slam on the brakes for the very melodic ‘Call It What You Want’.
‘Song & Emotion’ is a rock ballad which is reputedly a tribute to Def Leppard guitarist Steve Clark who died earlier in 1991. It’s a long track at 8 and half minutes. Guitars come crashing in on an alarm clock sound effect for the appropriately named ‘Time’. It’s a track with twists and turns, the jazzy mid-section is a turnup for the books.
Bypassing the short interlude ‘Government Personnel’, we move into the mid-tempo rocker ‘Freedom Slaves’, a title that is quite fitting considering the modern world we all live in and the removal of personal liberties and rights. We’re back into the hard rock groove for the excellent ‘Had Enough’. Aah this is more like it, this one feels like a good fit for their ‘Mechanical Resonance’ debut.
‘What You Give’ is the next acoustic ballad, it was the single and obviously pitched as the successor for ‘Love Song’ from ‘The Great Radio Controversy’. ‘Stir It Up’ is a mostly mellow rocker with a southern flavour, with ‘Can’t Stop’ perhaps the only disappointment on the album as it doesn’t really offer a lot.
‘Toke About It’ is obviously a play on words (replacement for talk) and though the lyrics might be a bit dodgy, it does show the band has a bit of humour about them, as evidenced on their live jam CD the year before. The song itself has a Giant vibe, particularly the fiery organ solo through the middle. Good way to end the CD.
In Summary
‘Psychotic Supper’ was a solid performer for Tesla, released during the summer of 1991, the band were on the road for the next 18 months, completing their world tour at Christmas time 1992.
The Japanese Geffen reissue of this album in 1998 featured three bonus cover tracks: Montrose‘s standard ‘Rock The Nation’, Willie Dixon‘s ‘I Ain’t Superstitious’ and Jo Jo Gunne‘s minor hit from their debut album ‘Run Run Run’.
Tesla on Video
Click to go to YTM album page.
