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Forever More

Tesla - Forever More Audio CD

A fair review of the Tesla "Forever More" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Tesla reviews here, or go back to the Tesla tabs.

Band: Tesla
Title: Forever More
Rating:

Release Date: 2008-11-11
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Forever More 2: I Wanna Live 3: One Day at a Time 4: So What! 5: Just in Case 6: Fallin' Apart 7: Breakin' Free 8: All of Me 9: First Time 10: PVT. Ledbetter 11: In a Hole Again 12: Game

A Great New Tesla Album
There's some awesome rockers and some great slow songs and some great songs in between! I would recommend this album to any Tesla fan. I've been a fan of Tesla since the 80s, and this is one of the best Tesla albums in my opinion.

Tesla - Forever
Lyrically relevant and well produced, with many surprise melodically sweeping choruses. Best Tesla album since Great Radio Controversy. They don't disappoint with the level of hardness & they experiment with sounds that firmly return them to the modern stage.

Forever Good
With the departure of one of the original members after their previous album "2004: Into the Now", it seemed that album might be one of those one-shot deals and Tesla would again dissappear into the landscape as they more or less seemed to do after "Bust a Nut". I was pleasantly surprised when I learned that Telsa had released another album of original material. After listening to this album, Forever More, multiple times over the last few months, it feels like Telsa may be here to stay. This, at least to me, is very good news.

Looking at the album cover, you are given an initial feeling that this could be a very dark album. This album is, for the most part, the polar opposite of that. As with 2004: Into the Now, this is a very up-beat album. For long-time Tesla fans, that is no real surprise as the band has always had a very no non-sense, "get down to work and find a way to enjoy it", attitude in their music. This, combined with their late '70s/early '80s style of blues-based hard rock has always drawn me to them.

This is another very good album from the band. As is usually the case with Tesla, there are a couple of songs that seem to sit outside the rest of the album and distract from it. However, on the whole, the quality of the musicianship has never been better, singing is surprising good considering the effects time normally has on someone who sings the way they do, and the song writing is in line with some of their best.

The album opens with the title track which is vintage Tesla, in-your-face rock and roll. It is how I would image opening any Tesla album.

The next two songs, I Wanna Live and One Day at a Time, are average rockers. Not bad, but not really ones that stand out.

The next two songs are a summary of what is best and unique about Tesla. So What! is a great song musically and I just love the "get over yourself and get busy" lyrics! It is exactly what I have wanted to say to so many baby-boomers over the years after listening to them complain about all that is wrong with our world!

Just in Case is a classic Tesla, no non-sense, "I know I am flawed but I keep trying" song. Again, a very positive sentiment with some very good music built around the lyrics. They have always danced lightly around spiritual topics and, again, do a nice job with that here.

Of the remaining songs on the album, a couple more deserve a couple of quick comments. Breakin' Free is a very good song. It is very powerful with alot of interesting textures playing in the background. It is alittle outside what I would consider "normal" Tesla, but is a welcome change.

Pvt. Ledbetter is a song which depicts and honors the sacrifice soldiers make when they go off to war. It does a nice job, but not stellar in that respect. The sentiment here is appreciated, but I have heard a couple of groups do this type of thing alittle bit better. However, still a good song overall.

Overall, this album is quite enjoyable. I consider it better than 2004 (which I also enjoy quite a bit) and (dare I say it?) on-par with The Great Radio Controversy as far as the overall album is concerned. This album is at least as consistent as TGRC, even if it does lack the one or two stand-out songs that album had. I would suggest that So What!, Breakin' Free, and Just in Case are as good as any other Tesla song and would be considered stand-out had this been 1990 and radio could be persuaded to play them. Of course, radio is not what it was even back then. . .

One final point: I find it very cool that Tesla has continued to remain true to themselves through all these years and changes in the industry. In fact, if anything, it would seem that the wisdom of age has snuck into their writing, which is always a good thing. I have always marvelled about how much of a mid-western attitude their music has always had, considering they hail from Washington state. There it is again in these last two albums. All this without loosing their emotional edge. Perhaps it really is Forever More for Tesla?

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Tesla finally "gave in" and (ugh) CONFORMED!
I saw Tesla blow Def Leppard off the stage when they opened for them during the Hysteria tour of 1987. I have been a fan of Tesla's since the classic 80's album Mechanical Resonance. I followed them when they were putting out TRUE MUSIC while many hair bands put out crap. I followed them into the 90s when many acts I grew up with thought they could do grunge and failed miserably yet Tesla REMAINED TRUE!

I followed them every step of the way including Into The Now. That may have not been their strongest record but it was still TESLA and it was still pure, non conforming, REAL rock!

So when Forever More was released I couldn't wait to treat my stereo and ears with more REAL ROCK from one of my all-time favorite bands. . . . TESLA!! They had never let me down before, they wouldn't now. . . right? WRONG!!

I am SHOCKED to hear people give this album a good review. I think many fans don' want to admit when a band drops the ball similar to the way many people will continue to support film franchises even when the latest efforts are horrible. Anyone seen Halloween 2 by Rob Zombie? There's a perfect example. Huge failure, horrible writing and basically worthless but fans of the series won't dare to admit that!

I think that is what is happening here. This album first and foremost is NOT Tesla. It is NOT the band who makes great music first and then worries what everyone else will think later. Tesla DOES NOT conform. . . . well, DID NOT is the truth now.

This album is nowhere near the quality of ANY prior Tesla album. I should know, I own all the official releases as well as all the b-sides, demos and several live bootlegs.

What you have on Forever More is simple, a band member left and was replaced. Tesla replaces the band member and feels this "new energy". How many times have you heard this scenario before, lol? Anyone remember Gary Cherone with Van Halen? Yeah. . . that kind of thing.

If you listen to "today's rock" and think it is good then you MAY like the new Tesla album. It has half the attitude, half the writing and arrangement skill and have the performance. . . . very much like comparing most of today's "rock acts" to the stuff most of we Tesla fans grew up on. The only thing good about the album is the words are still written well.

If you have been a Tesla fan for years. . . sorry. This is the first bad album from the band. Sure some albums were better than others but this one is a HUGE drop in quality.

Let's hope this is just a fluke and not the new direction of the band. If this IS the new direction that direction is straight down. .

5 stars for content...
. . negative stars for production quality. I'm so tired of the "loudness war" I could puke. Yet another album that could have been good but was destroyed in the studio by engineers who sacrificed volume for dynamic range. I would expect better from Tesla. If they do this again, I'm done with the band forever.

You can see a complete list of all Tesla discography, or go back to the Tesla tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.