One of my very favourite songs of all time is Tesla’s ‘What You Give’ not only is it a beautiful song its simple premise I think is good enough to live by. “It’s not what you got, it’s what you give. It ain’t the life you choose, it’s the life you live.” Amen to that, especially in the strange times and if we all make it to the other side I for one would love to see more of the simple concept caring for our fellow man seep more into people’s consciousness.
So it’s all guns blazing on what most fans must realise is a rewrite of the legendary ‘Five Man Acoustical Jam’ whose sales figures launched that whole wave of ‘Unplugged’ albums that appeared as a deluge in the early ’90’s (but was still best of them all).
Opening with ”Cumin’ Atcha Live/Truckin’ is a masterstroke and a great way to open up, but that momentum sadly is almost immediately lost by dunking us into the less familiar waters of ‘Tied To the Tracks’ from last year’s ‘Shock’ album. Now for me that song was one of the highlights of ‘Shock’ and one that got closest to their 80’s hard rocking roots, but to others less familiar with the Tesla catalogue its enough to make you skip forward immediately when surely the purpose of getting the new stuff on there is getting people to listen and maybe even but it! Even as a fan I find the choice a little puzzling.
What you wanted to do was dive straight into the perfect run of Beatles’ ‘We Can Work It Out'(played here in the room the original was recorded in), followed by (Five Man Electrical Band’s) ‘Signs,’ (I mean sure it’s a great cover but do we really need 5 of the tracks from ‘Acoustical Jam’ on ‘London Jam’?) and ‘What You Give’ – it’s a run of songs that can really be faulted.
‘Forever Loving You’ was sadly for me the least impressive of the three ballads on ‘Shock’ it’s a song that at the time I said “just seems to be missing something – lacking a hook or a thrust as it lays low at the same level without a peak” I stand by that. ‘Miles Away’ from 2004’s ‘Into the Now’ that follows conversely really manages to hit the spot with some wonderful guitar work from Frank Hannon and Dave Rude. It’s a track that shows the richness of the band’s back catalogue.
‘Paradise’ of course is great a real highlight of that previous album and maybe even better this time around but I’d still question the need to repeat a third of the album when the band has so much in the catalogue. ‘Call It What You Want’ saying that might be the best sounding song here,
When I read ‘Stir It Up’ for a second I thought we were in for a genius shot of Bob Marley rather it’s the track from ‘Psychotic Supper’ and a longtime favourite of mine, and that is followed by a nice version of ‘Into the Now’ which in truth has never been a favourite of mine and an acoustic treatment really doesn’t serve the dynamics of the song best.
The closer of course is ‘Love Song’ and I guess it’s impossible to argue the toss there.
A great band who are masters at this type of thing but a setlist that I’m sure will leave some longtime fans wishing for more. The album comes in digital, vinyl and CD formats, with DVD and Blu-ray also available.
9/10
