Tesla – Alive In Europe!

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Overall Tesla’s European run during 2009 proved to be a very successful, and very well-received tour, mixing headlining theatre and club shows with prominent festival appearances to very good audiences. Various recordings from the tour make up this live album. The tracklist reasonably accurately reflects the setlist played on the tour, although one or two big tracks, like Rock Me To The Top and Gettin’ Better, are missing. That’s not particularly important though; the mix is far more problematic. The mix, apart from being a bit rough, puts vocalist Jeff Keith right up front, and unfortunately he sounds like a ‘South Park’ character mocking Jeff Keith. The mix is even in that it isn’t obvious that the songs come from different shows, the sound clarity is excellent, and Keith does sound better on some songs (Heaven’s Trail (No Way Out)) than others (Forever More), but overall these recordings highlight just how important the production on their studio releases has become. A run of acoustic-based songs in the middle of the set work very well, bracketed by two batches of hard-rocking tracks at the beginning and end of the 70-minute disc, but Keith’s vocals make this a Tesla-fans-only recording.

Written by Andy Lye
More: Hard Rock, Live Albums, Quick.Play Reviews, Tesla