I had the opportunity to see these guys perform a live acoustic set recently. It was a great show and it prompted me to finally pick up this disk. I've been meaning to for a long time. Every once in awhile I would actually pick it up, walk around, but then ultimately put it back on the shelf where I'd found it. Well, I got it, popped it in and watched 90 minutes of Tesla goodness.
The disk has all of their videos from "Modern Day Cowboy" through "Try So Hard," we get to watch as they developed and changed through the years. It was interesting to watch them go from the typical teased up hair band, to a grungier (NOT grunge) look. Their videos were a refreshing change from the usual dancing girls and high concept style videos. All of the videos center on the bands performance, usually the only change is location. And the performance is what counts. These guys stood apart from the other acts of the day as actually having musical ability behind them, putting it to good use in crafting some fine songs.
The videos are fun, but they have also not aged very well. They come across as very dated, but at the same time they do evoke a sense of nostalgia for when videos actually featured performing bands, and remind one of a time when music television actually aired music videos.
The videos which I liked the most were "Heaven's Trail (No Way Out)," "Edison's Medicine," "Need You're Lovin'," and the two cuts from the Acoustical Jam album, "Signs," and "Paradise." The first two are fun performance videos with the first taking place on what looks like a construction site and the second in a warehouse with a variety of effects. "Need You're Lovin'" is fun due to it's lampooning of 80's rock video cliche's, it showcases the humor of the band. Finally the acoustic videos are straight from the performance, and just looks like fun. It's a simple video, but shows a lot more. There is also a solo Frank Hannon guitar piece intro to "Love Song" which just sounds great, and appears to have been recorded live.
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