Tesla – Homage
Tesla – Homage
Frontiers Records
Release date: 17/07/26
Review by: Jon Deaux
4/10
This is your dad doing karaoke at a wedding with a tie round his head, waving his hands and knocking down the DJ booth, going on and on and on like a Duracell Bunny.
Cover albums can be either contract filler or cry for help. And Homage feels like both.
According to Tesla, this album is a thank-you letter to all those artists who inspired them. Beautiful sentiment. Hallmark would’ve said it in twelve words without anybody having to listen to fourteen songs of it.
After forty years, everybody earns the right to indulge himself/herself. You’ve lived through trends, lived through grunge, lived through streaming, lived through people constantly mixing your name with the bloke who invented electricity. Fine, but having earned the right doesn’t mean you have to listen to it.
Homage is not Tesla finding their roots.
This is Tesla walking around some other person’s garden, looking at the flowers and saying, “These are gorgeous flowers, aren’t they?” Sure they are. Which is why they are classics before you come.
What’s wrong with Homage is that it is not bad.
Bad at least had some heart beating inside it.
Instead, it is horrifyingly well-behaved. Each song has been polished until it gleams like a rented car that never went faster than thirty. Nobody takes risks. Nobody creates a glorious mess. Each classic is treated with such respect it is usually reserved only for museum pieces and unexploded bombs.
According to Brian Wheat, the band knew when not to play.
Yes, you notice.
Jeff Keith is the saving grace in this album. His voice has aged just like an old biker who finally reached retirement and still has all his tattoos in full view. Rough, unmistakable, and still able to bring something truly emotional out of lyrics. His interpretation of ‘I Wish It Would Rain’ works precisely because he stops trying to outshine David Ruffin and simply inhabits the song.
This is one of the very few places where the album does not start feeling like karaoke with an unlimited budget.
The musicianship is exactly what you could expect from Tesla. Tight, tasteful, and professional.
Professional is a dangerous word in rock music.
Professional means that nobody gets arrested after the show.
Professional means that each guitar solo hits where it’s supposed to hit during rehearsals.
Professional means that you polish the wrinkles out of the song which became classic precisely because it had those wrinkles.
‘Spread Your Wings’ never opens its wings. ‘Night Moves’ strolls around the block politely before remembering that it should go home by nine. ‘Have You Ever Seen The Rain’ feels like Creedence rather than something to be put as a background during laminate flooring selection.
It is impossible to find faults with the musicianship.
And it is just as impossible to be interested in this musicianship.
Then comes Elvis.
Covering Elvis is like trying to repaint Mona Lisa with the aim of giving her brighter curtains. You may do it. Nobody stops you. History won’t be very thankful for this effort.
This also applies to Sam Cooke, Etta James, and James Brown. Tesla obviously loves these songs. You can hear the respect from each note.
Respect is good.
Rock and roll was built on disrespect.
The greatest covers mug the original, take their wallet, sleep with their partners, and claim that they owned the song all the time. Hendrix did this to Dylan. Johnny Cash took his chance with Hurt until Trent Reznor developed Stockholm syndrome.
Tesla asks the original’s permission politely before coming in.
After the middle of the album, Homage starts feeling like a guided tour through Classic Rock FM. All the landmarks are exactly where you know them from. All the anecdotes are repeated lovingly. And all surprises have already been framed, catalogued and insured.
The only really fresh thing about the album is ‘Never Alone.’
Funny, isn’t it?
One original song immediately reminds you why Tesla was famous in the first place. It is not revolutionary, but at least it sounds like a band which plays its own music rather than somebody else’s.
This is the tragedy.
Tesla doesn’t have to prove that they grew up loving Queen, CCR, Badfinger or The Temptations. This is true for all bands of their generation. These debts were already paid decades ago, when those influences were transformed into Mechanical Resonance and The Great Radio Controversy.
Homage feels like paying twice.
All this album feels like a reunion party where people keep reminding you how brilliant those old days were because nobody can think of anything to say about the present.
Maybe this is unfair.
Maybe this album was not written for the critics.
Maybe it was written for the band itself.
In this case, congratulations. They seem to be enjoying themselves.
The only trouble is that listening to other people having fun does not automatically mean an entertaining activity. Otherwise, nobody would buy a ticket to see strangers opening Christmas presents.
By the end of this album featuring Hank Williams covers, Homage becomes the musical equivalent of being stuck in the pub with a guy who starts all his sentences with “the original was better… ” until he unintentionally proves his point.
There is nothing offensive in this album.
Nothing is embarrassing in it.
There is nothing incompetent in it.
There is almost nothing dangerous in it as well.
Rock music used to feel like a fist through a window.
Homage feels like apologizing to the glass afterward.
Track list:
1. Never Alone (Original Song)
2. Bring It On Home (Sam Cooke Cover)
3. Spread Your Wings (Queen Cover)
4. I Wish It Would Rain (The Temptations Cover)
5. Night Moves (Bob Seger Cover)
6. If I Can Dream (Elvis Presley Cover)
7. Come And Get It (Badfinger Cover)
8. I Got You (James Brown Cover)
9. Give A Little Bit (Supertramp Cover)
10. I Love You (2026 Version)(Climax Blues Band Cover)
11. The Ballad Of Curtis Loew (Lynyrd Skynyrd Cover)
12. Have You Ever Seen The Rain (Creedence Clearwater Revival Cover)
13. I’d Rather Go Blind (Etta James Cover)
14. Mind Your Own Business – (Hank Williams Sr. Cover)
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Disclaimer: This review is solely the property of Jon Deaux and Ever Metal. It is strictly forbidden to copy any part of this review, unless you have the strict permission of both parties. Failure to adhere to this will be treated as plagiarism and will be reported to the relevant authorities.
