_{For many years when people have asked me what my favourite band is, the answer has been the same – Tesla. Sometimes the bemused work colleague or whatever will look at me blankly, other-times when the question comes from someone whose familiarity with rock music extends beyond AC/DC, Guns N Roses, Iron Maiden and Bon Jovi, I’ll get those approving nods and words of agreement. For me personally, Tesla encapsulates all that is great about “classic” rock.}

_{For many years in the 90s, the bands early albums, copied onto TDK D90s (younger readers might need that explained byve asked me who someone who was in their teens in the 80s!) were the main occupant of the cassette player in my Mazda! (They now top the pile of cassettes beside the old stereo in my garage!).}

_{Why am I telling you all this? Well I thought it best to declare my complete bias before writing anything more in a recommendation for the new Tesla album “Simplicity” which is released by Frontiers Records on 6th June. Not writing a recommendation however would have been sacrilege.}

_{“Simplicity” is the first studio album of original material from Tesla since 2008, and amazingly only their seventh such release since “Mechanical Resonance” in 1986. And it may well be one of their best ever!! There isn’t a single track on the album that I could say didn’t instantly renew my belief in Tesla as being the greatest rock band around. Others will no doubt disagree, but this is my recommendation so only my view matters here!}

_{The title of the album is reflected in the artwork and the content. The band had resolved to record one track a day in bass player Brian Wheat’s recording studio in Sacramento. Their website refers to the process as “capturing the moment” rather than spending weeks on overdubbing, making the album “very simple on a technical level, but very complex emotionally”.}

_{For more on Tesla check out http://teslatheband.com/}

_{Interview with Dave Rude from June 2012 - http://www.rockradioni.co.uk/interviews/1257-ni-rocks-interview-with-dave-rude-tesla-dave-rude-band.html}

_{About “NI Rocks Recommends”}

_{I'm not a reviewer and I certainly don’t claim to be a journalist, but I wanted to acknowledge some of the great music being submitted to Rock Radio NI by artists, promoters and labels. That was the simple idea behind “NI Rocks Recommends”. To be honest I’m not really a big fan of the whole idea of “Reviews” as they just represent one person’s opinion!!  So I'm not giving marks or ratings, trying to categorise bands or compare artists. The albums that I’ll be recommending are merely those that I would buy myself and which you’ll be hearing played on my shows on Rock Radio NI.}

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