FIVE MAN ACOUSTICAL JAM
Five Man Acoustical Jam is a live album released in 1990 by the band Tesla, using acoustic guitars instead of the electric guitars which hard rock/heavy metal bands such as Tesla were known for. The biggest hit from the album was the song “Signs”, a cover version originally from the band Five Man Electrical Band, who also had a hit with the song. It was recorded live in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at the Trocadero Theatre. (More from Wikipedia)
Rock songs with religious themes, like “Mother of Mystery” by the Invisible Eyes, have always been fascinating to me. By now, Christian contemporary music has become an industry, but it wasn’t always like that. One long-time favorite is “Signs” by Five Man Electrical Band.
Tesla did a remake of “Signs” not so long ago on an album they called Five Man Acoustical Jam; and as far as I am concerned, they kind of missed the point: The instrumental introduction to the original song that I sometimes hear on the local oldies radio station is as free-wheeling an electrical jam as I have ever heard. Unfortunately, that jam didn’t make it onto the single that I own, and I have never found the Five Man Electrical Band album that features “Signs”, Goodbyes and Butterflies.
(December 2012)
