The airbrushed images on the cover match up with the vapid, empty statements within. About the only thing that keeps this hulk barely afloat is "Talk Dirty to Me" - which is at least fun from a nostalgic point of view - every other song is atrocious from so many angles. Possibly subsequent albums were better, but here what you get is a ton of recycled glam-metal clichés and half-hearted good times. Our old cat - bless her heart - dragged in half-dead animals with more personality than this album.

Nothing to do with electric cars or inventors, for once upon a time this Tesla was the butt of many a grunge fan's joke. Truth be told, Yours Truly was only familiar with a few of their songs around the turn of the 90's - most notably their cover of "Signs", which went the "Unplugged" route before MTV made it fashionable. Despite what the title states, the pranksters may have had a point, because their debut makes two major errors - it's too serious for a glam metal record, and too glam to be taken seriously. The second half of the album somewhat makes up for a drab first half, but overall, it's hard to think of who this would resonate with.

For some reason, out of all the New Riders albums it is this one which piques my interest, even though in many respects it could be considered as substandard as previous efforts. Certainly, they were on the decline here - they practically give over the title track to Sly Stone and his band, plus, there is an inordinate amount of guests and cover songs - more than normal, at least. But on the plus side of the ledger, the album has a crazy sort of energy going for it which none of the other NRPS albums ever had, which keeps me interested. It's as if they finally decided to break out of their eternal slumber, and finally let loose on a studio record. The title track with Sly Stone really sets the tone in this regard, just building off the same "oh, what a mighty time" lyric for what seems like an endless amount of time. Nothing else on the album even begins to match up, but at least some of the songs are funny when they are supposed to be funny ("Up Against the Wall, Redneck Mother"), authentic ("La Bamba"), and so on.

The `Riders were a jittery distant cousin of the Grateful Dead, choosing to appropriate country music like them, but avoiding the lengthy jams and studious approach that the Dead was so known for. This was their biggest-selling album, because of the title track and a couple of other songs which have a bit more depth ("Lonesome L.A. Cowboy", "L.A. Lady") than usual NRPS material. But generally, it is the same gaggle of non-serious, laconic, unimpressive country-rock songs as what is on the albums before and after Panama Red.

Long story short, I am really divided on the unique nature of this one. Is it different because they hit upon some vein of slacker-dom which had previously not been discovered yet, or did they simply take a ton of drugs, cranked things up where it was necessary, and piled on the insanity/senility where it was required, etc., etc.? Or was it a portion of all of those things, and I am simply complicating this too much? My rough guess is that it’s just a little too weird to be 100% essential. But it’s there, and should be a necessary stop in your listening journey through the 1990’s.