Hot Tuna - The Best Of Hot Tuna [1998] (2 x CD's)

 

HOT TUNA

Hot Tuna - The Best Of Hot Tuna [1998] (2 x CD's)

The Best of Hot Tuna is a two-disc compilation of RCA recordings, made between 1969 and 1977 and traces Hot Tuna's evolution from an acoustic folk-blues group to an electric blues-rock band, and then to a near-heavy metal ensemble, and from a repertoire dominated by covers of songs by blues guitarists like the Reverend Gary Davis to one consisting largely of original material written by guitarist/singer Jorma Kaukonen. Actually, the transitions are not that dramatic, since Kaukonen continues to favor the same kinds of guitar figures whether he's playing acoustic or electric, and his own songs, albeit with more abstract lyrics, are steeped in the traditions that produced the cover material. The compilers might have pleased Hot Tuna fans by placing more emphasis on the group's jamming abilities, including more of its live material ("Death Don't Have No Mercy" is especially missed), and saved some of the Kaukonen compositions for a "best of Jorma" album. But that is not to say that the compilation isn't a balanced, representative condensation of Hot Tuna's career on RCA; it is. It's just that, like the Grateful Dead's, Hot Tuna's studio albums didn't necessarily reflect the best of the group as a performing unit. Note that the set includes a rare studio version of "Been So Long" originally released as a single and a previously unreleased 1977 live version of "Rock Me Baby." (All Music review by William Ruhlmann)

It's packed full of Tuna-fan favorites from their seven original albums, plus the previously unreleased material and rarely heard studio versions. With original artwork by Grace Slick!

==========================================================

===========================================================

Track lists

CD1  

01 Hot Tuna Hesitation Blues 5:08

02 Hot Tuna Know You Rider 4:09

03 Hot Tuna Winin' Boy Blues 5:34

04 Hot Tuna Mann's Fate 5:29

05 Hot Tuna Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning 8:17

06 Hot Tuna Candy Man 5:51

07 Hot Tuna Been So Long (studio single version) 3:44

08 Hot Tuna Keep on Truckin' 3:43

09 Hot Tuna 99 Year Blues 4:01

10 Hot Tuna Ode for Billy Dean 4:53

11 Hot Tuna Sea Child 5:03

12 Hot Tuna Water Song 5:19

13 Hot Tuna I See the Light 4:18

14 Hot Tuna Living Just for You 3:21

15 Hot Tuna Easy Now 5:13

16 Hot Tuna Sally Where'd You Get Your Liquor From 2:56

CD2

01 Hot Tuna Hit Single #1 2:56

02 Hot Tuna Serpent of Dreams 6:54

03 Hot Tuna Sleep Song 4:27

04 Hot Tuna Funky #7 5:50

05 Hot Tuna Hot Jelly Roll Blues 4:25

06 Hot Tuna Sunrise Dance With the Devil 4:29

07 Hot Tuna Bar Room Cystal Ball 6:56

08 Hot Tuna I Wish You Would 3:19

09 Hot Tuna Watch the North Wind Rise 4:17

10 Hot Tuna It's So Easy 2:36

11 Hot Tuna Song From the Stainless Cymbal 4:03

12 Hot Tuna Genesis 4:36

13 Hot Tuna Rock Me Baby (previously unreleased) 7:40

14 Hot Tuna Extrication Love Song 4:55

=============================================================

=============================================================