Hot Tuna - Keep on Truckin: The Very Best of Hot Tuna
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CD Details
Artist: Hot TunaEdition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2006-06-06
Music Label: RCA
Soundtracks:
- Hesitation Blues (Live)
- Death Don't Have No Mercy (Live)
- Candy Man (Live)
- Come Back Baby (Live)
- True Religion
- Keep On Truckin'
- Water Song
- I See The Light
- Funky No.7
- Walkin' Blues
- Sunrise Dance With The Devil
- I Can't Be Satisfied
- Keep Your Lamps Trimmed And Burning (Live)
- Killing Time In The Crystal City (Live)
Music reviews of Keep on Truckin: The Very Best of Hot Tuna
Music Review: Buy this and very likely "you'll see the light" (to quote one of my favorite songs from them)
Rating: 3 Stars
In 1970, the Jefferson Airplane was clearly suffering some major turbulence. Marty Balin had left the band in 1970, and Spencer Dryden, the group's rock steady drummer, was reportedly fired at the hands of Paul Kantner that year as well (due to him having a hand in firing manager Bill Graham). Only Jorma, Jack, Grace, and Paul remained from the classic lineup into the '70s, and replaced Dryden with Joey Covington on drums. That lineup released 'Bark,' in 1971. The group added veteran fiddler Papa John Creach and former Quicksilver Messenger Service David Freiberg as an additional lead vocalist the year later.
By 1973, the Airplane had crashed. The once ever-soaring Jefferson Airplane was no more. Paul, Grace, and David Freiberg formed Jefferson Starship; but Jack Casady and Jorma Kaukonen did something *completely* different. Their band, Hot Tuna, was formed in 1969, and prior to now, had simply been a side project. They released a few blues-rock (and one folk/traditional blues album in the masterful debut) albums in addition to what they were doing with the Airplane.
So when the group broke up, Kaukonen and Casady devote all of their time to the band. They added a drummer, Sammy Piazza (and eventually Bob Steeler, who replaced Piazza after he departed in 1975), and devoted their music careers to that band.
From 1969 to 1978, Hot Tuna released many fine albums (some studio, and quite a few live gems), showcasing just how talented these two Airplane veteran "pilots" really were. They knew how to jam, they had a textbook appreciation for the blues, and they knew how to create classic tunes themselves and completely reinvent standards to make them "Tunafied" (I just made that word up on the spot, not bad, right?).
But like Jefferson Starship, Hot Tuna's sister band, they hit a rough patch as well. The group temporarily disbanded for awhile in the early 1980s, but reunited again in 1984. They have been a group ever since. They participated in the Jefferson Airplane reunion album in 1989, but after they permanently crashed in 1991, returned to playing together as a duo and with a few friends. They continue in this format to this very day.
'Keep on Truckin': The Very Best of Hot Tuna' is one of the umpteen Hot Tuna collections released by the band's label, RCA Records. It features some of the band's best material from 1969 to 1976 in crystal clear remastered sound. Yes, I know, a lot of albums today are mastered too loudly. Not this one. It's crisp, clean, and mastered perfectly.
And it contains everything a casual Hot Tuna fan would want. 'Hesitation Blues,' 'Sunrise Dance with the Devil,' 'Water Song,' and other great tunes from this band. So, if you are casual fan who wants only a bare bones collection of their songs, this will do just fine.
Now, if you are a fanatical fan, than this simply isn't good enough to recommend. It's missing 'Watch the North Wind Rise,' 'John's Other,' and 'I Wish You Would,' among many other Tuna essentials. This is very disappointing. These tunes were all major parts of Hot Tuna, and to see them absent on a so-called "Very Best of" album is quite frustrating.
Overall, get this if you are new Tuna fan or just a casual fan who doesn't want to dig deep into their enormous and vast catalogue. Otherwise, just stick to getting all of the studio, live, and archival releases. Trust me, if you do it that way, you will be much happier and enjoy this band much more. Hot Tuna are simply too difficult to anthologize. That's really what it comes down to. They weren't a "hit singles" band; rather, they were an album band, whose magic was in their studio albums and their live shows and releases. To really appreciate them, that's the route to go.
Three stars for the music, but the compilation just isn't a good way to fully appreciate this marvelous duo. You can do worse, but you could also do a lot better. Just do yourselves a favor and go buy one of their live albums. You will be MUCH better served that way.
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