Yo dubs school me on hot tuna

[dubkitty]

this song is from the America's Choice album from 1975. that album and Yellow Fever, released that same year, are the albums whose overall sound most resemble this track. 1977's Hoppkorv is a slightly less demented (due to pressure from their label, RCA) take on the same ensemble approach and includes what is quite possibly the most fucked-up Buddy Holly cover EVER. the live Double Dose, which was the swan song for the original version of Tuna, is a less-than-optimal set recorded in a club (at a time when Tuna was an insanely loud ballroom/arena band) with an auxiliary keyboardist, but if you get the bug, you may want it anyway. all these albums have been re-released on CD on BMG/RCA, but you may have to hunt around for them.

[D.o.S.]

Burgers and (especially) the live S/T album are where it's at.

[Birthday Boy]

1977's Hoppkorv

As a Swede this name confounded me. Google yielded:

"To a Swede, the name of the album is actually more interesting than the music. Jorma and Jack were in Sweden on tour, or maybe on vacation. Whatever, they went to a typical Swedish hot dog stand. Suddenly a Swedish chap screams “Jävla hoppkorv” loudly, several times. Naturally they asked what it was all about. They were told that the poor kid lost his hot dog; the sausage basically jumped out of the bread. That’s why the albums name simply means “Jumping Hot Dog”. They ignored the first word, meaning “Damn” or “Fucking”."

The more you know.

Edit: Sorry for the pointless derail

[dubkitty]

i got derailed by other stuff and didn't get to do the rest-of-the-story Tuna post i intended last night. Hot Tuna, starting from the beginning, was Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady's side project from the Jefferson Airplane. they originally started out gigging as an acoustic duo (well, Jorma on a Gibson J-50 and Jack turned way down); this version of Tuna is documented on the eponymous first album (1970) as well as several latter-day archival releases of similar live tapes (the first album was recorded at a small club in Berkeley). if you're interested in this version of Tuna, take care to distinguish between the 1969 recordings and 1990s/2000s live discs, which far less rewarding.

after a brief period of ad hoc electric lineups which included various Airplane-family personnel including Joey Covington, Jorma's brother Peter, and briefly Marty Balin, a steady lineup coalesced with the inimitable Papa John Creach on electric violin and Sammy Piazza on drums. this group cut the live second album First Pull Up Then Pull Down with harmonica player Will Scarlett, who also guested on the first album, and then recorded the delightful ragtime-blues-meets-howling-psychedelia Burgers in the studio. by 1973's The Phosphorescent Rat Papa John was out, and a more aggressive guitar and bass approach was taking over with layers of screaming effected guitar and overdubbed fuzz bass orchestrating the tracks. when Piazza was replaced by the extremely interactive and in-your-face Bob Steeler, the "Metal Years" Tuna that cut the records from America's Choice to the breakup in 1978 was in place. keyboardist Nicky Buck guested on synth on some Hoppkorv tracks, and played on the entire Double Dose album, on which he was credited as a full band member.

the post-reunion records have a certain charm, but they aren't a patch on the original Tuna for energy or overall wonderfulness.

back in the 70s Tuna were one of my favorite bands. i'm really happy to see someone enjoying them nowadays.

[D.o.S.]

As far as tracks go, check out 99 Year Blues and Water Song (from Burgers) and Mann's Fate (from Hot Tuna)

[StopReferencing]

Burgers is my favorite of theirs.

[dubkitty]

hint: "Water Song" is in open G tuning

[dubkitty]

more great ones: "Easy Now" from Phosphorescent Rat; "Great Divide: Revisited" from America's Choice; "Free Rein" on Yellow Fever.

[D.o.S.]

hint: "Water Song" is in open G tuning

For my money, it's the best way to get people to really listen to Jack Casady.

And that bass fuzztone is fucking heavenly.

[lapsteel]

I you like hot tuna, especially Jorma Kraukonen (is this how you spell it?) then check out his solo project Blue Country Heart, it is an amazing bluegrass fingerstyle fest. Jorma has got some serious chops, very underrated.

[$harkToootth]

Bumping per a post from another thread (circa D.o.S. in 'What are you listening to?').
I was a huge fan in High School. I have a super beat up live 4 LP vinyl set. My Uncle gave me the famous 2 CD set (the one with 1 cd all acoustic and the other Americana Psych Rock). I can kind of see where a lot of my 'arrangement' sensibilities come from. That one CD compiled material of only Jack on Bass and Jorma on guitar...and nothing felt lacking! You got some interesting rhythmic variations...from using only two stringed instruments...AND PLAYED CLEAN
I was fortunate enough to see them live a few years ago with Leon Russel. It was an amazing show.