HOT TUNA
''LIVE AT THE FILLMORE WEST 3RD JULY 1971,
JULY 22 2014
98:17
DISC ONE
1 That'll Never Happen No More 06:17
2 How Long 05:35
3 Candy Man 05:46
4 New Song For The Morning 04:47
5 Keep Your Lamps Trimmed And Burning 07:39
6 Uncle Sam Blues 05:38
7 John's Other 05:54
8 Rock Me Baby 08:51
9 Babe I Want You To Know 05:08
10 Know You Rider 08:01
DISC TWO
1 Been So Long 03:48
2 Come Back Baby 09:00
3 Feel So Good 21:52
Jorma Kaukonen - Guitar, Vocals
Jack Casady - Bass Guitar
Papa John Creach - Violin
Sammy Piazza - Drums
REVIEW
From 1965 to 1971, Bill Graham closely observed the San Francisco music scene develop from young aspiring bands playing at dances to seasoned recording and touring vets known around the world. For the closing week at Fillmore West, Graham presented a week of festivities celebrating the San Francisco bands, featuring many of the musicians that established the original Fillmore Auditorium and Graham's earliest forays into live concert production and promotion. Every night was special and featured an impressive triple bill. As the week progressed, each night became more extraordinary than the night before and by the time closing weekend rolled around, expectations were extremely high. On Friday night, July 2nd, Jerry Garcia embarked on one of the most monumental nights of his career, performing on nearly every song by all three bands on the bill, the Rowan Brothers, New Riders Of The Purple Sage, and of course the Grateful Dead in their farewell performance to Fillmore West. By Saturday night, July 3rd, ticket holders were anticipating another monumental night and Bill Graham didn't disappoint, presenting yet another triple bill that featured openers Yogi Phlegm (a scaled down version of Sons Of Champlin) opening and one of the most legendary of all San Francisco bands closing, Quicksilver Messenger Service. Performing in between these two sets was Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady's side project, Hot Tuna, representing the Jefferson Airplane faction during the closing week festivities.
Although Jorma and Jack had been exploring their collaboration both inside and outside the Airplane for several years, they had now developed what many consider to be the classic Hot Tuna lineup and were rapidly gaining popularity on their own. With Papa John Creach's electric violin now integrated into their sound and Texan Sammy Piazza in the drum seat, the group now had a special chemistry that was undeniable.
The seeds of Hot Tuna's sound can be heard as far back as 1966 Jefferson Airplane sets, but within the context of the Airplane they were often limited to one or two showcase songs a night. Now Jorma and Jack were free to explore the possibilities of their music to their hearts content. This particular lineup took Jorma and Jack's love of traditional acoustic blues (featured on the first self-titled Hot Tuna album) and further developed the music within a highly charged electric context. The group's second album displayed distinctive originality and a much more dynamic band, capable of inspired improvisational flights.
Despite not being the headliner, Hot Tuna get nearly two solid hours of stage time, packed with plenty of outstanding performances. Most of this material consists of songs featured on the band's first two albums, Hot Tuna and First Pull Up, Then Pull Down, the latter recorded three months prior to this performance. The telepathic interplay between Jorma and Jack is always fascinating and Papa John Creach's violin and Sammy Piazza's tasteful drumming adds a distinct new flavor to the proceedings.
Much of this material dates back to Jorma's pre-Airplane coffeehouse repertoire. His passion for the music of Reverend Gary Davis, Lightnin' Hopkins, and Blind Blake is very much in evidence here. Many of these numbers, like the openers "That'll Never Happen No More," "How Long," and "Candy Man," as well as several songs later in the set, feature Jorma's intricate blues finger picking translated to an electric Stratocaster with great effect. The audience is also treated to Papa John Creach's funky signature instrumental, "John's Other," and two of Jorma's most penetrating and poetic originals, "Been So Long" and "New Song For The Morning."
The remainder of the material showcases the groups gift for improvisation, with sizzling readings of Reverend Gary Davis' "Keep Your Lamps Trimmed And Burnin'" and the traditional "Uncle Sam's Blues" and "I Know You Rider" among them. They also explore "Rock Me Baby," a staple of Jorma and Jack's Airplane repertoire. With Jack's incredibly dynamic and melodic bass playing and Papa John's soaring violin lead's augmenting Jorma's distinctive guitar arrangements, they often venture into surprising territory, which the Fillmore West audience thoroughly appreciates. Hot Tuna would eventually pursue the extremes of electric performances and return to acoustic duo performances, but for a brief time, with Creach and Piazza newly on board, they achieved a near perfect balance between acoustic and electric blues forms.
Everything on this show compares favorably to the released versions and many surpass those versions in both length and intensity. This is most evident on the last song of the set, Lightnin' Hopkins' "Come Back Baby," which burns for ten solid minutes and especially during the mind-melting jam during the encore. Released twice by the Airplane, in both studio and live permutations, both officially released recordings of "Feel So Good" pale in comparison to this truly spectacular performance, which clocks in at 22 minutes! A fitting farewell to Fillmore West, this leaves the audience in extremely high spirits, anticipating the set by Quicksilver Messenger Service still yet to come.
REVIEW
by Thom Jurek
Three months after Hot Tuna released 1971's live First Pull Up, Then Pull Down, they played the second to last night of the Fillmore West's closing weekend. Bill Graham had put together a week of festivities, and each night showcased a spectacular triple bill. (For example, the night before had seen the Rowan Brothers, New Riders of the Purple Sage, and the Grateful Dead.) On the second to last night, Hot Tuna took the stage between Yogi Phlegm (a few members of Sons of Champlin) and Quicksilver Messenger Service. What's captured here is their entire, nearly-two-hour set. The lineup -- Jorma Kaukonen, Jack Casady, Papa John Creach, and Sammy Piazza -- is arguably the band's greatest. The quality of this show is simply indisputable. It's inspired, kinetic, and showcases just how integral the language of improvisation was to their approach in playing classic blues. Most of the material is taken from the group's first two albums. Highlights are hard to choose given the startling intensity of the proceedings. Disc one features the original "New Song for Morning," which has Casady's bass out front with Creach swirling around him. There's a nearly martial reading of "Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning," a strutting "Rock Me Baby" -- different from virtually every other cover of the song ever recorded -- and a spiraling, eight-minute take on the folk song "I Know You Rider," that, from a rock perspective, puts the Dead's version to shame. Disc two contains a brief version of "Been So Long," followed by a long, steamy "Come Back Baby," and an explosive, nearly 22-minute jam on "Feel So Good." Piazza's fills ride atop and through Casady's bass throb as Kaukonen and Creach play at and to one another in a prolific boogie that showcases a nearly telepathic interplay. The sound is better than fair, but far from perfect. It is raw and unbalanced, but adds an immediacy to the vibe that makes this nearly indispensable for fans.
BIOGRAPHY
by Jason Ankeny
Begun as an acoustic spinoff of the Jefferson Airplane, Hot Tuna eventually became the full-time focus of founding members Jack Casady and Jorma Kaukonen, emerging as a popular touring act of the 1970s. The two were lifelong friends, growing up together in Washington, D.C., and playing in the group the Triumphs. After high school, guitarist Kaukonen and his government-service parents relocated to the Philippines, but he returned to the U.S. in time for the advent of psychedelia, landing in San Francisco and co-founding the Airplane in 1965. Bassist Casady joined not long after, and together they helped lead the group to massive success during the late '60s.
Hot Tuna -- originally dubbed Hot Sh*t, much to the chagrin of their label, RCA -- first began taking shape in 1969, while both Casady and Kaukonen were still active members of the Jefferson Airplane; in fact, their first performances were sandwiched between regular Airplane gigs. As a trio rounded out by harmonica player Will Scarlet (and occasionally including Airplane members Marty Balin and Spencer Dryden), Hot Tuna debuted in 1970 with a low-key self-titled LP of traditional blues and ragtime recorded live at the New Orleans House in Berkeley; by the following year's more rock-inspired First Pull Up, Then Pull Down, their roster included violinist Papa John Creach, concurrently a full-time member of the Airplane, and drummer Sammy Piazza. Minus Scarlet, a third album, Burgers, appeared in 1972.
By the appearance of 1974's The Phosphorescent Rat, both Casady and Kaukonen had officially exited Jefferson Airplane; by this time Creach, who elected to remain with the Airplane, was no longer in the group. With 1975's America's Choice, Piazza too was gone, replaced by drummer Bob Steeler; Yellow Fever appeared that same year, with Hoppkorv following in 1976. Keyboardist Nick Buck signed on for 1978's Double Dose, but Hot Tuna subsequently announced their breakup, closing out the first phase of their career with 1979's Final Vinyl.
In the wake of the group's demise, Kaukonen released a solo LP, Jorma, and later joined the new wave unit Vital Parts; Casady also fronted a new wave group of his own, SVT. In 1984, both returned to their roots: Casady joined fellow Airplane alums Balin and Paul Kantner in the KBC Band, while Kaukonen reverted to the acoustic folk and blues of his formative years. Finally, Casady and Kaukonen played a handful of club dates under the Hot Tuna aegis, re-forming on a more concrete basis in 1986; by 1990, their ranks included singer/multi-instrumentalist Michael Falzarano, a veteran of many early reunion shows.
That year Hot Tuna released Pair a Dice Found, their first collection of new studio material in over a decade; a series of live releases followed, including 1992's Live at Sweetwater, 1997's Splashdown Two, and 1999's And Furthurmore.... In the years to follow, Hot Tuna continued to play several live shows a year in various configurations. A single-disc best-of from the RCA years, Keep on Truckin', was released in 2006. The group’s first studio album in 20 years, Steady as She Goes, recorded at Levon Helm's studio in Woodstock, New York, and produced by Larry Campbell, was released on Red House Records in 2011.
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