Hot Tuna - Electric Celestial Blues - Live At The Fillmore (2000)

Hot Tuna's story is an interesting one. Guitarist Jorma Kaukonen, having secured a position with a new group, Jefferson Airplane, called back east to his high school friend, Jack Casady, in the hope of finding a bass player. Casady assured him he was the man for the job, and, after hanging up the phone, Kaukonen hoped Casady wouldn't embarass him once rehearsals began.
Not only did Cassidy provide the bottom to the Airplane's sound, he went on to play with other noted musicians of the era. That's Casady's thundering bass opening up Voodoo Chile from Hendrix's Electric Ladyland (with Steve Winwood on keyboards), the two having first met at 67's Monterey Pop Festival where they jammed backstage for hours.

This DVD and its companion, Acoustic Blues Live at Sweetwater, both seem like slight misnomers, if only because each does what the other purports to. Just as Acoustic Blues Live rocks surprisingly hard at times, so Electric Celestial Blues dials things back a few notches for some tasty and acoustically rootsy numbers. Hot Tuna, at center, consists of guitarist Jorma Kaukonen and bassist Jack Cassidy, both founding members of the Jefferson Airplane. This set, videotaped at the Fillmore in San Francisco in late 1994, features a plugged-in performance with a band that also includes Pete Sears and Michael Falzarano. The onstage footage ranges from the mellow, almost Dead-like "Candy Man" to a more rockin' and bluesy "Stop Breaking Down." DVD bonus features include almost 40 additional minutes of audio from the concert, as well as a backstage conversation between the enduring odd-couple team of the button-down Cassidy and Kaukonen, who looks like an aging biker.

~ Marshall Fine. Amazon.com

Tracklist:

Electric Hot Tuna – Live at the Fillmore, San Francisco, California, December 7, 1994

Vidio Program 90:00

01. Ode for Billy Dean
02. Do Not Go Gentle
03. Candy Man
04. Good Shepherd
05. Ice Age
06. Stop Breaking Down
07. Wavy Gravy Blues
08. I See the Light
09. Third Week in Chelsea
10. 99 Year Blues
11. Water Song
12. My AK47
13. Hit Single #1
14. Man For All Seasons

Bonus Vidio Tracks

01. Reminiscing with Jorma and Jack backstage at the Fillmore 17:30
02. Jorma Kaukonen – Too Many Years promo 5:23

Audio Program 43:33

01. Serpent of Dreams
02. Death Don't Have No Mercy
03. Big Fish
04. Rock Me Baby
05. Funky No. 7
06. Baby What You Want Me To Do