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18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hot Tuna's "Hottest" Album, November 19, 1999
I know that Hot Tuna was really created to allow Jorma & Jack to explore the acoustic side of things, but this album is my favorite by the combo -and acoustic it ain't. This was Bob Steele's 1st foray with the boys and it was a departure point , back to Jorma & Jack's roots- kick a-- rock & roll. The only song on the collection that is not a frantic dash is the first, Sleep Song. This is the most melodic of the offerings and sets the stage for the rest of the meal. Invitation ended the original side one and leaves me gasping for more. Jorma's mastery of the Fender is punctuated with Steele's frenetic drumming while Jack calmly booms out the pace. Hit Single #1 gives us all a clue as what they really intend, as once again the band is off to the races in a very funky rendition. Watch out America- All of your little r& r bands don't measure up to what the "Pros from Dover" have to offer. The Rock masters from the Airplane were right on again. Subsequent offerings Yellow Fever and Hopkorv had their moments, but America's Choice remains my choice for Hot Tuna's hottest album. Buy it and re-live a golden time. This was the 70's, not that disco stuff that Hollywood insists was the beat of our generation. Long Live Kaukonen and Cassady! Bravo Hot Tuna!
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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fans of spacey stoner doom take notice!, April 9, 2001
During the mid-seventies, Hot Tuna adopted a power trio format and made their best records "America's Choice" and "Yellow Fever." While I am partial to the latter, "America's Choice" contains this band's best studio recordings. "Funky #7" is boogie rock at its finest with mind-melting wah-wah and fried, hipster lyrics. "Hit Single #1" is mainstream blues-rock pulled through infinity and twisted up by Jorma's nasal snarl and imagery straight out of a waterfront opium den. It is awesome. "Serpent of Dreams" is my all-time favorite Tuna composition; I could listen to it one million times and want it piped into my coffin once I've shuffled off this mortal coil. The impressionistic and obscure tale told by this song is both evocative and bewildering. There are so many layers of distorted, phased and otherwise warped guitar slithering across each other on this track that hearing it even once may just send you to the outer limits of human comprehension and experience (never to return). If you ever wondered what Robert Johnson would sound like if he could travel across dimensions and injected DMT directly into his pineal gland every 20 seconds, then you should buy this disc.
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hot Tuna-America's Choice; The Peak of Their Powers, January 23, 2003
It is apparent from the first moments of Sleep Song that Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady have hit the ignition on their newly honed power trio format complete with an exuberent Bob Steeler on Drums and shifted direct into mind-warp speed. The LP's blues-infected escapades that evolve into tightly honed psychedelic electric rock excursions are the best the '70's post-Cream era have to offer. Kaukonen, Casady & Steeler go for broke at the cusp of their musical chemistry and prowess to create a niche not since equalled, defining acid rock not only in terms of raw energy but in style and eloquence at the peak of their substantial musical powers. One is quickly hooked on the testosterone-churning rumbling of an unbelievable Jack Casady anchoring bass hook in Funky #7, over which Kaukonen and Steeler overlay an intricate and mind-blowing musical interplay. Walkin' Blues keeps the boys true to their deeply entrenched musical roots while Invitation and Hit Single #1 keep the trip peaking with the finest Kaukonen guitar statements that will please even the most discriminating blues-rock afficianado. By the time the Serpent of Dreams rears its psychedelic head, the appreciative listener becomes confident they have reached the land of no return, and are ready to revisit the Great Divide forever to satiate the craving for more. It is clear here that at the release of America's Choice(1975), Hot Tuna made a firm commitment to acheive its dream to become a true mainstream success in a then ultra-competitive rock music arena, based solely upon its very own distinct non-sellout sound, style and devotion to its musical ideals in this go-for-broke musical statement. The likes of this bold release would not be surpassed again by these baby-boom musical alchemists, the abilities of whom seem sorely lacking among the contemporary pool of artists at the beginning of this new century.
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