The Phosphorescent Rat [ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED]

Hot Tuna

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 24, 1998)
• Original Release Date: 1973
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: RCA
• ASIN: B000006382
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #57,344 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a true masterpiece, February 15, 2007

By	DAVID ARNSON (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Jorma Kaukonen really comes into his own as a songwriter here, and his blend of acoustic picking and psychedelic lead electric guitar is absolutely engaging. 'I See the Light' and 'Easy Now' are both smoldering rockers, while 'Corners without Exits'(beautiful 'crying' leads), 'Soliloquoy for Two' and 'In the Kingdom' are on the gentler ,moodier side. 'In the Kingdom', with its immortal lines "I've been living blind in one-eyed lands",Casady's orchestrally phrased fuzz bass,and Kaukonen's silvery soloing around the lyrics, shape it up to be one of the best love songs of all time that you've never heard...! Speaking of Jack Casady, his bass
playing is magnificent here,ranging from ragtime counterpoint to foghorn -like distortion,and the newly-remastered disc fortunately pumps the bass up from its previously understated levels . Hot Tuna's 'Phosphorescent Rat' has a great balance of bluesy numbers, psychedelic raveups, and introspective musings, and they never again added so many colors to their songs,with some tunes accented with steel drums or string arrangements.
This cd wrestles with the 'Burgers' lp for my Tuna 'desert island' disc', but i'll stick up for this one as it it remains a much-overlooked masterpiece.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Tuna for composite of sytles., October 8, 1999

By	R. English "doctorwu1219" (Michigan) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This record offers the best spectrum of Hot Tuna available;the folk-psych-blues rock best. Jorma Kaukonen's guitar is what made the Airplane what it was, and he shows you all of that here. "Corners Without Exits" is a theme that will always bring me back to that time.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The "Forgotten" Tuna Album, March 28, 2002

By	Charles A Galupi "music snob" (Euless, Texas) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Left off the "Tuna in a Can" set in favor of Hoppkorv [ewwww, BAD decision] this is the key bridge from "Hot Tuna the Blues band" to "Hot Tuna the Power Trio." Falling between the BRILLIANT Burgers and the very good America's Choice, this 10 song set is more powerful (ala Cream or Robin Trower or specifically BLT) than Burgers, but not full on electric like Choice.

Having let Papa John Creech and his funky violin go off with the newly formed Jefferson Starship freed them sonically to be more like Cream, though Jorma will NEVER be confused with Eric Clapton. But Jorma displays some of his best work on electric guitar since Jefferson Airplane's Volunteers. "Searing" is still the best word I have heard to describe what Jorma does on electric guitar. Paired with the under-rated Jack Cassidy and Sammy Piazza, the Tuna turned out a very good album that only hinted at what was to come on America's Choice.

The only clunker on the set (IMO) is the under realized "Solioquy for Two." The rest is a good solid dose of middle period Hot Tuna. I would still recommend Burgers over this album, but it is a good solid effort none the less.