Hot Tuna — Yellow Fever

So yes, I did buy three Hot Tuna records at once. This and the last two, “America’s Choice” and “Burgers,” were all picked up at a rare excursion to Shady Dog Records down in Berwyn. It’s not even very far, and it’s a great record store, but between COVID and living the walkable life, getting in a car to go anywhere seems like such an odd concept. But a friend said he was going down and asked if anyone wanted to be there “together,” so we could at least do something resembling socializing, and I jumped at that chance. And I was so happy to find these three that I just jumped at them, deciding I didn’t care if they were good or bad, so long as I was out of the house and buying records. But it turns out, all three are good.

I’ll admit I’m a little nervous with this one, because the title, almost certainly meant to be innocent and a clever pretext for the thematic cover art, the term is of course racially offensive and it has apparently nothing to do with the album or any of the songs. Nobody was thinking much about such things in 1975.

Like the others, just great. This was their sixth album, and I’ve gotta say that each one is just a little different in its approach, which is nice. Like all Hot Tuna, highly listenable.

Originally published 5-5-21