Hot Tuna: America's Choice Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		0.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.5

Hot Tuna: America's Choice Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman December 27, 2025

Somewhere in the vast assortment of music databases there has to be (or at least there should be) a compilation listing of bands who have almost mocked their own inability to craft a top selling single. In that regard, The Free Design's wonderful 2002: A Hit Song might make for a whimsical entry for a certain kind of playlist that might also include Hot Tuna's own Hit Single #1 from this album, a single which probably unsurprisingly did not get to the top of the charts. Those of us who love old school quadraphonic recordings may have to wait until some enterprising entrepreneur licenses the great catalog of Enoch Light four channel recordings (including the first Free Design album, though not the one that featured 2002: A Hit Song), but until that day arrives, Rhino is providing a chance to hear Hot Tuna's fifth album with that above mentioned non hit single as one of the latest entries in their now long running Quadio line of audio Blu-rays. Hot Tuna never really experienced the overwhelming chart successes that some of the other artists featured in Rhino's Quadio line did, but that said, there has already been a Quadio release of Hot Tuna: Burgers last year, which presumably must have done well enough to encourage Rhino to release this album in the hi res four channel format.

The album's track list can be seen in the screenshots of the (static) disc menu I've uploaded to accompany this review.

Hot Tuna: America's Choice Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

As mentioned above, while there is video content here, like most of Rhino's Quadio line of audio Blu-rays, it's simply a static menu. Longtime readers of my reviews know one of the bugaboos that tends to bother me is inconsistent authoring of these discs in terms of toggling between audio codecs, and unfortunately this is another Quadio release where the codecs need to be accessed either by moving through the menu to get to the bottom where the codec links are, and also unfortunately the song starts over when a new codec is chosen. This is especially infuriating since the two Quadio releases in this latest batch which have already been reviewed, Jefferson Starship: Spitfire and America: Hearts , have the much preferable authoring choice of utilizing colored buttons to change codecs, which typically also does not start the song over. This is the one area where I strongly feel Rhino could up their game for their generally fantastic line of hi res audio Blu-rays.

Hot Tuna: America's Choice Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Hot Tuna: America's Choice features DTS-HD Master Audio 4.0 and DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 options. The quad mix announces its separation proclivities from the get go, with the rhythm guitar placed forward and lead guitar rearward at the very opening of Sleep Song, and many of the subsequent tracks similarly splay the accompanying instruments around the soundstage. The riff driven ambience of several tunes can lead to all four channels emitting at least the riff material simultaneously, but even then there is some really appealing directionality, as in the placement of the bass in the rear speakers in Funky #7. The latest bunch of Quadio releases has rather interestingly really tended to feature a lot of engagement of the rear channels, and that's again the case with America's Choice, with, for example, the percussion instruments clearly placed rearward in Hit Single #1, among other tunes. The only niggling qualm some may have with the quad mix is that vocals tend to be buried in the instrumental masses at times.

Hot Tuna: America's Choice Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

As usual with Rhino's Quadio line, there are no on disc supplements. The insert booklet reproduces cover images and also includes credits and the typical verbiage on "bass management" along with the traditional photos of master tape boxes.

Hot Tuna: America's Choice Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

This album kind of more or less reinvented Hot Tuna as a perceived power trio, and as such, the sound here is decidedly more propulsive than on some of their earlier albums. The quad mix is invitingly immersive, but Rhino would do well to start consistently authoring these Quadio discs to make toggling between audio codecs easier and more seamless. Recommended.