Author:Laura Shenton
Tommy Bolin made just one studio album with Deep Purple, 1975’s Come Taste The Band, a record which followed Richie Blackmore’s acrimonious departure from the band and showcased the funkier edge to their sound initiated by Glenn Hughes and David Coverdale on Burn and continued on Stormbringer. After a couple of rather chaotic tours, Purple disbanded, seemingly for good, in 1976, leaving Bolin adrift. A couple of not bad solo albums followed, Teaser and Private Eyes, before he died of an overdose in December of that year, aged just twenty five. He was already an experienced musician before joining Purple of course, having played with the likes of The James Gang and Billy Cobham, but his style of playing was very different to Blackmore’s, leading to a somewhat mixed reception for Come Taste The Band and discontent from live audiences. Listening back, the album is actually pretty good, perhaps the most overlooked and underrated in Purple’s extensive back catalogue. Certainly it’s not a typical album by them in the vein of In Rock or Machine Head, but the funkier edge to their rock sound really suits Hughes and Coverdale’s styles. Maybe in hindsight they would have been better choosing another band name for the post Richie line up, but of course the selling power of the Purple brand name was immense in terms of albums and tickets. The book itself is worth a read overall, although large parts of it are simply cut and pasted quotes from past interviews with the key players, with linking passages provided by the author to drive the narrative forward. This is the only book I’ve seen on Tommy Bolin, and I feel there’s a longer and more in depth one still waiting to be written. This short biography is a commendable effort though, by a first time author and obvious Bolin fan, but for me it falls somewhat short of the mark, well researched but ultimately not offering any new insights, which is a bit of a shame really. Full marks for effort then, maybe less so for content.
Length of Read:Short
Might appeal to people who enjoyed…
The On Track and Decades series of books, Deep Purple, Bolin’s guitar playing.
One thing you’ve learned
Bolin’s live work with Deep Purple can be heard on the Last Concert In Japan album, a heavily edited version of their show at the Budokan in December 1975. The full show eventually surfaced, in better sound quality, on the 2001 release This Time Around.
There is another Bolin book – “Touched By Magic” by Greg Prato. I’ll confess to snapping up a copy when it first came out and then finding myself a bit unengaged by the early chapters.
Bolin had two doses of “he’s not as good as ….”, replacing Joe Walsh in the James Gang, before taking on the Purple gig. I’ve seen old interviews where he said he wasn’t thrilled at being expected to play “Funk 49”, before he joined DP. And then he signed up for much more of the same. It would have been interesting to see what a second Purple album would have yielded.
I’ve always liked liked his solo albums. I think “Teaser” is a little stronger than “Private Eyes”, and whilst the posthumous releases are inconsistent some of the live albums stand up pretty well.
Twenty five. My God.
I saw him playing with Deep Purple. It isn’t a fond memory, they were awful. I prefer to remember him for his phenomenal playing on Spectrum.
Here’s another lesser known example of why he was revered as a guitarist, from his first solo gig after the split with Purple https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_-jjVeWS_y4
Spectrum is an incredible album. Wasn’t he 17 when he played on that? Brilliant bit of casting by Billy Cobham!
22. Totally brilliant. Credit to Lee Sklar for holding down that repetitive bass pattern on Stratus while Cobham, Hammer and Bolin were freaking out https://youtu.be/C1Z4ux1y1b8
That is intense. The clip ran on into Govt. Mule w/John Scofield’s version, and the first thing you notice is the plodding drums.
I heard Lee interviewed about it. He said “I think we got it in 2 which was probably a good thing”.
I misread that as Tommy Brolin and chuckled to myself that it would be a hefty volume.
As you were…
@leedsboy
Arf. Let me tell you about Sweden.,.
Who buys this stuff these days?
I used to have Alphonse Mouzon’s Mind Transplant, which features Bolin and some other hairy nutters. Too fusiony for funkateers, too rock for jazzers, too funky for metal-heads. Died on its arse. Brilliant.
I haz gots.
Ha! Turns out I still have it. There’s a molten extra track from the sessions called Ascorbic Acid. Alphonse’s get-up on the cover – let’s hope he didn’t wear that anywhere near the docks on a Saturday night.
Pretty good this Bolin gadgie, I think.
Neeee-arrrrggghh-diddleeediddleee-screeech… just singin’ along.
I love Come Taste the Band, which holds my most bought album award – 2nd hand vinyl, replaced with new vinyl, replaced with CD, replaced with remastered Cd/remix set. I’m sweating at the thought of a remastered vinyl which doubtless exists and I will have to buy. Its the sound of 5 fucked up guys on top of their game trapped in a drugged up chaotic world they both love and hate. It’s brilliant. Coverdale and Hughes in full rock soul mode, Jon Lord finding a sleazy keyboard thing which meant he didn’t have to try to compete with Rick Wakeman and Keith Emerson and Ian Paice, that’s IAN PAICE as brilliant as ever. Swinging and funky. And soaring above it, more fucked up than any of them, Tommy Bolin with a comprehensive set of rock, funk and fusion licks plus some steaming slide guitar. I had a friend at college who was a huge fan and turned me on to Spectrum (where Tommy breaks a string mid solo and just keeps going so brilliantly it’s on the album) as well as the solo albums. Tragic loss and he was just getting started.
There was a double album 35th anniversary vinyl quite a while back, first album was a remaster of the original album, the second was a remix by Kevin Shirley.
It was also reissued by Rhino last year I think, on heavyweight coloured vinyl with a download code included – this was apparently cut from new digital transfers of the original master tapes at Abbey Road.
Arrgh. Actually I don’t much like the remix which I have on CD. Wouldn’t mind the original album on new vinyl though. Dodgers has it for 28 sovs on purple vinyl which is tempting.