Artist: Bolin, Tommy
Label: Columbia Records
Release: 1976
Bolin’s musical versatility is well known to everyone. In his short career, as a member of Energy, The James Gang, or on Cobham’s Spectrum, for example, he convinced us of that without any trouble. But Private Eyes holds a special place in Tommy’s story. The album was recorded just six months before his death on December 4, 1976, in a hotel room in Miami. While on Teaser he works mostly with “hired” musicians, Private Eyes presents the first “official” Tommy Bolin Band, which the guitarist says on the album is “the best group I’ve ever had the honor of working with”.
Special mention goes to a gal named Norma Jean Bell, whose funky-flavored sax marks the opening Bustin’ Out For Rosie. The girl, who previously worked with Frank Zappa, says Bolin’s playing suits her best, and you can hear that nicely on “Rosie”. The signature ease and softness of Bolin’s guitar, once again nicely complemented by sax arrangements, goes by the name Sweet Burgundy. The complete opposite, the epic nine-minute Post Toastee, is basically a kind of long jam where Tommy finally gets to catch his breath. The song, which was often used as the intro to the Friday Night Rock Show of the sadly now-departed Tommy Vance, stands out the most on the whole album. Worth noting as a curiosity: this song, which is about drug abuse, closed Bolin’s last concert, after which he died 10 hours later. It would be interesting to hear the original version, though, since the album version is a shortened cut of an original that’s twice as long. Bolin carries on in his own style, once again in that ever-welcome “dialogue” with Norma. Clearly the pair had plenty to say to each other on this album. The versatility of Bolin’s playing mentioned earlier shows up on Gypsy Soul, more of a jazz – bossa nova affair. His calm, almost whispering vocal gives the track a special charm. We get similar vocals on the otherwise totally different Hello Again. This acoustic masterpiece, spiced with the gentle sound of a bassoon and orchestral arrangements, carries the listener far away. The ever-present melancholy is finally chased off by the livelier You Told Me That You Loved Me, whose inspiration was probably Tommy’s relationship with a longtime friend who later dated Glenn Hughes!!
Private Eyes shows us a Bolin like never before. Since he was never just a “hard Rocker”, he loved flirting with different musical genres, which he shows off nicely on this album, one we can count among his greater masterpieces. The sheer ease of his playing is simply astounding, and we can only imagine what mastery we were robbed of by his premature death.
Lineup
Tommy Bolin – guitar,vocals,piano
Norma Jean Bell – saxophone,vocals
Mark Stein – keyboards,vocals
Reggie McBride – bass,vocals
Bobby Berge – drums
Bobbye Hall – percussion
Carmen Appice – drums
Production
Tommy Bolin
Track List
1.Bustin’ Out For Rosie
2.Sweet Burgundy
3.Post Toastee
4.Shake The Devil
5.Gypsy Soul
6.Someday Will Bring Our Love Home
7.Hello Again
8.You Told Me That You Loved Me
