Artist: Bolin, Tommy
Label: Epic Records
Released: 1975
Tommy Bolin, the gifted American guitarist, rose to guitar-god status in the eyes of the average music enthusiast mainly during the infamous, high-flying post-Blackmore Deep Purple adventure, which in March 1976 crashed in grand, almost tragicomic style on the shores of the Liverpool docks. With his rowdy, vivid Yankee personality, young Tommy certainly played one of the key roles in that calvary, but without it most of us would probably never have discovered the priceless treasures of Bolin’s incredible legacy, which in every respect outshines his Purple achievements.
Teaser is a one-of-a-kind musical document. A staggering display of the life force of a creator who, at the end of his road, became the tragic victim of circumstances beyond his control. With it, Bolin sets the bar for funky hard rock, and at times reggae, at a level hard to reach even for the legacy of the otherwise phenomenal Come Taste The Band. There are, of course, several reasons for that. One of the key ones is surely the fact that young Tommy, unlike in the stepmotherly embrace of the megalomaniac Deep Purple machine, felt most at home among his less-than-famous bandmates. The thrilling, downright summery nature of the young man’s expression remains, after a good thirty years, the most recognizable element of his priceless legacy, which with the superb Teaser stands as a peak fusion of rock, funk, jazz, Latin rhythms and the rest of Bolin’s indispensable “junk drawer”.
Those of you who until then knew Bolin only from his “Come Taste” antics will probably be left speechless by the opening funky stampede The Grind. An appealing track, it builds its character on the seductive ease of Tommy’s voice, which perfectly stands up to the sharpness of most of his “orchestra”. The latter gets its moment very soon, with the phenomenal instrumental Homeward Strut, another outstanding piece of funk testimony that you can easily imagine, eyes closed, as the title theme of some Dirty Harry feature. Things roll on with the ballad Dreamer, a moving creation where the charisma of Bolin’s vocals is put under the microscope for the first time. The kid passes the test with flying colors. A first-rate song that mirrors the guitarist’s sensitive nature, it saves its peak for the closing emotional eruption, directed by his great friend Glenn Hughes.
A lot has been said about Bolin’s versatility, and the carefree Savannah Woman reminds us of it again. Its idyll is interrupted a bit too soon, and all the more rudely, by Teaser, a typical hard rock number that, thanks to Tommy, nonetheless brims with excitement and freshness. Much like the reggae-tinged People, People, with which a summery Bolin leaves us in the care of Dave Sanborn’s wonderful saxophone. Another shock hits us with the fiery jazz-rock stew Marching Powder (which, of course, is about anything but laundry detergent), reminiscent in many ways of Bolin’s Billy Cobham days. Sentimentality, sensuality and melancholy are the words that roughly sketch Wild Dogs, one of the few Tommy compositions he performed together with his Deep Purple colleagues. Once again the song paints the volatility of the guitarist’s nature, which, as so many times before, wraps everything in a kind of mysterious veil that’s hard for the eye to catch. Hidden deep in its embrace, the moody Lotus also closes things out, with which Bolin carefully wraps up this generous showcase of his musical ideas, whose true value time is evidently only now revealing to us.
Lineup
Tommy Bolin: vocals, guitar
Stanley Sheldon: bass
Paul Stallworth: bass
David Foster: keyboards
Ron Fransen: keyboards
Phil Collins: percussion
Prairie Prince: drums
Jeff Porcaro: drums
Production
Tommy Bolin
Track List
1.The Grind
2.Homeward Strut
3.Dreamer
4.Savannah Woman
5.Teaser
6.People, People
7.Marching Powder
8.Wild Dogs
9.Lotus
