Tommy Bolin in Gutar Techniques Magazine
Tommy Bolin is featured in the latest Guitar Techniques Magazine (September 2007 issue). The magazine can be ordered online at www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk.
Thanks to Andrew Wissing for the info.
![[hand]](/hs-pics/portraits/hands/mcbride2.jpg)
![[face]](/hs-pics/portraits/faces/airey2.jpg)
Tommy Bolin is featured in the latest Guitar Techniques Magazine (September 2007 issue). The magazine can be ordered online at www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk.
Thanks to Andrew Wissing for the info.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
Great! He deserves ist. Bolin had not his very best days with Purple but he’s a fine and unique player. Should be not forgotten.
September 13th, 2007 at 00:10Oh, Tommy Bolin was a *great* guitarist–much underrated to be sure, with his work in Purple as only a part of what he was about. The “Spectrum” album was fantastic…very unique. His live versions of “Burn” and “Stormbringer” are among the best. What a groove he had. Very different–a unique sound…and a tragic end.
September 13th, 2007 at 02:20Tommy Bolin was a great guitarist. His studio work with Purple was not his best but was still pretty good. His live work with Purple was a disaster. I was at the show at Radio City in January 1976. Burn was terrible as was most of his playing thruout the show. That’s what drugs did to him, it turned a brilliant guitarist into what he turned out to be onstage with Purple. I aslo heard him live with his solo band after he left Purple and it was just as bad. He had so much promise and it was a shame what drugs did to him. His early work was incredible.
September 13th, 2007 at 14:15Tommy is one of the best unknown guitarists.Great to see hes getting his due now.
September 13th, 2007 at 14:29The most underrated guitar player of all times.
September 13th, 2007 at 20:21Listen to you know you know and the rest of the album from the archives vol 1.Incredible!
to com uma chata aqui.
September 13th, 2007 at 20:23well its like jon lord said , an incredible talent , voice like a dream , but they traveled the whole world ruining the name of deep purple
anyway rip tommy ur 1 of the best
September 14th, 2007 at 00:14Tommy had the potential to be one of the greats. His work on The James Gang’s “Bang” & “Miami” albums was phenominal, as was his solo efforts “Teaser” & “Private Eyes”. “Come Taste The Band” had it’s moments, and gave Deep Purple an entirely different sound. I only wish Tommy had over come his addictions, and enjoyed a career that would have lasted for decades!
September 14th, 2007 at 07:34The Tommy Bolin & Friend’s live at Ebbetsfield 74 is a a super cd to own you won’t be dissapointed . Tommy was at his peak then i think , his playing was so exciting not to mention heavy . Was looking for years for this cd & was so glad to find it!
September 14th, 2007 at 17:16As this is a DP website, I’d like to recommend the following Mk IV gems for the sceptical/uninitiated:
***From “DAYS MAY COME..REHEARSALS”****
Dance To The Rock’n’Roll (sounds like it would have been a great number to play live, a bit like “You Fool No One” only better!
Statesboro Blues (classic blues cover, authentically and inventively played)
Drifter (Raucous playing, cool lyrics)
****From “COME TASTE THE BAND*********
Coming Home (a great rock (AND ROLL) song)
Love Child (classic simple 12-bar funky blues rock)
Getting Tighter (funk+hard rock with a Hendrix swing)
You Keep On Moving (beautiful, soulful lyrical guitar, again reminds me of Hendrix’s later stuff)
****from “THIS TIME AROUND..LIVE IN TOKYO”***
Lady Luck (a great rockin’ tune about a liason with a working girl, another fine bluesy solo from TB)
Stormbringer (original MKIII studio version was sensational, but a non-starter live. This is an excellent reinvention, not a copy of Blackmore)
****from “ON THE WINGS OF A RUSSIAN FOXBAT”
Burn (carries on the masters great work with his own outro solo. A bit difficult to hear RB playing it after you hear this, it’s like he’s missed something!
Smoke On The Water/Georgia On My Mind (a great medley with some wonderful vocals from Hughes and very responsive soulful licks from TB)
Highway Star/Not Fade Away (a blazing rip-roaring transformation of these two rock classics. Again not an attempt to emulate Blackmore, just to make a great performance. And does it work!)
Enjoy!!! This stuff seems to sound fresher and more contemporary every time I hear it.
September 15th, 2007 at 18:53In addition, don’t miss “Whips & Roses” with alternative version of some of the above, along with the jazzy “Cookoo,” reminiscent of those Purple rehearsals, and the aptly named “Flyin’ Fingers”.
“Hoka Hey” from Energy has some Yes-like keyboards in addition to all the guitar. “You Know You Know” from the aforementioned Ebbetts Field date (available on the easier-to-find “From the Archives”) contains some flat out guitar madness.
I’m not much of a Zephyr fan, but the James Gang stuff is very listenable. “Standing in the Rain” is very smooth, but “Do It” is pretty in-your-face guitar that warbles from speaker to speaker (sorry Michael Lee!) in a storm of blitzkrieg guitar. “Time to Move On” from Moxy is similar to the James Gang and has a nice power riff and a solo that could come from “Come Taste the Band.”
I saved the best for last. Tommy is at his absolute peak with the jazz fusion thing. Admittedly this is sometimes “muscian’s music” but this is the material that so impressed David Coverdale:
“Golden Rainbows” and “Nitroglyercin” from Alphonse Mouzon’s “Mind Transplant” and the entire Billy Cobham “Spectrum” album (although I do not believe that Tommy played on every track–still a great jazz fusion album).
“Quadrant 4” from the latter contains insane runs that sounds just like it’s a synthesizer–amazing! Also don’t miss the epic “Stratus” and the bass groove “Snoopy’s Search/Red Baron”. As a plus, Billy Cobham is a drummer so you also get some phenomenal drumming!
Deep Purple was only Tommy’s icing on the cake, and when it worked live you get some bang guitar to be sure. If it were not for the drug thing, there is no telling where this would have gone.
THANKS FOR BRINGING UP TOMMY. I haven’t dragged out this stuff in a while.
September 15th, 2007 at 21:36Oh…regarding “Smoke”. Tommy played it in what–fifths? Very different, but not as chunky. I liked it quite a lot and prefer it to the Steve Morse interpretation which is a bit too staccato (although I love Steve–an observation, not a criticism).
September 15th, 2007 at 21:45Thanks to Tommy Bolin, Jon Lord and Ian Paice wanted to stop with Deep Purple. He was live terrible. It was the worst time of Dp.
September 25th, 2007 at 17:15He was only living his addiction and killed himself and DP
Never heard DP played live as bad as in that period.
Any live record from that period wil proof this!!!!!!!
Not to start a flame war,but if the only live anyone has heard is the Tokyo show,you don’t get a complete picture.There were several great live shows with Tommy,Miami,Philadelphia,New York,the Australian shows all come to mind.If you can’t accept Purple without Ritchie,you won’t like it,but MKIV was hardly the disaster live they get painted,and probably no more erratic than many of the post reunion MKII shows.
October 5th, 2007 at 19:10Yes, I agree with CP. Most people who talk negatively of Mark IVs live performances draw on the Japanese shows and the last gig at Liverpool. Mark IV’s live performances were mixed. Certainly, the King Biscuit show from Miami 76 is pretty good. What I’ve heard of the Australian shows are very good and were really well recieved in the press.
Blackmore, himself, also had some very off nights with Purple and later Rainbow – in fact, the Made in Japan album was culled from 3 nights of shows in Japan and Blackmore messed up the Smoke on the Water riff on 2 of those nights. It’s not like it’s a hard riff to play – and worst he wrote it. The truth is Purple in the 70s, like a lot of bands from that era, always put on a show with a lot of improvisational segments and sometimes it came off and other times it didn’t.
Bolin was a fine player, singer and songwriter who made a valid contribution to the Purple legacy. He also pioneered jazz-rock fusion music a number of years before players like Jeff Beck made it popular. Jeff Beck, who was actually infuenced by Bolin, still plays Stratus in his sets today which is a track from Billy Cobham’s 1973 Spectrum album which really highlights Bolin’s incredible jazz-fusion chops.
As to Bolin and his drug habits – there were probably few players in the 70s who didn’t have some sort of substance problems. Drugs were a very normal part of the industry at that time. Stevie Nicks once said that she didn’t even think that Cocaine was harmful during most of the period she was using it. She explained that that Fleetwood Mac used it like vitamins to combat exhaustion brought about by constant touring. [When the day is done and you want to run – Cocaine]. The idea that Bolin was some crazy drugged-up aberation that ruined Purple is nonsense – he lived in a context where narcotics were reasonably cheap and readily available and almost socially acceptable, at least in the music industry. He didn’t mean to knock himself off. It was a mistake, like Hendrix, like Bon Scott, like John Bonom – the list goes on…
March 11th, 2008 at 09:04I should correct myself here. The King Biscuit shows were recorded in California. The Miami show is available on a bootleg release.
March 12th, 2008 at 12:23I am enjoyint the book great stuff
December 29th, 2008 at 15:57