Tommy Bolin - Teaser Remixes
(Estate of Tommy Bolin, 2024)
Tommy Bolin missed the 27 Club by two years when he breathed his last heroin-frothy breath on December 6, 1976, in Miami where he opened for Peter Frampton and Jeff Beck. The story is too cliche to repeat. What Bolin left was two solo recordings: Teaser (Nemperor, 1975) and Private Eyes (Columbia, 1976), an incendiary appearance on Billy Cobham’s Spectrum (Atlantic, 1973), and guest star appearances with the James Gang (Bang (Atco, 1973) and Miami (Atco, 1974)) and Deep Purple (Come Taste The Band (Purple, 1975)). And then it was all over a scant 12 months later.
What followed after Bolin’s death was a mish-mash of material extracted from cassette tapes, alternate takes, and every order of repackaging the material that already existed. It's all interesting but little of it is essential. We again have only two recordings, <em>Teaser</em> and <em>Private Eyes</em>. <em>Teaser</em>. Bolin was a phenomenon, easily navigating hard rock, blues rock, jazz, reggae, and Latin music, blending these within a single song. Completely encapsulated and fully formed as an artistic statement.
The material did benefit from the remixes and the finished product was bright and revealing, just like 40 years ago. Stick with the original release and be happy you have that.