SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: TOMMY BOLIN – GREAT GYPSY SOUL

TOMMY BOLIN
GREAT GYPSY SOUL
CLEOPATRA RECORDS

Tommy Bolin was an incredible guitarist. He was diverse and could play many different styles with many different bands.  He is best known as a member of Zephyr, The James Gang and Deep Purple (1975 – 1976). When Deep Purple split up in 1976, Bolin formed The Tommy Bolin Band. This finally gave him the chance to do his music in his own way.  However, very sadly, Bolin passed away in December 1976, leaving behind a legacy of music for the bands with whom he played. Sadly, there was not a lot of solo Tommy Bolin. In fact, he released only two albums. He seemed to be hitting his creative stride with his band and was experimenting with rock and the guitar.

Great Gypsy Soul was originally released in 2012 and was a tribute album of sorts for Bolin. Instead of just having artists cover some of Bolin’s material, a variety of artists added their guitar to older Bolin tracks. The end result is an excellent tribute album, but also an album of newer material. This is a straight-ahead blues rock album. The music leans into the heavy metal arena, but it is still guitar-driven rock. Cleopatra has re-released the original album, and there are some very interesting bonus tracks. Warren Haynes, who also plays on the album, co-produced the album with former Bolin collaborator Greg Hampton, and they managed to blend in the new musicians and the original recordings nicely.

The guests are plentiful and bring a lot to the album. Peter Frampton added some of his talent to “The Grind”. Nice to hear Frampton do what he really does best, play some tight solos. Frampton and Bolin exchange solos at the end of the song, and it is just incredible. “Homeward Strut”, which features Toto’s Steve Lukather, is the perfect blend of rhythm and blues and rock. The two seem to be having a great time and both show a great deal of restraint throughout. They make a fierce duo. Steve Morse also appears adding his distinct guitar to the wonderful “Crazed Fandango”, which again is just a blast of energy and excitement. There is also some excellent sax playing on the track and a few surprise sound effects that bring the song alive

The last track of the original album, “Lotus” features Joe Bonamassa, and fellow Deep Purple alumni Glenn Hughes and Nels Cline. This is a long, slow burning song and full of emotion, and is one of the songs featuring vocals. It is a beautiful way to bring the first album to a close. The previously unreleased material is also quite strong and will be a treat for fans to hear. The 15-min instrumental burner, “Flying Fingers” (featuring Oz Noy and Nels Cline), does sound like studio jamming, but the song eventually comes together. It does sound a little like something Frank Zappa might have done, with these three guys there are enough twists and turns to make the song very interesting.

The album comes to a close with a four-movement instrumental piece titled “Marching Bag”. Throughout the four movements, each of the guests get a turn at contributing to the very heavy and entertaining monolith of a song. Again, it is an instrumental and the artists manage to keep things very interesting.

Bolin was a very talented guitarist who recorded and contributed to a great many classic albums and bands. Given that he has been gone for almost 50 years, there is always a risk that he may not be remembered. This album goes a long way in reestablishing him as a very creative and talented guitarist. Great Gypsy Soul is a very strong album and provides a very strong argument that Bolin needs to be near the top of any list of rock guitarists. It is nice to have this album back and available to hear after all these years.

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