Comments on: Tommy Bolin biography

By: Pura Fe

Pura Fe — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 23:27:11 +0000

I would like to know if Tommy bolin had any Native American Blood at all…simply because he would be honored in the Native hall of Fame. I had always thought he was at least partially. they have honored Link Ray, Jimi Hendrix and Jessie Ed Davis
Pura Fe. I was hoping that Tommy Bolin could be honored in this way too. If you have any valid information on his lineage being Indian at all…can you please let me know…this way I can submit his name for the honoring. Pura Fe

By: Nick Simmons

Nick Simmons — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 16:39:34 +0000

I just received the book and am almost through it. Great to have all the stories in one place, and in chronological order.
Tommy is my favorite of all time, and while a huge fan of the various classic Purple periods/recordings, I think CTTB is probably the best album they did.
Thanks Greg Prato!
And thanks also to Martin Popoff for his new book, Gettin’ Tighter - I can’t wait to get into that, and hats off for the title and incredible pic on the cover!!!

By: fabio

fabio — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 10:39:06 +0000

Tommy was only 25 when he died so we can hardly argue what he’d have been doing after Purple. Surely he was a great player…his former bassist Jimmy Haslip told me that he was buried with a ring belonged to Hendrix. Great loss for the music…he was a very nice chasp.

By: Crimson Ghost

Crimson Ghost — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 07:03:34 +0000

Agreed PT, nice to see you here.

Priest, thats a hilarious story, had me bustin’.

By: purpletemple

purpletemple — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 16:44:41 +0000

Incredible guitarist! His two solo albums, his work with dP and the album Spectrum with Cobham are some of the best ever releases.
I feel like he was the perfect cross between Hendrix and Jeff Beck with an extra something that made him unique as well.
If it wasn’t for those damn fuckin drugs (sorry but that’s what they are!), I am sure Tommy would have giving us some of the best music of the 80’s 90’s and more…

By: purplepriest1965

purplepriest1965 — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 18:21:46 +0000

30 years later something finally dawns on me.

We were , I think, 13 years old and watching the MK 2 poster on my cousins wall.
It was a shot I always held dearly on and it was from the FIREBALL sessions

The poster appeared in some Belgian magazine called POP or Joepie or something.
A real classic poster.

It were the days I bought a magazine just for the reason it contained a pic of DP as big as a stamp.
We had almost nothing and everything was worth a million.
It was between 77 and 80 and life was very depressing because our heroes did not get much exposure. It was punk, disco, rap and all that other shit which we got flooded by.

Anyway, some other cousin tried to convince us RB was exactly from Indian blood.

And now I realise he must have heard something about Tommy Bolin and then messed it up.

You can get fooled easily by anything knowing nothing and so this practical joke cousin even gave us speeded up versions on tape of Come Taste The Band and Kiss Alive 1.
Ofcourse we experienced these tapes as really confusing and tried to ask for the truth.
He firmly stood his ground and we were left really insecure about our hearings.

By: George Fotis

George Fotis — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 01:58:09 +0000

I really think Ritchie Blackmore was the next Hendrix not Bolin. Ritchie’s heavy guitar style was very similar after all he did get influenced by him.
There is more to Tommy Bolin than Come & Taste The Band & Last concert in Japan. His solo album’s are very good they are timeless & haven’t aged at all. Most music from back then sounds dated & daggey , but those albums sound like they could have been made 5 years ago.
I liked they way he played guitar he could play a very heavy metal trash guitar or some silky smooth guitar like on Savanah Woman . He played a very clean sounding notes . I believe the Tommy Bolin & Friends live at Ebbetsfield 74 is the best music from him, yes the Russian Foxbat is a great cd ,his in top form there.
He had a great singing voice too, very relaxed & laid back , always listen to his material when driving Bolin sounds good on the road. He just had bad luck that he died, Keith Richard’s of The Stones who was into heroin & drugs managed to survive that decade.

By: Roberto

Roberto — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 12:13:34 +0000

I prefer Tommy than Jimy.He is one of the top three guitar players ever.
‘from the archives’ is the best album ever made on Tommy while
deep purple live california 76 on russian fox… is the best live album togehter with ‘made in japan’ and live europe stuttgart 1993′ ever done by deep purple.

By: R

Tue, 16 Dec 2008 06:50:10 +0000

Great Tommy Bolin!