Tommy Bolin - Whips and Roses I / Whips and Roses II (2006)

This is the acid test. When Whips and Roses was released in April of 2006, it was a revelatory collection, showcasing many high quality -- performance and sound-wise -- alternate takes and demos of material that appeared on Tommy Bolin's Teaser in particular. All of these cuts came from a box found by Bolin's brother John and given to producer Greg Hampton. That there is a second volume makes even the hardcore fan a bit wary. What's here will not disappoint the veteran Bolin collector, but it will probably put off first-time listeners (simply because there are a couple of really dodgy sounding live cuts at the end.) In places this is stretching it., but not too much. There are four different takes of songs from Teaser -- "People, People," "The Grind," "Homeward Strut," and "Lotus" -- and yet another outtake of the left-off "Crazed Fandango." In addition, there are six other tracks, most of which are jam band-oriented, including the 14-plus minute "Bagit Blues Deluxe," "Tommy's Got Da Blues" (which comes in at nine-plus minutes) and "Some People Call Me" (over 13 minutes). Right, total excess guitar hero stuff. It's in the songs themselves where Bolin really shines here, his virtually boundless imagination when it comes not just to playing, but to writing, arranging, and performing as well. If you dug volume one, then this is for you.