Private Eyes (Tommy Bolin, 1976)

Apparently the Randomness was not done with Tommy Bolin. Go figure.

As mentioned previously, Private Eyes is quite a different album from Teaser, but in all fairness, Tommy was in a different place by this time. The world was still getting to know Tommy when the first album was released and his claim to fame was being the best guitarist of mid-grade band The James Gang since Joe Walsh. Private Eyes was recorded just two months after the demise of Deep Purple, a band Tommy played for briefly (around one year) under an intense global spotlight. The most official story I've heard is that following a series of disastrous gigs marred by drugs and violence, David Coverdale, Ian Paice, and Jon Lord quit the band, leaving Glenn Hughes and Tommy to figure it out for themselves. Initially the two thought about forging on together (though the Deep Purple name was likely off limits to them), but ultimately moved ahead with solo projects. In fact every member of the band was in the recording studio doing solo material (Lord and Paice within a band context) later that year, though Glenn got waylaid with an abortive Trapeze reunion. However, Tommy somehow managed to have his album in stores at breakneck speed, officially releasing Private Eyes in September 1976.

Private Eyes was an easy album to find back in the day (unlike Teaser) as just one of the vast archival trove of Columbia Nice Price releases. I imagine it is still readily available to anyone interested. While it's not his finest album, it's the best snapshot of where Tommy was headed musically before his death in December 1976. It's strangely confident, with the only warning sign of trouble in his life appearing in the lyrics of the epic "Post Toastee", the best track on the album. The supporting band is almost entirely new, with drummer Bobby Berge the only holdout from the early days, and even he is sharing duties with others (bassist Stanley Sheldon was probably too busy with Frampton Comes Alive! to assist). Jeff Cook, vocalist from Tommy's Energy days, helps out substantially with the writing of this album though he does not perform.