Vinyl, a big, splashy and expensive HBO original series conceived by
Martin Scorsese
,
Mick Jagger
, and
Terence Winter
, intends to bring back the glory days of the record industry -- not the record pluggers of the '50s or the Sunset strip hustlers of the '60s, but the coked-out sleaze bags of the '70s. Set smack dab in the middle of that decade, just as the '60s hangover started to lift but punk was still nothing more than dry heaves,
Vinyl
celebrates the downright filthy New York City -- or the "Rotten Apple," as the show's signature buzz band
Nasty Bits
calls it on one of a handful of original songs here. The
sound a little like
the Heartbreakers
--
Richard Hell
's, not
Tom Petty
's -- and their lead singer, one
James Jagger
, sounds convincing as he snarls up some bile, but the band, like their counterpart R&B stand-in
Ty Taylor
, benefits from specificity.
Kaleo
and
Sturgill Simpson
wade into the thick, murky rivers of pastiche, conjuring a very heavy '70s feel that recalls no particular period or band. Elsewhere,
drifts into familiar waters, recycling shopworn
Scorsese
tropes -- it's possible to feel the smash cut from
Simpson
's theme "Sugar Daddy" in
Ruth Brown
's "Mama He Treats Your Daughter Mean. There are also songs often heard on other '70s soundtracks, plus a couple nice surprises (
the Meters
' "Hand Clapping Song") in the show) and the
New York Dolls
(by
David Johansen
, who was there when it all went down). As a whole, the
soundtrack is handsome, smart, and completely on point, which is also its handicap: instead of delivering the thrill of rock & roll, it suggests this history was all preordained. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine