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View all search results'Vinyl' - Explores the Glamor of 1970s Rock N Roll
Night of music: Richie (Bobby Cannavale, center) bathes in euphoria of a good night of music in a scene from HBOâs series Vinyl
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Night of music: Richie (Bobby Cannavale, center) bathes in euphoria of a good night of music in a scene from HBOâs series Vinyl." height="287" width="511" border="0">Night of music: Richie (Bobby Cannavale, center) bathes in euphoria of a good night of music in a scene from HBOâs series Vinyl.
Set in 1973, the new HBO series Vinyl portrays the birth, emergence and surrounding glory of New York City rock n roll.
Itâs easy to conclude that Vinyl â by writer Terrence Winter, Rich Cohen, director Martin Scorsese and musician Mick Jagger â is in safe hands.
In 1973, Scorsese released the harsh mafia-based film Mean Streets while the Rolling Stones (Jaggerâs juggernaut band) were touring their album Goats Head Soup. Therefore Vinyl must indeed be a distinct representation of realism.
But is it? Exactly how much realism has been sacrificed? For one thing, itâs a TV show broadcast for public consumption.
Thereâs plenty of drama in Vinyl. Savoring each episode means watching a coke-addled label executive handle marital and professional troubles.
Vinyl tells the story of Richie Finestra (Bobby Cannavale) who faces a lot of pressure at work â running American Century, a label soon to be made bankrupt â while, at home, dealing with his forlorn wife Devon (Olivia Wilde) and a relapse in alcoholism/drug abuse.
A hostile run-in with former friend/blues singer Lester Grimes (Ato Essandoh) whom he sells out, is also troubling him.
Portions of Vinyl have been dedicated, in equal measure, to both the story and to the music; the punk band New York Dolls show up in the first episode running ecstatically through their 1973 song âPersonality Crisisâ and The Velvet Underground feature in the second episode with their 1967 song âRun Run Runâ.
Besides the Forrest Gump schtick â where characters show up as either the real deal or caricatures â Vinyl features a progression of supposedly fictional characters and their respective problems: Jamie (Juno Temple), a drug-dealer/secretary at American Century, tries to sign a fictional punk band called The Nasty Bits, while Zak (Ray Romano), someone from Richieâs team, struggles with financial woes worsened by his daughterâs bat mitzvah.
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Night of music: Richie (Bobby Cannavale, center) bathes in euphoria of a good night of music in a scene from HBO's series Vinyl.
Set in 1973, the new HBO series Vinyl portrays the birth, emergence and surrounding glory of New York City rock n roll.
It's easy to conclude that Vinyl ' by writer Terrence Winter, Rich Cohen, director Martin Scorsese and musician Mick Jagger ' is in safe hands.
In 1973, Scorsese released the harsh mafia-based film Mean Streets while the Rolling Stones (Jagger's juggernaut band) were touring their album Goats Head Soup. Therefore Vinyl must indeed be a distinct representation of realism.
But is it? Exactly how much realism has been sacrificed? For one thing, it's a TV show broadcast for public consumption.
There's plenty of drama in Vinyl. Savoring each episode means watching a coke-addled label executive handle marital and professional troubles.
Vinyl tells the story of Richie Finestra (Bobby Cannavale) who faces a lot of pressure at work ' running American Century, a label soon to be made bankrupt ' while, at home, dealing with his forlorn wife Devon (Olivia Wilde) and a relapse in alcoholism/drug abuse.
A hostile run-in with former friend/blues singer Lester Grimes (Ato Essandoh) whom he sells out, is also troubling him.
Portions of Vinyl have been dedicated, in equal measure, to both the story and to the music; the punk band New York Dolls show up in the first episode running ecstatically through their 1973 song 'Personality Crisis' and The Velvet Underground feature in the second episode with their 1967 song 'Run Run Run'.
Besides the Forrest Gump schtick ' where characters show up as either the real deal or caricatures ' Vinyl features a progression of supposedly fictional characters and their respective problems: Jamie (Juno Temple), a drug-dealer/secretary at American Century, tries to sign a fictional punk band called The Nasty Bits, while Zak (Ray Romano), someone from Richie's team, struggles with financial woes worsened by his daughter's bat mitzvah.
Personal moment: Richie (Bobby Cannavale) kisses his wife Devon (Olivia Wilde)
Vinyl bears Martin Scorsese's name, so it makes sense that the show carries both the best and worst tendencies of his work. The worst is represented in the masculinity of the show and the extraneous details (including a murder at some point, just for the hell of it), while the accurate setting is testament to his best tendencies as a director and can be seen in the glamor of a party, from the smoke and the lights, right down to the pants and the wigs.
As a period piece, Vinyl works. Its energy is informed by the exaggerated grit of New York in the 1970s. Racism is highlighted in the neighborhood where Lester lives.
Through flashbacks, the audience is presented with Richie's rise and his immediate downfall in a space of mere minutes. Such detail, to untrained eyes, is satisfying.
To what extent, though? Like me, you've probably not lived in New York, much less in 1970's New York. The 1970s was the era of classic, hard rock; the time when Led Zeppelin changed the course of rock music. What Vinyl has to offer us to make us say 'yeah, it's cool that it happened!' remains unexplained; this is a show that appeals to new viewers, more so than those already cognizant.
And that's a stretch ' at least for a TV show that supposedly prizes realism over cliché. For instance, there's a scene in the first episode were Richie can be seen to euphorically soak up the music (no worries, he's safe for second, third until the tenth episode) as The Mercer Arts Centre building in Greenwich Village collapses during a New York Dolls performance.
While the building did actually collapse on Aug. 3, 1973, the New York Dolls performed several days prior to the collapse. In reality, the two events did not happen simultaneously. Realism has been bent to diminishing returns.
It's this kind of heightened reality that might draw in new viewers, but may alienate those people readily familiar with what happened. All that remains is, thus, a drama.
The drama portrayed in Vinyl, in the first four episodes at least, teeters too close to overly brash grit and clichéd storytelling. And yet Vinyl does possess everything it needs to be otherwise.
Vinyl will give you a reason to be intrigued with the classic idea of rock but, at best, Vinyl is an enjoyable, carefully-elaborate drama.
For all its shortcomings, I can't say for sure whether Vinyl will become a hallmark TV show; but there are still plenty of upcoming episodes to ultimately confirm or to repel the bad taste.
