Tim Riley

2 weeks ago | rileyrockreport.substack.com | Tim Riley

I spoke with Cornell’s Jeremy Braddock about his new book Firesign: The Electromagnetic History of Everything as Told on Nine Comedy Albums (California University Press). We started with some of the more obvious Beatle connections and talked through the catalog. If you haven’t sampled these albums yet, start with Bozos, widely considered the most accessible yet spine-cracking. He runs a juicy Substack with FT interviews and asides called Giant Slide 19 Holes Underground Parking.

1 month ago | rileyrockreport.substack.com | Tim Riley

Most people recognize David Lindley’s cartoon outburst from Jackson Browne’s “The Load-Out/Stay” medley from Running on Empty (#20, 1978), if not the Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs surf-doo-wop source from 1960. I saw him multiple times in Boston and Newport, and allmusic.com lists sessions for acts as varied as James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt, Rod Stewart, Lonnie Mack, and Iggy Pop. This review ran in the Boston Phoenix in 1988.

1 month ago | rileyrockreport.substack.com | Tim Riley

Historian Preston Lauterbach works the backstreets of rock’s story, the many accidental and circuitous paths the music takes before congealing into a popular style. With Before Elvis, he lands a major statement about how Presley immersed himself in the Memphis of 1948-1945, what he heard on the radio, in churches, and in clubs.

2 months ago | rileyrockreport.substack.com | Tim Riley

Chris Dalla Riva at Can’t Get Much Higher published a list of favorite music books from the new century, and we sent in reinforcements. This led to a series of scrapes where he ran my Led Zeppelin piece and readers balked. Then my astrological chart (so cuspy) triggered me to invite him to answer a series of rando questions I keep in a mayonnaise jar on Funk and Wagnall’s porch. Note: that Jelly Bowl reference required a reluctant, last-minute waiver…Any pre-rock heroes you still listen to?

2 months ago | rileyrockreport.substack.com | Sven Carlsson |Tim Riley

When you watch the Netflix Playlist series you get a standard-if-sturdy startup story with legal hurdles and tech geeks coding outside the lines. The labels carry all that golden booty, and they will make Daniel Ek pay. Ek accomodates the gatekeepers and takes over the world; it’s almost weird he didn’t attend last month’s inauguration.