riley rock report

The Riley Rock Report brings exciting concepts to life, creating a connection that makes the world feel more intimate. Every two weeks on Friday, Riley shares a complimentary newsletter that ties rock music history to today's happenings. It highlights the genre with thoughtful critiques, audio storytelling, and modern interviews. Explore 60 years of rock through the archives of the Boston Phoenix, featuring never-before-seen content on legends like The Beatles and Bob Dylan, alongside classical music pieces, NPR segments, book reviews, and articles on icons from Buddy Holly to Prince and Tina Turner.

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Articles

The Basement Tapes Turn 50 (or 58)

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

[Columbia first released The Basement Tapes (recorded 1967-68)on June 26, 1975, which seemed to peel open the tentative 1970s. Greil Marcus wrote the liner notes. Invisible Republic appeared22 years later, and the Boston Review of Books ran my then exasperated stance on Dylan’s late career.
Taboo Sex Jingles

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

The January inauguration has thrown everything into twisted new context: trauma gloat turns prosaic, overstimulation mocks innocence. Suddenly, Severance’s cult of Kierfeels cartoonish, like a miniature theme park. The many sex-driven scripts that wrapped in 2024 now feel like quaint throwbacks, and given the cowering media, the confusion-is-sex meme has ballooned in a puff. You can’t play that P. Diddy testimony for comedy, but parsing these soundtracks cues the gap between intent and effect.
A Nation Once Again

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

A few years ago we celebrated the 50th anniversary of Woodstock through a PBS documentary, which felt almost as toadying as “Disney Presents the Beatles.” But the “real” Woodstock documentary and soundtrack, its mythical consumer objects, arrived 55 years ago this month.
The Future's Not What It Used To Be

2 months 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.
Teardrop Mandolin, Cornball Fervor

Mar 21, 2025 | 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.
Hearing Elvis Presley's Memphis

Mar 7, 2025 | 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.
Substacker Chris Dalla Riva Without Tears

Feb 21, 2025 | 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?
From Sweden With Hidden Costs

Feb 7, 2025 | 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.
2024 Year In Review, Part 2

Jan 17, 2025 | rileyrockreport.substack.com | Tim Riley

RECENCY BIAS OBSCURES two toxic ethical bombs that led the year straight down the clown hole, sullied the journalism profession, and foreshadowed another campaign season where polls upstaged stakes. Two once-prominent journalists traded in their self-respect for access.
2024 Year in Review, part 1

Jan 3, 2025 | rileyrockreport.substack.com | Tim Riley

SINGLE/COVER OF THE YEAR“Good Luck, Babe,” Sabrina Carpenter (covering Chappell Roan)ALBUMSTIE: Black Keys: Ohio Players [Trophy Edition] (Nonesuch) and Dwight Yoakam:Brighter Days (VIA)Listening to the new Black Keys album, you forget all about their annus horribilis and crypto benefit rebound (just like we forget how 1990s Grammy darling Toni Braxton went broke with hit records on the charts before she got lupus).