S01.E03: Whispered Secrets

[Drogo]

Discuss episode "Whispered Secrets" here!

[ElectricBoogaloo]

At a record producers' banquet honoring Maury Gold, Richie is embarrassed when the emcee, rival record exec Jackie Jervis, makes a joke about the failed German Polygram deal. Later, Maury and mob cohort Corrado Galasso pay a visit to American Century to probe a detective's recent inquiry, and Joe Corso drops by to pitch Richie a demo by his banquet date, Nora.

 

Promo:

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Inside the episode:

[SallyAlbright]

I am liking the show a bit more each week. There is still room for improvement, but at least it seems to be going in the right direction. Bobby Cannavale really is a fantastic actor. 

[Lonesome Rhodes]

The Raspberries!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  This ep wins.   I don't care about any of the rest of the drugged-out and nonsensical everything else.  Eric Carmen and the Raspberries!!!!!!!

 

OK.  I lied.  The whole Alice Cooper arc was really fun, too.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I really disliked last week's episode so I was going to stop watching the show, but the promo video about turntables and the inside the episode video sucked me back in because I wanted to see the Alice Cooper storyline and Devin selling her painting. I'm glad I did because I got to see Vinnie Van Lowe playing another fantastically douchey character. He might be typecast but he always seems to be having so much fun. It was also fun to see Vinnie Delpino - I almost didn't recognize him with all that facial hair.

 

Haha and poor Richie having to listen to that horrible demo tape. I mean, she wasn't completely tone deaf and making my ears bleed but she was not good by any stretch of the imagination.

[tennisgurl]

Wow, as much as I love that song, that demo was terrible. This is why you do shouldn't murder people, kids. Kill people, be forced to listen to terrible music. 

 

I dug that episode, after being kind of "meh" on the first couple. Not bad, and great music, but nothing very special. I thought this was a really fun episode though. Lots of awesome music moments, plus Alice Cooper. The Alice Cooper plot was a ton of fun, especially with the final punch line. 

 

Also loved all the turn table work, and the story with the artist who got his throat messed up. It can give us a different view of the 70s music scene, outside of the punk/rock stuff. 

 

Ken Mariano! I swear that guy is everywhere lately! I love seeing him pop up all over the place, with his smarmy voice, and his weird hair. 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

This is why you do shouldn't murder people, kids. Kill people, be forced to listen to terrible music.

This should be one of the new scared straight slogans.

[Muffyn]

Better than the last episodes but still so many problems.  I don't know if I can watch women and African-Americans being treated like crap so blatantly all the time.  It's exhausting.  I know it's a period piece but such things have been done so much better.   

[Totale]

The producers have mastered the art described by the Indonesian term "Djam Karet" - the hour that stretches.  I watched the third one and was getting antsy like I have every time, and when I checked it was only 35 minutes in.

[Primetimer]

And more not-quite-burning questions about the latest episode of Vinyl.

Read the story

[thuganomics85]

Had a blast with the recognizable faces popping.  Totally recognized Ken Marino as Jackie Jarvis, and Annie Parisse was that woman beside him who threaten Richie after he was getting confrontational with them about the jokes.  And I'm pretty sure that Lena Olin who kicked out Jamie and the Nasty Bits, which delighted me.  Alias folks are everywhere this year!

 

Still slowly improving, even if I continue to find Richie to least interesting thing about this show.  I still love everything involving Jamie, Julie, and the Nasty Bits, the Alice Cooper stuff was fun, want more Lester, and even enjoy Devin dealing with the fallout over Richie backing out of the deal.  But I'm now wild about Richie basically being mixed up with gangsters again, and this whole crime cover-up thing.  Just focus on the music, man!

[Ronin Jackson]

 But I'm now wild about Richie basically being mixed up with gangsters again, and this whole crime cover-up thing.  Just focus on the music, man!

 

I agree 100% with this.

[Justin]

I was also wondering about that "fucks like a dolphin" line. Very strange. Although, I might like it if that became the show's gimic. Just some random new idiom for describing talented whores. Seems like that kind of thing would fit in just fine in this ridiculous universe.

[Muffyn]

Didn't the character use a series of odd phrases before fuck like a dolphin?  I thought it was supposed to show his lack of sophistication.  A.K.A. these are the jokes, kids!    Time to laugh! 

[Cramps]

Whoever was cast as Alice Cooper was very good. He actually spoke like him. Also liked seeing The Raspberries.

[Hanahope]

So, but for the Alice Cooper arc (which was awesome because of Alice Cooper), this show still isn't griping me.  If Jimmy is such a great judge of talent, why'd he pass on Alice Cooper?  or the NY Dolls?  or ABBA? Why have such milquetoast acts like NE Dan, etc.? (why do I even recognized these guys' names?  I can't think of a single song of theirs, but the name is familiar).

 

And are all the A&R people stupid assholes?  Jimmy obviously isn't a good judge of finding talented A&R people, they can't find good acts, they change the good acts they do find, and they're all idiots.

 

I suppose its probably wishful thinking to hope that each episode will have another awesome Alice Cooper type arc, but I'll give it another week.

[numbnut]

OK, I'm out. I love Juno Temple and rock music but not enough to hate-watch this show. I'll wait for Roadies.

[Kbilly]

Bobby Cannavale is forever tainted for me because of the "funky spunk" episode of Sex and The City. It's seriously all I can think about whenever I look at his face/mouth region.

 

I'm kind of hate watching this because I feel like I need to give it a chance but it is not grabbing me yet. Is the dolphin sex guy the guy from those Arby's commercials where he investigated meat? My google search says yes.

Edited March 1, 2016 by Kbilly

[Cramps]

So, but for the Alice Cooper arc (which was awesome because of Alice Cooper), this show still isn't griping me. If Jimmy is such a great judge of talent, why'd he pass on Alice Cooper? or the NY Dolls? or ABBA? Why have such milquetoast acts like NE Dan, etc.? (why do I even recognized these guys' names? I can't think of a single song of theirs, but the name is familiar).

And are all the A&R people stupid assholes? Jimmy obviously isn't a good judge of finding talented A&R people, they can't find good acts, they change the good acts they do find, and they're all idiots.

A couple of notes: the New York Dolls were a huge failure as far as record sales. They only really became critical faves due to punk. So passing on them wasn't seen as a failure for a record company.

England Dan and John Ford Coley did have some big hits. Ironically, one of their biggest was a cover of Love is the Answer, a Todd Rundgren and Utopia song, who was name checked in this episode and who produced the first Dolls record.

Most A & R people are/were sheep.

[StevieRocks]

This was finally watchable for once. I don't know why Cannavale is grossing me out so much, but he is. Then I saw him in Danny Collins, and he was actually good, like he was in Blue Jasmine. He stinks in this, though. All that silly yelling--he just isn't believable as someone who is passionate about great music. He just comes off as a skeevy used car salesman who's always sweating like Nixon. 

 

All Hail the Godfather of Shock Rock! That actor was amazing. Alice Cooper, I <still> love you! The Andy Warhol scene with Devon was moving and beautiful. 

Bobby Cannavale is forever tainted for me because of the "funky spunk" episode of Sex and The City. It's seriously all I can think about whenever I look at his face/mouth region.

Oh, yeah, that's right! Ew! Bwah! 

[Hanahope]

A couple of notes: the New York Dolls were a huge failure as far as record sales. They only really became critical faves due to punk. So passing on them wasn't seen as a failure for a record company.

 

That may be the case, but the show seems to be showing that Jimmy, while wanting something successful, appears to be pursuing "critical fav" type music, in this case punk.  That certainly is what the Nasty Bits are.  And you're correct, for the most part punk music never really became popular in terms of sales, outside a very few exceptions, until many years later (and some say true punk ever became "popular" only "punk lite"). 

 

If Jimmy is so interested in record sales and success, why aren't we seeing him go after disco singers?  Bee Gees, Donna Summer, etc.  or on the rock side, acts like Kiss or Queen? or something else relatively original like Heart?  or the "new" Fleetwood Mac?

 

I guess I'm just not seeing why Jimmy is "so special" that we're supposed to like him or at least be interested enough in him to keep watching the show.

[Cramps]

I guess I'm just not seeing why Jimmy is "so special" that we're supposed to like him or at least be interested enough in him to keep watching the show.

That I can't answer for you. I find nothing about his character compelling or attractive--which is not about Bobby himself, who I really liked in Nurse Jackie-_it's about the role, direction and how it's being played.. So far the only character that I actually was impressed by was Dice's. He was vile and disgusting, but he was hilarious and the portrayal was brilliant. There has been no other character that I look forward to seeing. No heroes. No anti-heroes. It's odd.

[MikeyWM3]

Two things:

 

1. England Dan/John Ford Coley are being played by The Milk Carton Kids, a band known for their very dry wit.  And that is them singing the songs.

2. Not one mention of Max Casella's dancing? This was my takeaway, and I'm still hoping for the GIF.

[pasdetrois]

I feel like I'm watching an amateur show put on by grown men who fondly remember their drug-filled youth. There's so much attention put on drugs and booze that it's like drug-porn. Just because there was a lot of this behavior in the 70s - in certain circles - doesn't mean I want to watch it endlessly. It's boring.

[Lonesome Rhodes]

Cannavale was pretty darn good in 100 Centre St., playing an earnest NYC criminal defense lawyer.  He was very high energy, to be sure.  Yet, he managed to rein him in enough to make the character recognizable.  I thought his career would take off.  It never really did.  

 

My theory is that Scorsese wanted over-the-top and made darn sure BC delivered such.  Then again, desperate actors make for desperate characters.  

 

On the Alice Cooper arc...I was very impressed that they chose to show us the doubting/softer side of Alice with his reveals about his origins as a high school kid in Arizona.   The main thrust of the arc was excellent in that it highlighted a real-world schism which did, in fact, break up the band.  There was a great book from one of the band members which came out last Summer, which I can't recommend highly enough to true fans of Alice.  Snakes, Guillotines, Electric Chairs!: My Adventures in the Alice Cooper Group, by Dennis Dunaway.  

[kassa]

The England Dan/John Ford Coley scene slayed me -- what was the line after that awful schlocky mess where one of them says to the other how [insert completely inapt synonym for fierce] it was?  I'm not 100% sold on this show yet, either, but there are moments.

 

I liked the Alice Cooper stuff.  When I was a child some friend of my Dad's told us all about his daughter winning some "Win a Date with Alice Cooper" radio contest.  Now, he and my Dad were kind of the Dad on The Wonder Years, so let's just say you wouldn't expect him to approve.  But he said that Alice was completely friendly, completely a gentleman, completely above board about it being a radio station business promotion only and not to worry about his daughter, and in the end he had no qualms about sending her off with him (and a team of people, obviously).  Maybe the mom or a sister went, too.  It does seem weird that you'd send even an older teen girl by yourself.  At any rate, he couldn't speak more highly of him, which I always think of when I see Alice in full Alice mode.  This episode brought out that normal guy side of him and backed up that account for me.

 

I can't pin down precisely WHEN this show is supposed to be happening.  Those of you who know the bands featured -- what years are we talking about?  I too have been surprised by the lack of disco, but maybe the show is just on the brink of it?  Some of the artists they mention seem like mid-70s artists to me, but the fashions don't, so I think we maybe are supposed to be in 73?

[Cramps]

The show is supposed to take place in 73. Right be for punk and rap appeared.

I never met Alice Cooper, but have heard nothing but lovely things about him from people who worked with him or knew him. The actor who played him really nailed him.