HBO rock drama ‘Vinyl’ moves like Jagger

It must be what "Boardwalk Empire" would have been like if, instead of making Al Capone a supporting character, Martin Scorsese and writer Terence Winter had dug up the syphilitic mobster, reanimated him and allowed him to help shape the series.

Their new 1970s rock drama, "Vinyl" (9 p.m. Sunday, HBO), has Mick Jagger's DNA all over it. The iconic singer co-created the series (along with Scorsese, Winter and Rich Cohen), serves as executive producer for both the show and its music and, along with Jerry Hall, created James Jagger, who co-stars as the lead singer for up-and-coming rockers The Nasty Bits.

With the possible exception of Jagger's bandmate Keith Richards, there may be no better living repository of 1970s hedonism. And "Vinyl" wastes little time tapping into its most valuable resource.

When we first meet Richie Finestra (Bobby Cannavale), founder and president of American Century Records, he's scoring coke in a seedy alley from some lowlife named Sugar, ripping off his car's rearview mirror and cutting lines on it with a homicide detective's business card.

To make sure their records get plenty of airtime, Zak Yankovich (Ray Romano), American Century's head of promotions, hands DJs $5,000 and a gram of coke.

And, when she isn't taking lunch orders or sleeping with the talent, A&R assistant Jamie Vine (Juno Temple) is replenishing the company's pharmaceutical-grade stash that serves as "Vinyl's" answer to the bar in Don Draper's office.

At one point, awkward junior A&R man Clark Morelle (Jack Quaid) approaches Jamie looking to bum an ounce of weed. Jamie: "What's the occasion?" Clark: "Marathon recording session with England Dan and John Ford Coley." Jamie: "Oh, I'm so sorry!"

It's just one of many interactions between the fictional label and real artists from the era, much like the way Capone, Bugsy Siegel and other gangsters populated the world of "Boardwalk Empire."

In a flashback, Richie is shown meeting his wife, Devon (Olivia Wilde), at a Velvet Underground show put on by Andy Warhol, with whom she remains close. Early subplots revolve around Led Zeppelin and Alice Cooper. And the drama name drops everyone from Lester Bangs to Captain Beefheart to Robert Goulet.

One of the best bits from Sunday's two-hour premiere, though, involves a teen idol who never appears onscreen.

Frank "Buck" Rogers, the powerful owner of a chain of radio stations, is threatening to boycott American Century's entire roster after one of the label's artists fails to show at a swanky private dinner he hosted for some of his top advertisers. The singer? Donny Osmond. And the fact that Buck is played by Andrew Dice Clay, which allows Clay to launch into a four-minute expletive-laden tirade against his fellow Strip performer while surrounded by what appears to be the beginnings of an orgy, is nearly too entertaining to believe.

For younger viewers — and older viewers who were too stoned to remember it — "Vinyl" offers a visceral introduction to 1970s New York City, when Times Square was still a rat-infested sewer and the subway system was so overwhelmed by graffiti, you couldn't help but expect The Warriors to come out to play.

Then again, it's hard not to be impressed by anything helmed by Scorsese, who tackles Sunday's episode. I'd watch that man direct traffic.

Cannavale, who won an Emmy for playing "Boardwalk Empire's" Gyp Rosetti, is in fine form. But, much like that show's Nucky Thompson, he's less interesting than the cultural shift that's happening around him.

The Nasty Bits offer a glimpse of New York's early punk scene while Lester Grimes (Ato Essandoh), Richie's first client, serves as a conduit to the beginnings of hip-hop.

Likewise, the nascent "Vinyl" is still pretty rough around the edges.

But, at least through the early going, it's mostly rock 'n' roll, and I like it.

— Contact Christopher Lawrence at clawrence@reviewjournal.com. On Twitter: @life_onthecouch.