Louder: A Closet Filled With Rare Recordings

July 15, 2022

By Caryn Ganz

Pop Music Editor

Some people in the music industry make the music, some handle the industry and still others provide the vibes. Earl McGrath may not have been a brilliant business strategist, but he understood the conditions under which creativity flourishes. As a label head (for an Atlantic imprint called Clean and Rolling Stones Records) and a figure in the art, film and literary worlds, McGrath was a beloved connector of people and opportunities. After he died in 2016, the writer Joe Hagan found a batch of tapes in his closet — rare and unreleased music from artists he’d worked with and courted in the 1970s. The reissue label Light in the Attic is releasing it, and Bob Mehr told Earl’s story here. Marcus J. Moore also revisited that decade this week, writing about the Pyramids, a band that made “avant-garde African jazz” with inspiration directly from its travels in Africa. The band’s albums were little heard in its time, but will reach potentially its biggest audience yet with a new boxed set.

Sometimes, Jon Pareles writes an album review so emphatic and descriptive, I’ll read it and think “this album is very much not for me, but I must go play it immediately.” It happened again, with his Critic’s Pick for black midi’s “Hellfire.” Jon also wrote the entire Playlist himself, which I don’t think has ever happened before!

Jon Caramanica hit the road to review Rage Against the Machine’s pandemic-delayed reunion tour, and also hosted A.O. Scott and Alanna Nash on Popcast to talk about Elvis the onscreen character and Elvis the pop sensation.

And Metro reported on Glenn Horowitz, the rare-book dealer who handled the sale of Bob Dylan’s archive, being arrested and charged with two other men for conspiring to sell about 100 pages of stolen notes written by Don Henley, including lyrics to “Hotel California.”

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Earl McGrath Was a Character. His Closet Was Filled With Rare Recordings.

When the art and music world figure died in 2016, he left behind a trove of reels from his years scouting for his own label and the one he ran for the Rolling Stones.

By Bob Mehr

THE CRITICS & POPCAST

Atiba Jefferson

Critic’s Pick

black midi Bristles at a Bleak World With ‘Hellfire’

The British trio’s third studio album is a virtuosic exploration of brutality that showcases its technical mastery, expanded orchestrations and sardonic humor.

By Jon Pareles

Charles Sykes/Invision, via Associated Press

The Playlist

Lizzo Conquers Self-Doubt With an ’80s Jam, and 7 More New Songs

Hear tracks by Brent Faiyaz, Pink, Marcus Mumford and others.

By Jon Pareles

Jamie Kelter Davis for The New York Times

Live Review

Rage Against the Machine Returns for Fresh Battles

The rap-rock group’s first tour in more than a decade arrives at a moment of political tension, and opens with the like-minded hip-hop duo Run the Jewels.

By Jon Caramanica

Darren England/EPA, via Shutterstock

‘Elvis’ vs. Elvis

How much do fantasy and imagination play into how we remember pop culture heroes?

‘Anonymous Club’ Review: The Joy of Creation

The Australian singer-songwriter Courtney Barnett goes on a world tour in this music documentary, and finds that a change is needed.

By Glenn Kenny

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Revisiting the Pyramids’ ‘Avant-Garde African Jazz,’ Four Decades Later

The group that started at Antioch College in Ohio went to Africa and returned “transformed,” one of its members said. A new boxed set collects its little-heard albums from the 1970s.

By Marcus J. Moore

Critic’s Notebook

This Trumpeter’s Legacy Also Includes Composing String Quartets

A new boxed set of string quartets by Wadada Leo Smith, an anchor of American experimental music, reveals his sustained engagement with the form.

By Seth Colter Walls

NEWS

John Minchillo/Associated Press

Rare-Book Dealer Charged After Pilfered Eagles Lyrics Come to Light

Glenn Horowitz and two other men are accused of conspiring to sell Don Henley’s notes, including the words to “Hotel California.”

By Ali Watkins

YoungBoy Never Broke Again Found Not Guilty in Federal Gun Case

Lawyers for the rapper argued that he did not know the weapon was in his car when he was pulled over and arrested on a separate warrant in California last year.

By Joe Coscarelli

The Charts

Bad Bunny’s ‘Un Verano Sin Ti’ Spends a Fourth Week at No. 1

Since its release, the Puerto Rican superstar’s album has earned the equivalent of 1.4 million sales and picked up 1.9 billion streams in the United States alone.

By Ben Sisario