Echo in the Canyon

— “Echo in the Canyon” may not be perfect but I still hung on every word spoken by those who were part of a group of folk/rock luminaries that ended up living in Laurel Canyon in 1964-67, roughly from the advent of the Bryds until David Crosby was fired from them and Neil Young left Buffalo Springfield. Depicted is a time of easy collaboration, when talented people bounced both tunes and ideas off each other as they roamed freely from house to house, and sometimes bed to bed. It’s structured as Jakob Dylan’s homage to the time, coming out of his era-tribute album of the same name and a 2015 concert, and using footage from the concert to amplify interviews with the luminaries themselves, as well as staged conversations among Dylan, Regina Spektor, Beck, and Cat Power, purportedly trying to get a handle on how it all happened and how it continues to influence them 50 years later. That’s all well and good, but the wonderful part of the film is the interviews with Jackson Brown, Eric Clapton, David Crosby, Roger McGuinn, Graham Nash, Tom Petty, Michelle Phillips, John Sebastian, Ringo Starr, Stephen Stills, and Brian Wilson—those who were part of the folk-rock revolution in one way or another, in addition to historic footage of the Mamas and the Papas, Buffalo Springfield, and the Byrds. Interestingly, there was a lot of Beach Boys and Beatles footage, even though they didn’t really live there, while Joni Mitchell is missing, as are the Doors and Love. It’s a wonderful film for someone exactly my age, since this shift to more complicated rock with more meaningful lyrics so greatly affected the soundtrack of my life. It’s not a perfect film, but I certainly enjoyed it.

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[2018. 82 min. Directed by Andrew Slater. Featuring Jakob Dylan.]
https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/echo-in-the-canyon-2019