If you lived in Laurel Canyon in the 1960s, you would be familiar with David Crosby knocking on your door with a “Howdy, neighbor! Can I borrow a cup of heroin?” After watching Echo in the Canyon, a tribute to the suburban Los Angeles supergroups who redefined rock music in the 1960s, I have but one question: Why did it end? You were all legendary performers making history on a daily basis … and you enjoyed and respected one another (for the most part); why exactly did the party end? Did the decade run out of drugs?
Echo in the Canyon begins with a Tom Petty interview, where Petty and the film’s quiet narrator, Jakob Dylan, reflect on guitars and influences. Oh, I get it. This is “today.” Fellas, I think your today might need updating your today; Tom Petty died in 2017. Oh, but this film isn’t about Petty; there are literally fifty other names to drop all over this place. Watch your step.
As our host, Jakob Dylan mostly just shows up. The camera finds Lou Adler and Brian Wilson and Michelle Phillips and seventeen other people who had something to say while in the proximity of Jakob. The film’s idea was simply to describe the scene – it was the 1960s and for Lord-knows-what-reason, every white musician destined for the rock ‘n’ roll hall of fame gravitated towards one hilly section of El Lay where they all got together and did drugs, composed, had sex, and stole ideas from one another … and everybody loved it. During this era, the ‘hood gave rise to The Byrds, The Beach Boys, The Mamas and the Papas, and Buffalo Springfield among others, and their collective sound paced rock ‘n’ roll globally for decades to come. Did I get that right?
Meanwhile, Jakob decides to celebrate the old has-beens with a stage performance by an entirely new collection of has-beens, so in between archival memories and current reminiscences, JD collects Jade, Beck, Regina Spektor, and Cat Power for a tribute concert that darn near sells out a high school auditorium. I make fun, but only because I have no idea who the Hell Cat Power is. I did enjoy a duet of Dylan and Norah Jones covering one of my favorite songs, The Association’s “Never My Love.” Was The Association part of the Laurel Canyon scene? They must have been to have the song in the film, right? Maybe nobody associationed with them.
This film makes a great companion piece to the film Wrecking Crew, a documentary about the uncredited musicians who played on all the albums these groups made. I found Echo in the Canyon a quality namedrop film. I mean, where else are you going to see Mama Cass, anyway? She died in 1974. But unless you’re really into The Byrds break-up or how Pet Sounds influenced Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, I can’t really recommend this film. There’s some nice archive footage and a few decent covers, but nothing I’m going to remember a week from now.
♪You ask me if there’ll come a time
When I’ll nail a review
Never, my buds
Never, my buds
You wonder if I’ll find a rhyme
That goes into this line
Never, my buds
Never, my buds
What makes you think I will stop
When you know that my whole life revolves on
This crap (This crap) ♫
Rated PG-13, 82 Minutes
Director: Andrew Slater
Writer: Eric Barrett, Andrew Slater
Genre: Remember these guys? They were important, too.
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Music historians
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: If you don’t know the names Brian Wilson, Mama Cass, or Eric Clapton, don’t bother
♪ Parody Inspired by “Never My Love”
