![]() But their contributions to the discussion are notable for their near-complete lack of meaningful insights, sans anything on how it all impacted them - no fond memories of hearing these songs for the first time, or of playing them when they were starting out, or looks at how they influenced their own writing. there are staged coffee-table chats with Dylan, Regina Spektor, Beck and Cat Power, all whom were part of the 2015 film and/or recording projects, all artists of great merit with legitimate claims on influence from the ‘60s Laurel Canyon world. (There are several books and movies that paint that picture thoroughly, including Michael Walker’s 2007 book “Laurel Canyon: The Inside Story of Rock-and-Roll’s Legendary Neighborhood,” Harvey Kubernik’s 2009 tome “Canyon of Dreams” and portions of Barney Hoskyns’ 1996 “Waiting for the Sun: A Rock & Roll History of Los Angeles.”) And Graham Nash often seems on the verge of tears as he recounts those times with unbridled affection for the place that took him in and opened up new worlds.īut what was being in that world really like - the energy of the spontaneous get-togethers and drop-ins at neighbors houses in which songs were created and shared, the chance encounters at the Country Store or other places that led to collaborations, the romances and breakups that inspired many songs, the drugs that enlivened and destroyed the creative environment? Certainly there are plenty of non-musicians who were there who could have shared their memories to fill out the artists’ pictures. ![]() Crosby brought his unsparing perspective to it all - not least in admitting that he wasn’t kicked out of the Byrds because of musical differences, but because he was a jerk. McGuinn shared some great glimpses into the genesis of L.A. Stills lights up the screen talking about neighbor Frank Zappa standing in the street between their houses and reciting the lyrics to his song “Who Are the Brain Police?,” and sheepishly admitting that he fled out the back one time when the cops came to his house while Eric Clapton, Neil Young and others were visiting. The non-musical highlights by and large are the vivid tales of that life. ![]() The assertions made that the canyon was to its time and milieu equal to fin-de-siècle Vienna, Paris’ Movable Feast or even Hollywood’s Golden Era are at once grandiose and a bit myopic, of course, but that’s largely forgivable. And there’s virtually no look at the larger context of the times’ cultural turmoil with the civil rights and anti-war movements and the Aquarian hunger for belonging and hope - and the new vistas of artistic expression that sprung from it all.Īs for what is in the film, there is much to love, not least the music at its core and insights and anecdotes from those in, around and closely following in the footsteps of that scene: Stephen Stills, Michelle Philips, Roger McGuinn, David Crosby and Graham Nash among those in the first group, Brian Wilson, Eric Clapton and Ringo Starr in the second, and Tom Petty and Jackson Browne leading the latter. ![]() Still, some mention of the next era, growing from this scene’s ashes and revolving around visionary singer-songwriters rather than bands, would have been very helpful.Īrguably more troubling is there being no presence at all of the Doors, nor of Love, two bands crucial to that community. Mitchell got there in late ’67, with Crosby producing her debut album at that time. Others are defending the omission, if grudgingly, by noting that the movie limits itself to the time between 1964 (with the advent of the Byrds and the rise of folk-rock) through 1967 (when David Crosby was booted from the band and Neil Young left Buffalo Springfield, the other greatest band of that scene).īoth sides of that argument are partly right and partly wrong. Or more to the point, who isn’t - specifically Joni Mitchell, an artist as identified with the rich legacy of that landscape as anyone. For many music insiders and fans who contributed to the very impressive opening weekend gross ($103,716 in just two theaters, touted as the second best per-screen average so far this year), a good deal of the chatter has been about not what’s in the movie, but what isn’t.
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