Laurel Canyon

"It was just about a time, the creative awakening." ~ Jackson Browne

Allison Ellwood directed this two-part docuseries that covers the time and place where many of the top musicians of the day lived and hung out in a magical, semi-communal style life in the hills of California's Laurel Canyon in the heyday of the 1960s and early 1970s. As a child, I was transplanted from the midwest to the base of this fertile canyon and into this creative aura that permeated my soul.

The film moves fast, but not too fast, in a sumptuous display of picture and video images that tumble forward in accompaniment to the tunes and tales of beloved Troubadours.

Photographers Henry Diltz and Nurit Wilde, whose photographic contributions are seminal to documenting this tremendous time, both explain how they began taking pictures of the talented, photogenic folks on the cutting edge of the music and social scene to capture the moments they were part of. Over time, their photographic passions unfolded into stunning historical archives of this special time in the canyon and the reach these musicans had on the world.

This pleasureful project wove together individual stories I'd heard over the years with bits and bobs that were new to me. No matter how much you already know or not, this film offers a satisfying overview of the scene: David Crosby produced Joni Mitchell's first album in Florida and brought her to California where they landed in the rural canyon that runs as an artery through urban Los Angeles. Many of the artists-in-residence were hosted by, (and introduced to each other via), the exquisite, magnanimous "Mama" Cass Elliot of The Mamas & The Papas.

Crosby, Still, and Nash, and ultimately Young, hook up and go through various ups-and-down stages of their musical partnership. Linda Ronstadt and JD Souther have a cute meet and move in together, leading to love and creative collaboration; those in the orbit of luminous song stylist extraordinare, Linda, found themselves incarnating as a supergroup, The Eagles.

Graham Nash narrates his sweet story of how he and Joni Mitchell, then deep in domestic bliss, ate at Art's Deli on Ventura Blvd. one morning, after which Joni bought a vase she fancied, they returned to their canyon home, Joni went home to pick flowers to fill her new pretty purchase, and while she was out, her piano was empty and Graham presided over it and out spilled "Our House."

There is precious video of Eric Clapton listening gape mouthed to a fresh Joni play her unique guitar chords at a house party; Nurit Wilde adored taking photos of the affable Peter Tork, who had a penchant for nudity, and hosted pool parties at his haven in the hills; and one of my favorite moments is when Jackson Browne, the new kid, (then a georgous, cherub-faced young man), played "Song for Adam," for an impressed David Crosby, who dubbed Jackson part of the new wave of canyon musicians.

Apolitical young singer-songwriters found their voice during this transformative time. A seminal moment occured for Stephen Stills in 1966 when he witnessed the Sunset Strip curfew riots with violent clashes between police and the youth; he went home and wrote, "For What It's Worth."

In 1969, the moon landing was followed and juxtiposed by the Manson Murders; one positively electrifying event so far away, yet glowed larger than life in every living room in the country, and the other, awful events, so close by and negatively charged that they cast a gorey gloom over the graceful goodness of the days.

Groups and singers that brought country music into the rock fold were covered, as was The Monterey Pop Festival, and the move from playng intimate clubs like the Troubadour (where the artists could meet up, collaborate, and soak in each other's songs) to being booked at huge arenas, where larger audiences could enjoy the shows, but the cozy creativity of the Laurel Canyonites was lost.

The list of talent in the canyon included: Joni Mitchell; Crosby, Still, Nash & Young; Buffalo Springfield; The Byrds; The Mamas & The Papas; The Doors; Alice Cooper;The Monkees; Love; The Turtles; Jackson Browne; Linda Ronstadt; Little Feat; and The Flying Burrito Brothers. Steve Martin too!

I highly recommend this movie.

This is a very compelling look at a place and time that was remarkably influential. It has the nostalgia of being the soundtrack that I grew up with, listening on the OTA radio. But I never knew about the fascinating collection of people all living in this one small area because celebrity culture at the time wasn't all on Insta all day long.

It really seems like it must have been a special Brigadoonish place, that can't be replicated and must emerge on its own, rarely. And the right people need to find it.

That said, it's almost an entirely white male story, and certainly wasn't the only thing going on in the world. But it was an interesting capture of the lightning in a bottle of the late 60s with great photos, sounds, and film. Very worthwhile.

With a majority of today's pop\rock music either created inside a game show, or lost in streaming obscurity Laural Canyon shines a light on what could be possible again. Obviously the record business is not the same, and the modality of sharing new music has radically changed. However, LC teaches us the music that changed us came from a group of people who were first and foremost community minded. The concept of a ' music scene' cannot be lost on the viewer. What that music offers the listener, the enthusiast is an energy. It seems to me it's difficult if not impossible for a lasting music scene filled with energy and life to exist inside one's and zero's alone. If you love music and want to share how it was created out of thin air (and how it could happen again), show this to your teenager. Before it fades away into the dust of 'old stuff'.

This really is essential and must-see if you have any interest in the popular music that was created in the mid-60's - mid-70's in Southern California, specifically, the artists who lived in the Laurel Canyon area. I'm not an expert in this, but I am pretty knowledgeable about it, so it's always a treat when I learn about things for the first time that I didn't already know. A mild criticism of this movie was that it spent precious time on Little Feat, which was noted in the documentary itself that they were not a very popular or well-known group. The movie also reminded me of how great Linda Ronstadt was before she made the puzzling decision to start singing songs from the Big Band Era.

If you like this movie, I would also recommend 2008's, "The Wrecking Crew" about the unknown session musicians of that era who were responsible for helping to make many of the classic songs that came out of that time.

Finally, please note that this great documentary should not be confused with "Echo in the Canyon," Jakob Dylan's self-indulgent documentary that ostensibly was also about the Laurel Canyon era, but instead was mostly just him and his buddies doing covers of classic songs made famous by the original artists.

I was very pleasantly surprised at the the amount of original footage and narration by the singers and songwriters themselves, thinking that there could not possibly be anything left that had not been shown elsewhere before. The show does a very creative job of joining that particular place - Laurel Canyon Road - with stories about the people and music that came out of that one location. Not to be missed if you love the music of that period in time. Thank you for a wonderful evening.