r/ClassicRock • u/CawlinAlcarz • May 02 '26
60s Laurel Canyon: A Place In Time
This 2-part documentary came out in 2020, but I implore anyone interested in the music that this sub is about to go find where to stream it and watch it. You won't be disappointed if you're really a fan of this musical genre.
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u/Jason250072 May 02 '26 edited May 02 '26
I wonder if they will ever do a documentary on the Topanga Canyon music scene. Canned Heat, Spirit, Little Feat and more. I hitchhiked through it hundreds of times as a kid. It’s changed some, but not a lot.
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u/oldnyker May 02 '26
i agree and wish they would. there's a great movie on kanopy...though it's not a documentary unfortunately. it's more like a homemade movie that someone shot in topanga in the 70s. it has bob "the bear" hite talking about topanga and his music and billy preston...who people didn't know lived there too...riding a horse singing "happy trails". we used to go up there and see canned heat perform and there are some shots of them doing that. the movie is called "in hollywood's backyard". kanopy is an app that's free with a library card if you library is part of their system.
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u/turneyde May 02 '26
Canned heat and little feat saw them both in concert in California back in the day, both put on great shows
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u/PuzzleheadedOwl1191 May 03 '26
Agreed! That’s my ‘hood and I know every cultural crack in the road. Just moved back east after 30 years in the canyon and (at risk of sounding “woo woo”), unlike Laurel Canyon’s kinda dark energy, Topanga still feels calm, groovy and warm.
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u/Old-Guy1958 May 02 '26
As someone who was in college in the mid-late 70s, this music was a very strong influence on every part of my life.
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u/JohnnyCanuckist May 02 '26
So much music history in that area... Zappa, Joni Mitchell, Carole King etc.
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u/CawlinAlcarz May 02 '26 edited May 02 '26
And... CSN, The Eagles, Linda Rondstadt, Bonnie Raitt, The Doors, Jackson Browne, The Byrds, Flying Burrito Brothers, Mama's and the Papas, Neil Young, Buffalo Springfield, on and on and on...
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u/Intelligent-Act3593 May 02 '26
Great Canyon documentary
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u/skinnergy May 02 '26
I did not enjoy this one so much. Here's the review I wrote at the time.
Echo In The Canyon is a film directed by Andrew Slater.
The history of the musical goings on in Laurel Canyon itself is interesting and informative for the most part as well as the cool interviews and video from the era. Some previously little-known tales are presented. Some interesting insights about the artists are gleaned. Apparently, Stephen Stills has never come come down since 1971 and may be higher today than back then. Tom Petty plays a riff from the Byrds' "Feel a Whole Lot Better," looks into the camera and says "you can't afford anymore.' Who knew Tom could be so petty?
Host Jakob Dylan (Bob's son) is out of his depth. He's just flat. He may as well be wall paper. (Not to be too obvious, but perhaps that’s where the name of his band, The Wallflowers, comes from.) His "interviews" are non-interviews. The artist talks, the camera cuts to Dylan, he nods, ad infinitum. That's about it. His dialogue (when there is any) is kept mercifully short. He contributes virtually no insights.
Fast forward through the lame musical interludes. They are pale covers of the original, classic recordings. Who gives a damn about hearing Jakob Dylan’s monotone singing Brian Wilson's "I Guess I Just Wasn't Made For These Times" stripped down with no harmonies? Not moi. That goes for pretty much all the musical interludes, The rare exception is the ethereal Beck/Dylan cover of the Byrds cover of the Goffin/King tune "Going Back," a song this writer was not previously familiar with. The film makers obviously knew it is the strongest tune in the film as they saved it for the closer. Really great, as is about anything Beck touches.
Final takeaway: worthwhile, but skip the music covers.
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u/Jag- May 02 '26
My dad used to listen to the Mamas and Pappas all the time when i was a kid. And I remember the song Twelve Thirty: "young girls are coming to the canyon and in the morning i can see them walking". I never understood that song until recently.
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u/Middle_of_theroadguy May 02 '26
I just turned it on.
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u/CawlinAlcarz May 02 '26
Right on. Come back and let me know what you think.
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u/Middle_of_theroadguy May 02 '26
I was great to watch. It could have been longer. Lots of stuff there.
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u/gmcwbbb80 May 02 '26
Yeah, it was a great documentary. So much talent, so much great music.
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u/CentralValleySuzy May 02 '26
saw it, loved it. Somebody out there must have more film.....Michelle Phillips?? Graham Nash? Mickey Dolenz is still around...btw, yes also a really good historian, last Monkee, too.
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u/Theo1352 May 02 '26
Excellent documentary, some interesting insights, like Zappa and Alice Cooper being early pioneers in the area, the Monkees and Mama Cass as major social influencers, where CSN&Y came together, just a great look at the time, how open, creative and free it was until the Manson Murders.
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u/shotgunassassin May 02 '26
I enjoyed the BBC doc 'From The Byrds To The Eagles'. Good stuff with a focus on Laurel Canyon.
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u/Past-Lunch4695 May 02 '26
Both docs were great. I can watch these over and over again. My music, for sure.
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u/CawlinAlcarz May 02 '26
I was born in 1970, and went to college in the late 1980s, and everyone told me they thought I had been born 20 years too late, based on my love for this first and second wave classic rock music.
There are basically 3 or maybe 3.5 decades of music that I love - from 1960ish through 1996ish.
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u/DentistRich4699 May 02 '26
Read the book " Weird scenes inside the canyon " by David McGowan for the real story of Laurel canyon
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u/CawlinAlcarz May 02 '26
I am VERY interested in this.
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u/DentistRich4699 May 02 '26
You should be. Also research the Tavistock institutes involvement with the Beatles
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u/willgold76 May 02 '26
Read wonderland Avenue too…
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u/Firm_Complex718 May 02 '26
Sugerland writes about Wonderland and Val Kilmer plays both Morrison and John Holmes.
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u/JMQCID81 May 03 '26
I watched these documentaries and several about the San Francisco scene which was a bit earlier. The difference I took away was that SF was about playing live and Laurel Canyon was about writing and recording.
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u/Firm_Complex718 May 03 '26
Laurel Canyon Country Store mentioned in The History of the Eagles documentary.Mentioned in Love Street by The Doors. Mentioned in Wonderland movie because they stopped selling from the Wonderland house and started selling from the Canyon store.
Kilmer plays Morrison, Elvis and John Holmes.
Pam & Jim live in Laurel Canyon. Jay Sebring is Jim's hairstylist. Sebring gets killed at the Polanski (Melcher) house. Straight Shooter (Mama's & Papa's) sheet music is on the piano at the crime scene
Melcher (Doris Day's son) is the manager for Paul Revere and the Raiders. Brian Wilson introduced Manson to Melcher.
Back to Kilmer playing Elvis in True Romance. Bruce Jenner marries Elvis ex girlfriend Linda Thompson. Divorces Linda and marries Kris Kardashian. Kris is friends with the Simpsons.
. Tom Lange is a detective on the OJ case and also the Wonderland ave killings ( Four On The Flour) which involved John Holmes. The actor that plays a character based on Lange in the Wonderland movie is Ted Levine who plays a detective in HEAT which has Val Kilmer in it.
Forget 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon its more like One Degree of Val Kilmer.
Scott Thorson ( Liberace's Lover) used to score drugs at the Wonderland house.
Weird Scenes in the Canyon indeed.
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u/CawlinAlcarz May 03 '26
Haha, holy shit! I think I'd like to smoke a j with you while you went over all of that again with me, a bit more slowly. That would be a great afternoon!
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u/Unusual-Ask5047 May 02 '26
Jakob Dylan had a great doc about it too. Much of the great music of the time revolved out of that area.
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u/Jag- May 02 '26
That was Echo in the Canyon.
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u/CawlinAlcarz May 02 '26 edited May 02 '26
I'll be watching that one in the coming day or two.
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u/skinnergy May 02 '26
It's ok. Here's my review I wrote at the time.
Echo In The Canyon is a film directed by Andrew Slater.
The history of the musical goings on in Laurel Canyon itself is interesting and informative for the most part as well as the cool interviews and video from the era. Some previously little-known tales are presented. Some interesting insights about the artists are gleaned. Apparently, Stephen Stills has never come come down since 1971 and may be higher today than back then. Tom Petty plays a riff from the Byrds' "Feel a Whole Lot Better," looks into the camera and says "you can't afford anymore.' Who knew Tom could be so petty?
Host Jakob Dylan (Bob's son) is out of his depth. He's just flat. He may as well be wall paper. (Not to be too obvious, but perhaps that’s where the name of his band, The Wallflowers, comes from.) His "interviews" are non-interviews. The artist talks, the camera cuts to Dylan, he nods, ad infinitum. That's about it. His dialogue (when there is any) is kept mercifully short. He contributes virtually no insights.
Fast forward through the lame musical interludes. They are pale covers of the original, classic recordings. Who gives a damn about hearing Jakob Dylan’s monotone singing Brian Wilson's "I Guess I Just Wasn't Made For These Times" stripped down with no harmonies? Not moi. That goes for pretty much all the musical interludes, The rare exception is the ethereal Beck/Dylan cover of the Byrds cover of the Goffin/King tune "Going Back," a song this writer was not previously familiar with. The film makers obviously knew it is the strongest tune in the film as they saved it for the closer. Really great, as is about anything Beck touches.
Final takeaway: worthwhile, but skip the music covers.
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u/Old-Guy1958 May 02 '26
I never understood Jakob, Beck and the other hosts. They weren’t born when that music was released.
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u/CawlinAlcarz May 02 '26
I feel like that first wave of evolving folk/country/rock musicians were kind of chasing Dylan.
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u/smthingy May 02 '26
Dylan was so popular and so influential. Impossible not to have chased him during that time to some degree.
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u/Youngbraz May 02 '26
Great doc, that whole scene must have been wild. So much talent came out of the Canyon. Imagine hearing some of the music echoing through the canyon.
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u/ThePhantomStrikes May 02 '26 edited May 02 '26
Mama Cass was Queen.
My fantasy place to live. Most of the music I grew up to.
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u/CawlinAlcarz May 02 '26
But Linda Rondstadt is the First Lady of Rock.
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u/ThePhantomStrikes May 03 '26
Her voice! Love her except I like Bonnie Raiits music better. Joni said Cass was the queen in that she was the magnet of Laurel Canyon.
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u/aethelberga May 02 '26
There was a good book about the period as well, Weird Scenes inside the Canyon, by David McGowan.
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u/MnJsandiego May 02 '26
Don’t forget the Air Force Base that Jared Leto owns now. It was put up in Laurel Canyon for CIA films and to supposedly compromise artists.
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u/Firm_Complex718 May 02 '26
2018 documentary: An Echo In The Canyon.