The Smiley Smile Message Board

Saw on Rolling Stone’s website a trailer for a new documentary about LA’s music scene in the ’60s. Brian was interviewed for it and others appearing in it seem to bring up the Beach Boys a lot/seem very laudatory of Brian’s work. Look forward to seeing this!

https://www.rollingstone.com/movies/movie-news/echo-in-canyon-documentary-jakob-dylan-tom-petty-brian-wilson-817604/

Thanks for the heads-up. Sounds interesting. You can also see the Wild Honey-album cover in one shot.

Just one thing that I don't like is that the Beach Boys so many times get limited to be the band that influenced the Beatles (as was mentioned in the trailer). They can certainly stand on their own.
I also hope that Jan & Dean get their due.

That looks really cool.

Agreed that Jan & Dean definitely deserve attention in a movie about the California Sound!


I can't wait to see this. Looks incredible.

Is that an actual picture of Brian's sandbox piano in the trailer at 1:45!?!?!

It almost looks like a grainy video actually. I've never seen a picture of the sandbox, didn't know one existed.

Anyone?

Just showed up in my newsfeed

https://www.google.com/amp/s/pitchfork.com/news/fiona-apple-beck-brian-wilson-more-appear-in-new-laurel-canyon-doc-watch-the-trailer/amp

No inside knowledge here, but I'm betting on: Not actual picture.

A few more props in this shot but very similar to the ‘Love &Mercy’ piano. Right down to the beach ball and light switch.


https://mobile.twitter.com/beachboyslegacy/status/726817108592578560

Can anyone identify what album they are holding at 1:55?

EDIT: I have discovered it - Last Time Around by Buffalo Springfield

Don't know why they have included Ringo Starr and Eric Clapton, guess it's because so many key players are dead now.

They will probably just be there to comment stuff like "oh yeah, in England we loved the stuff coming out of lauren canyon...Brians a genius, loved the Byrds, etc etc"

I'm just suggesting this to the readers here and overall because it's a fascinating and very educational journey once you take it, and it isn't said with malice or anything of the sort: Take some time and read the history of Laurel Canyon and its key players, and even prior to seeing this film you'll see why Clapton and Ringo are involved in the film, and you'll find a lot more in the way of information and backstory that probably will *not* make it to a widely-distributed film. There is some truly bizarre, fascinating, and sometimes disturbing if not hilarious info to be found about the hills of Laurel Canyon especially in the 60's and the 70's...and also, how a top-secret yet known military intelligence-led film studio managed to co-exist with all these artists and hippie types for a time... :)

Anyway, to Clapton and Ringo:

One of the most prominent and important players in all of this was Mama Cass Elliot, who had a house in the Canyon which was something of a gathering point for a lot of musicians in the 60's. Mama Cass herself was such a strong personality she also was like the de facto organizer and putter-together of a lot of these musicians who would become friends and bandmates often as a result of one of Cass' parties or introductions. One of the bigger examples of Cass' matchmaking was how she introduced Graham Nash to Crosby, Stills, and Joni Mitchell...Nash having come from England and Crosby, Stills, and Mitchell either having their houses in the Canyon or being regular visitors there.

So Ringo in the late 70's was renting Mama Cass' old house, and proceeded to accidentally set it on fire one day. This was after Ringo was running around LA and the Canyon in the early 70's post-Beatles with the likes of Nilsson, Dolenz, Alice Cooper, etc...the Hollywood Vampyres crew. If you search for it, there are news report videos available of that day the Mama Cass house was on fire, with Ringo there. So Ringo was not only a guest earlier, but eventually a resident of Laurel Canyon.

Clapton was also a frequent guest of those living in the Canyon, like Mama Cass, Joni Mitchell, etc. Look up Henry Diltz, former MFQ member turned rock photographer, and you'll see Diltz's series of photos from a visit Clapton made to a party where Joni, Crosby, and other members of that crew were hanging out. And you'll see Clapton's pink boots...which if you know the story behind that, are pink boots of the sort Clapton was wearing when he and Stills were having a full-volume guitar jam session blasting into the valleys of another famous LA-area "canyon" when the police were called and it turned into a massive drug bust of the people partying there that night. The police took them to jail in a bus, and made Clapton strip down at the jail except for the pink boots, to embarrass this British guy wearing pink boots and get a few laughs at his expense.

And the Beatles/Harrison tune "Blue Jay Way" for the record is one of the "bird streets" around Laurel Canyon, house number 1567 to be exact, and was where George was renting and wrote the song about waiting for Derek Taylor (another Laurel Canyon resident) to arrive in summer '67. Art Garfunkel was another famous renter of that same house, along with other notables through the years.


So that's why Clapton and Ringo are in the film: They were there in and around Laurel Canyon when all these things were happening.

And it's also perhaps why Jan Berry would not be expected to be a main point/topic in such a film, it might make more sense to have his brother Bruce (and other brother Ken), mentioned as one of the casualties of the whole drug scene when heroin got into the mix among some of the musicians. Ken started SIR - Studio Instrument Rentals which is still in business as one of the prime equipment rental businesses today - and Bruce was one of those driving the "Ford Econoline van" for SIR as documented by Neil Young on Tonight's The Night while doing roadie and rental work for the likes of CSN and others. I don't know offhand how involved Jan was in the specific scene or locale targeted by this documentary, I'm sure he was a visitor like almost everyone, but it really wasn't his scene. His brother Bruce had he lived would have had plenty of stories about Laurel Canyon...but the film is more about this specific scene rather than California music in general.

Check out some of the history even before seeing the film, it's an amazing ride.

But how are they going to wedge the Beach Boys and Brian Wilson into a "Laurel Canyon" thing (unless they are basically equating Laurel Canyon with "Southern California")  Beach Boys had nothing to do with that scene.  Friends is the most hilly, canyon-esque thing Brian or the Beach Boys ever did.

Brian lived with Marilyn at 1448 Laurel Way from 65-67. While there can be geographical debates about the boundaries of "Laurel Canyon" and which streets and land plots were actually included in that named area, Brian was living in the area at that time and also had close friends in and around this area, such as Mark Volman, Derek Taylor (who I mentioned above), and other members of the Smile era inner circle.

So why is Brian involved in this? He lived there, more or less, when he made what many would say is some of the finest popular music ever created.  :)

Fair enough - I've lost perspective; the documentary is made for a wider audience, and it's been a long time, so it may not matter where and when things occurred.  Laurel Way - the "Smile" house - most certainly is not Laurel Canyon either geographically or culturally - particuarly at that time.  Then when Brian moved, he moved to what is probably the wealthiest, most posh section of Bel-Air - very distinct from what Laurel Canyon was in those days, which for the musicians was cheap rent.  I see that none of this really matters after 50 years and it all may be grouped together. That actually makes sense.

I'll see this documentary and expect to enjoy it, but it will be interesting to see if, now, 50-60 years on, Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys are collectively grouped with CSN, Joni, "Love Street" and all that.  Because the reality, as you know, is that this earthy "canyon" thing (plus the Northern California San Francisco thing) is what supplanted - dethroned - the Beach Boys (and Brian) as the sound of "California" This of course is part of the Beach Boys story.  But again, Friends is the album that captures the Beach Boys' version of a woodsy canyon (that is, not the beach!) vibe, it pre-dated most the more well-known Laurel Canyon stuff, and it holds up as well as any of that material.  In fact the Friends promo video featues the Beach Boys cavorting in one of the local canyons.

Is there a good book about this?

I think the doc may be aiming for the idea of cross-pollination among all these young musicians - specifically in the mid-60's related to when Brian was living at 1448 Laurel Way - and how so many key members responsible for making that classic music were living not too far away from each other. And, as a result, how they would develop friendships, share ideas and new songs at each other's houses in that general area, and in some cases how some now-classic bands and lineups were formed as a result.

The doc may not be trying to get caught up in exact geography and zip codes and all that, but instead taking a look at just how many musicians were living in that general area where any of them could hop in a car and coast down one of those winding hill roads and be smack-dab in the middle of the Sunset Strip, on Sunset Blvd, and all of the key locations and studios were not all that far away. And yes, I agree there was the difference between the bigger successes like Brian and John/Michelle Phillips who were in the higher-rent areas versus others like the band The Rockets who would become Crazy Horse, with leader Danny Whitten and his crew playing marathon jam sessions in a garage that bordered a busy curve heading down to Sunset where people driving by would hear them playing sometimes all day long.

So factor in how Danny Hutton considered Danny Whitten for the band he was forming which became Redwood then Three Dog Night, and how Mark Volman would come over to Brian's house to listen to songs he was working on, and how Michelle Phillips comments on visiting Brian and Marilyn in the film trailer and how she saw the sandbox, and mentions what Brian was working on...and multiply all of those by the many other now famous musicians who were coexisting and hanging out with each other at this time in the mid-60's. Fast forward a few years, and the new crop of California-Sound singer-songwriters like Jackson Browne, Carole King, the whole Troubador crew, etc...

It's like playing rock history "6 Degrees Of Separation" and so many of these key figures in the LA music scene in the 60's and 70's have one degree between them, and many were in the same basic area, whether it's technically and geographically Laurel Canyon or Beverly Hills or any other name. Then there is the Blue Jay Way house which was rented by other very famous musicians, as mentioned above, and that was just one house that happened to host Beatles and other luminaries when they came to LA in the mid to late 60's. It was a pretty amazing time for that many classic artists in their 20's for the most part to be within the same general area and all of them just a downhill drive from the Sunset Strip where they were performing and recording, or had offices, etc.

I think that's what the film may be aiming for, to show how so much classic music was created by a group of young musicians living in close proximity to each other and how their location enabled them to interact, share ideas, and make things happen. It is to me like talking about the "Greenwich Village" scene, and taking it as a whole in order to tell the story versus focusing on individual blocks or streets or even house numbers versus the overall impact of all those musicians being in the same general area at the same time in history.

I'd try Harvey Kubernick's "Canyon Of Dreams" for a start - Harvey is one of the best authors and historians in the business, and actually lived in the Canyon, so it's often a firsthand perspective. I'm posting an Amazon link to Harvey's book, and in the suggestions and related titles you'll see other books about Laurel Canyon with some different focal points on the history related to the music community. Check them out:

https://www.amazon.com/Canyon-Dreams-Magic-Music-Laurel/dp/1402797613 (https://www.amazon.com/Canyon-Dreams-Magic-Music-Laurel/dp/1402797613)

Thanks! Amazingly my local library has a copy. I just put in a request through their website.

Where's Jackie DeShannon?

According to Rolling Stone, Neil Young is featured on a recording of “I Just Wasn’t Made For These Times” for the film’s soundtrack. No Brian involvement is mentioned though. https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/jakob-dylan-jade-castrinos-cover-mamas-and-the-papas-go-where-you-wanna-go-826578/

A group of musicians led by Jakob Dylan involved in paying tribute to the original musicians and songs will be performing live this Friday in Philly, broadcast on WXPN as part of their Free At Noon program. You can go to the WXPN website and also watch live video of the show (and they also archive past performances), at this link:

https://edge2.xpn.org/events/free-at-noon/item/5933-echo-in-the-canyon-featuring-jakob-dylan-cat-power-jade (https://edge2.xpn.org/events/free-at-noon/item/5933-echo-in-the-canyon-featuring-jakob-dylan-cat-power-jade)

I'm really excited about this. I'm curious to hear the other songs this group performing here Friday as well as the overall cast as written up in RS will do and how they will work them up.

Live video and audio stream of this show is at 12PM EST, this Friday. Definitely worth checking out.

This was linked to from Brian's Facebook account:


‘The Immensity Of His Genius Can’t Be Measured’: Jakob Dylan, Andy Slater Talk Brian Wilson & ‘Echo In The Canyon’ Film

https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2019/05/31/echo-in-the-canyon-jakob-dylan-andy-slater-tom-petty-interview/?fbclid=IwAR0uhPyeUNp2MAEHVtSp7ejeUQKVx4RkFp8227qnYzyuo2pOs0WvQz9z0R4




The film also spends a good chunk of time diving into the story of Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys. Dylan and Slater wanted to make sure a new group of music fans understood just how revered Wilson and his group was and still is in the music industry.

“It’s interesting because some people think of The Beach Boys with the surf boards and matching shirts,” said Dylan. “I could see if you were someone like Tom Petty and you grew up with that music, you’d remember those images as strong as the next ones. I never think of those images really. I think of the later Beach Boys stuff.”

“If you’re listening to the earlier period where Brian’s father is producing, they’re more influenced by the surf culture,” said Slater. “Brian starts to really expand the parameters of what The Beach Boys are doing by searching for the idea of how one fits into society. The immensity of his genius can’t be measured.

The soundtrack album has Jakob Dylan and Fiona Apple doing In My Room, and Dylan and Neil Young doing I Just Wasn't Made For These Times.

Bravo to Dylan, Slater, and the makers of this film for taking on this topic.

What I find both satisfying and ironic about this quote above is how for the previous however many years of reading these message boards there have been a small but vocal (and annoying) group of so-called "fans" who would react to such statements about Brian Wilson's influence on and reverence from the music industry as hype, overstatement, or even that old chestnut being a "Brianista" whatever that bullshit is supposed to mean.

So now we have yet another documentary film expressing the same sentiments and opinions that have been shot down at various times through the years within this small circle of online fans for being too much hype for Brian, by "Brianistas" or other nonsense.

The truth wins out yet again. So there is that to think about next time some online jackass starts into someone who is talking enthusiastically about Brian Wilson...

Off soapbox, back to listening to Echo In The Canyon soundtrack tunes...

Just saw the film, pretty solid watch. As noted, there is a nice segment of the film dedicated to The Beach Boys/Brian, and they include a couple of clips from an interview Jakob did with Brian. They also brought Brian into the studio to play piano on “I Just Wasn’t Made For These Times” with Jakob and his backing band, although it’s unclear if any of the recording was used in the movie or the soundtrack, they quickly cut to different footage that didn’t have Brian there. If anyone picked up the soundtrack please report back if Brian is credited as playing on that version. Also, oddly enough, the film includes Roger McGuinn briefly recounting the story of “Ding Dang” which was pretty funny. Not sure it was an essential inclusion in the film but I appreciated it. Also at one point, Lou Adler takes credit for bringing an acetate of Pet Sounds to England and playing it to Andrew Loog-Oldham and Paul McCartney, which I don’t think I have heard offered up before.

That is true about Lou Adler, and it has been reported before. Adler himself took a copy over and played it for Paul at Andrew Loog-Oldham's place, then Kim Fowley and Keith Moon set up the listening session with McCartney AND Lennon, with that acetate copy delivered by Bruce, that has been well documented. So yes, Lou Adler had premiered it for Paul, and it had been reported previously.

First, apologies that this thread somehow got locked, for no reason. No clue how that happened but it's open again.

I finally saw the film in a theater yesterday, and would recommend everyone go see it while it's in the theaters (check your local independent and arthouse type theaters, I don't think it's on any theater chains' billings), or catch it when it comes out on streaming or DVD, etc.  It's a very interesting journey through some great music and musicians.

I thought it felt a little short, especially in how they focused in on only a few musicians from the scene, while leaving out others, but that's as much a time limitation as it could have been artists refusing to appear. I don't know. But what was there was pretty good. Plenty of time devoted to the Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, CSN (with all three giving interviews, kind of sad to see Crosby and Nash still separated by their feud).

McGuinn's story about "Ding Dang" brought out one of the biggest laughs from the crowd.

I won't give spoilers, but another laugh came when Brian told Jakob Dylan "you're in the wrong key!" after Dylan told Brian how they had been running down the tune before Brian arrived at the piano. Then Brian told them to play it in E or E-flat, whatever key you guys are doing it...

It is always great to see Brian interviewed for projects like this. Throughout the film, quite a few nods of appreciation and respect are given to Brian and what he was doing with The Beach Boys. As much as Brian's sounds and the BB's pretty much planted the seed for this scene, the credit for planting that seed seemed to go as much to The Byrds, which is true in terms of "folk rock" and poetry in rock/pop but not entirely their credit.

One example: "Mr Tambourine Man", which obviously changed the game a bit with a Rickenbacker 12-string sonic hook from McGuinn taking the idea after seeing George Harrison playing one in Hard Day's Night and Dylan's poetry set to a "rock beat"...but that very same rock beat was in McGuinn's own admission through the years taken from Brian's "Don't Worry Baby". Listen to the two grooves, and also listen to a lot of the hits Hal Blaine used that same beat to drive the song...That was Brian's DWB groove driving the grooves. It would have been nice to spend 15 seconds pointing that out in this film. The Byrd's breakthrough hit owed its pulse and groove to DWB and Brian.

A cool scene that gets cut in and out of throughout is Jakob, Beck, Regina Spektor, and Cat Power sitting around a coffee table piled high with classic albums. Among those on the table are Pet Sounds, Smiley Smile, and the Smile Sessions box set...along with titles from the Springfield, Byrds, and even More Of The Monkees! I wonder if there are outtakes where they talk more about those albums piled up on that table, even though Pet Sounds did get more screen time and much deserved accolades.

For fans of studios and classic sessions, yes they did discover and screen parts of that Mamas And Papas session filmed at Western #3, as described in a Universal Audio company newsletter and used for an ABC-TV special. And yes, there they are in Western 3 cutting a record, with Hal and Tommy Tedesco and all others in full color working in Western 3 just as it looked when Brian was cutting there.

*That* bit of film from the TV special needs a full release! Very, very cool to see more of what has previously come out in dribs and drabs.

And there are some nice shots of people like Lou Adler coming back to Western 3 and other rooms, talking about the records they made there.

The music was good in terms of the remakes, but some of the liberties the artists took with the melodies, especially Brian's melodies, can be a little jarring. Not bad, but there is that element of not messing with perfection in play when listening.

I do wish they had included Flo & Eddie or even Chip Douglas in the film, since one of the lead singles on the soundtrack was "You Showed Me", and The Turtles have a very big footprint on that scene as we all know. But for whatever reasons, they weren't included.

I'll have to stop there, otherwise I'll describe the whole film.

But...stay through the end credits, you'll see Neil Young doing something that I found very emotional and joyous, a neat end to the film. Neil is featured a lot but has no modern interview segments at all, except for what happens at the end credits. It's bittersweet and joyous at the same time...Neil doing what we all want to do as we get older with the sheer joy of playing music like no one is watching. I'll leave it there.  :)

Also bittersweet to see Tom Petty in some of the final appearances he ever made on camera, Tom is above all a big fan and a music lover as we discussed when he passed away: He talks like a lot of us talk about this music, and how much it means to him. It's infectious, and he knows it all. One highlight was Tom describing seeing The Beach Boys and Buffalo Springfield together on tour, and thinking this is the best a concert can get...Hard to disagree with the man.  :)  Also funny to hear him explain how "Rickenbacker" should be pronounced.

See the film when you can. It's very cool.

Seconding GF's fine review, definitely a feel-good film made with love and respect, even if those young folks are a little vapid when they sit around discussing those LPs as if they are from the Jurassic period or something. As always their odd lack of articulation is more than compensated for by the voluble David Crosby, who can be seen here warming up for his own documentary (which will be out shortly).

Thanks Don, and yes despite some of the flaws there is the undercurrent of love and respect along with the effort of trying to get younger listeners in the YouTube generation to check out some of this amazing music and these artists. It is a very reverential film to those classic songs and artists without being too sappy or turning into a lecture. Very cool experience overall, although I can't wait to see the outtakes!  ;D

Reminded of this by the thread just started on Terry Melcher, but the film does spend a convincing amount of time focusing on The Byrds, specifically Mr Tambourine Man, as one of the hallmark recordings that changed the game, bringing poetry and the new folk-rock scene into the Top-10 singles charts and therefore the public consciousness. Yet unless I missed the references, they barely mention Terry Melcher's contributions as producer to those hallmark Byrds singles that became smash hits.

Just thinking out loud how it may have been a more accurate balance if they had leveled up McGuinn's credits with Melcher's and given Terry more screen mentions, since ultimately they both were responsible for bringing *that sound* to one of Dylan's folk songs in order to get it on the radio and in the charts. I'd wager if Terry were not producing those early Byrds hits, they would not have had the same impact. I doubt they would have done what they did with McGuinn's Rickenbacker sonically if they had an old-school staff producer on those sessions, for one example.

Recently saw this documentary and I absolutely loved it.

Side note, which will tie back into The BBs:

I also recently saw the new David Crosby documentary, and it's mindblowingly good. Crosby is so, so honest and brutally real in discussing his failings and how he acted like a dick; it's mighty brave of him to do so, and I'm sure he'll get a bunch of new fans or at least people (like me) who were already casual fans, but are now more incentivized to want to seek out his past works and learn more about the guy and his music.

Bravo to Cameron Crowe for being a part of such a film that just has such a real point of view. Crosby talks about how many people he worked with don't like him, how he's made enemies, etc. But of course, the film is not just a piece of work to discuss Crosby's failings, it wisely balances positives and negatives without seeming like a propaganda piece in any way, shape, or form. Crosby did not have final cut over the film, but apparently after being initially bugged by the released cut, Crosby has made peace with it and is enjoying people being newly fascinated by him and his work.

I could not help but think that it's a damn shame that no film like this has been made about Mike Love. Love him or hate him (or somewhere between), the ins and outs of Mike's massive amount of touring is certainly something that would make for interesting documentary material. The Crosby film goes into lots of little nuts and bolts of what Crosby has to deal with day to day health-wise, how he has to make tough decisions on when/how he is going to tour at this age, etc., and I have to think that while Mike's story would undoubtedly be different, there's got to be a lot of very interesting material that could make for a great documentary, especially if Mike opened up about his past regrets in the manner that Crosby did, and if Mike also relinquished any notion of having final cut over such as doc.

I feel as though this will never, ever happen, but damn if it isn't a missed opportunity because Mike could really benefit from something like this if he'd be even half as open/honest/real as Crosby is in the Crosby doc.

So if you take what you are saying here, and cross reference your earlier comments about Don't Worry Baby also adding to the propulsion of the Byrds sound, and of course, the relationship of Terry and Brian pre dating it all, does the Melcher influence loom even larger??

Saw the film back in early June.  Walked out of the theater thinking, how do you make this film and basically ignore the role of Terry Melcher?   Terry was right at the center of that scene and was a link between many of the groups featured.  A 4-5 minute segment about Terry would have been a lot more relevant to the film than the Ding-Dang anecdote.

Nice to see the Smile box set get a cameo, though, when the Gen Xers were leafing through classic albums.

This is now on Netflix in the US.

I finally saw Echo in the Canyon (thanks, Netflix), and it was enjoyable. It succeeded in showing how all of those musicians influenced each other. However, I think Jakob Dylan was extremely subpar as an interviewer/host. It seemed most of his input during the interviews was a thin smile and him going, "Hmm." Not a whole lot of probing questions on his part. I feel like they were trying to show how those bands are still influencing musicians today, but there wasn't a whole lot of insight from the contemporary artists included (e.g., Beck, Cat Power, Regina Spektor, etc.)

Also, I wasn't familiar with Jade Castrinos before seeing this documentary. She has an incredible voice! Definitely have to check out more of her music.

2 Gettin Hungry - Does it mean you didn't see Brian Fest event 4 yrs back at Fonda theatre? Many young artists been invited. Jade Castrinos sang "I Just Wasn't Made For These Tiimes". I too really liked her voice. It's beautiful when she sings that specific PS song. It fit her musically. It used to be in youtube but it's different Brian Fest numbers, not her, strangely. By the end, when checked each video way back when, favorites been Jade, M Ward (YSGTM), Punch Brothers (SU) & Joy Williams (WIBN). Give it listen.

Sorry for the delayed response. I was traveling for work last week and didn't have a chance to check in.

No, I did not suee Brian Fest with Jade Castrinos singing "I Just Wasn't Made for These Times." I'll have to see if I can track it down. Thanks for the recommendation!

Annoyingly for UK viewers it can't be watched or purchased anywhere, but if you use a VPN and connect to American Netflix it's on that :)

Good film, although I liked the David Crosby documentary better (can rent it for 4.99 on amazon video now).

But one thing i dont understand is why joni mitchell isnt featured at all in it? She actually lived in laurel canyon and literally had an album called "ladies of the canyon"....Maybe Jacob just isnt a fan of hers or something...

The part where crosby says something about threesomes and says "people do it, thats why the french have a word for it" and then they cut to graham nash going "he wrote that song cuz he's done it...many times!" was pretty funny

I too thought the David Crosby documentary was far superior to Echo in the Canyon.

One of my other great mysteries about watching Echo is why Neil Young only shows up during the credits to shred on guitar in the studio, but he wasn't interviewed. Or did I miss something?

Never a dull moment with Crosby in the room. Some people hate him cause he just says what he thinks.
Wonder if he and Graham have made up yet?

Recently borrowed the DVD from a co-worker, and I gotta say, while I enjoyed the film overall, it was kind of a big let down. There's a few too many significant omissions -- as others have pointed out -- that are hard to ignore. Without getting into a trash-talk session,  Jakob was a very underwhelming host. The biggest disappointment was the (seemingly) uninspired discussions Jakob had with Beck, Cat Power and (I already forgot who the other girl was) over the piles of classic LPs; it seemed like none of them had anything very interesting to say or point out, and they didn't appear particularly excited sitting around the table. Hell, Cat Power hardly said anything after one scene of her singing.

This being said, I thoroughly enjoyed the smattering of anecdotes I was not familiar with (Stephen Stills talking about his party getting busted, or recalling Frank Zappa doing spoken-word recitation of "Who are the Brain Police?" lyrics), Michelle Phillips being very candid about life and (free) love, any segment with David Crosby, Roger/Jim McGuinn or Tom Petty on screen (The Brian Wilson segment is obviously gold, Brian and Croz got me to genuinely laugh watching this), and the live footage of Jakob & Co. performing on stage was actually pretty good, I thought.

TL;DR: I was way stoked for this over the summer, but watching it was kind of a bummer. I wish they would've taken an approach along the lines of the new Ken Burns Country Music documentary and made a mini-series instead, something like hour long installments to allow for more time to spread the focus over more than a select few of the various influential folks who lived in Laurel Canyon.

And again, nothing against Jakob, but they should've got somebody else to host -- like Dweezil or Moon Unit Zappa -- they only grew up there, and I think both have a little more personality (sorry, Jakob!).

Maybe they just got the wrong Dylan!  :o The ol' Bobster has such a way with words, as some got to hear on his radio show.

When I saw this on Netflix I jumped on it based upon some things I read here . I found it to be another" documentary for dummies" which I am really tired of. I've heard all these stories before as I guess most people have. I'm at the point where you have to wonder just how much of it is true. They focused on the '64 to '67 period which probably isn't what people think of when they consider Laurel Canyon. Over the last few years I've read a number of books on the canyon and they were really entertaining and informative , something this movie was not.

I only have seen the trailer -- did you know Brian Wilson had a sandbox in his living room?

The Crosby documentary is THE definitive depiction of the Laurel Canyon scene. Fantastic stuff.

:lol :p ;)

I finally watched this on Netflix. As others have said, I enjoyed the anecdotes-- even some I'd heard before--and I especially enjoyed Brian coming into the studio and telling Jakob he was in the wrong key! Brian was quite animated (for him) in his interview, which was nice to see. But there were some key players left out of the story.

Also, I thought it was WAY too much Jakob Dylan. I'm from his generation, and I'm a fan of Beck and Fiona Apple and Regina Spektor, all of whom appeared. But the film purported to be a tribute to this 60s music, yet it kept cutting to Dylan's versions of these classic songs rather than the originals. Yes, I know, it was supposed to be a promo for Jakob's tribute album, blah, blah. Also, the interviews kept cutting to Jakob and his really useless, "Hmms" and "Yeahs." The way the interviews are shot, you see the subject and Jakob sitting next to each other, and it keeps cutting to him for his nothing reactions. The ending credits said "starring" Jakob Dylan" and featuring everyone else. It would have been nice for him to step aside a little bit, especially since he didn't have much to say.

I agree with what you are saying-- but I think it's worth pointing out the movie might not have been made at all if Jakob Dylan hadn't been involved.

I must admit I hadn’t heard of Jakob Dylan, but to look at him it’s pretty easy to work out how he got his break in music :D

Agree, he looks terrible just like Bob Dylan.

He was in the band the Wallflowers which enjoyed some popularity in the late 90's.  They did a cover of Bowie's "Heroes" that got some airplay.  I saw them perform at Atlanta's Music Midtown back in 2000 and they were alright. 


Regarding this album, I downloaded the cover of "I Just Wasn't Made For These Times" that features him and Neil Young on it; didn't really care for it.  On the other hand, the cover Dylan and Eric Clapton do of Buffalo Springfield's "Questions" is quite nice and worth a listen. 

Just bought the DVD. Watched it this morning.  Everyone should see this, if only for Brian’s role and the immense outpouring of respect and admiration aimed his way by many of the key players in that scene.