There have been a number of Laurel Canyon documentaries – all about the music scene in the late ‘60s/early ‘70s when it was a mecca of emerging musicians and the drug capital of Southern California.
Residents included the Mama’s & the Papa’s, the Byrds, the Doors, Frank Zappa, the Monkees, Turtles, Joni Mitchell, Buffalo Springfield, Love, and later Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, the Flying Burrito Brothers, Love, Linda Rondstadt, Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Brown, and the Eagles. Oh… and Steve Martin.
It was an idyllic period where everyone knew everyone else, they all would hang out together – usually at Mama Cass’ house, and I believe everyone also slept with everyone else (certainly Michelle Phillips did). Together they all made incredible music that has stood the test of time some 50 years later. (But it’s the sleeping with everyone that I really envy.)
Like I said, there have been several documentaries about the period. As recent as a year ago there was ECHO INTHE CANYON. I’m a sucker for any film about the LA music scene of that era so I’m glad I saw it, but half of it was filled with bullshit Jakob Dylan interviews, current singers doing covers of classic hits of the era, and no mention of the drugs and death that spelled the end of “Guitaralot.” It also didn’t make much mention of Joni Mitchell, which is like talking about the British Music Revolution and forgetting the Rolling Stones.
Happily, there’s a new Laurel Canyon documentary that is flat out sensational. It’s filled with home movies, raw footage, fascinating stories, and interviews so extensive that even I knew one of subjects personally. There’s no narrator – none is needed. But they do a beautiful job of conveying what was great about the music, the people, the period, and the nearby Sunset Strip scene.
They also don’t sugarcoat the period. Things turn dark. Drugs, the dangers of success, in some cases deaths (Jim Morrison, Mama Cass), reverberations from the Manson murders, and the turbulent world (a war we never should have been in, mass demonstrations, the National Guard, a crook for a president – sound familiar?) all contribute to the downfall of the era.
All of that is the good news. And it’s several hours long. But here’s the bad: It’s on Epix. Who the hell gets Epix? Hopefully it will go to Netflix or Hulu or any platform most people can get. Keep an eye out for it. When it does come along, check it out. And when you do, you’ll notice interviews with LA dj, Jim Ladd. He was on KLOS in the early ‘70s playing all of those albums and artists. Actually, I was playing them. I was his engineer.
from By Ken Levine
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