ECHO IN THE CANYON – Review

As the classic song goes, “Rock and roll is here to stay…”. That’s true at the clubs, the arenas, the stadiums, and, for the last year or so, the movie theatres. We’ve seen a love story, a couple of biographies, and now a feature documentary. Now those bios told the story of music superstars of the ’70s, so many younger fans may wonder about the artists that inspired them in the decade before. And not those from the home turfs of Elton and Freddie, but rather some home-grown American icons. Those influencers are remembered and celebrated by their works that still reverberate all through the years from a never silenced ECHO IN THE CANYON.

This nostalgic rock odyssey is mainly helmed by two men: the film’s director, and head of Capitol Records Andrew Slater and musician Jakob Dylan (yes, he’s Bob’s son). Oh, the canyon in the title refers to Laurel Canyon, a hilly rural area not from Los Angeles which became the “happening” music community in the sixties (the film is mainly concerned with 1965 to 1967). The creative fires were really lit the year before with the British invasion led by the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show. Those lads from Liverpool were a big inspiration to the three bands that are the doc’s focus: The Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, and The Mamas and the Papas. Of course, there are sidebars on the Beach Boys (including a visit from their eccentric genius Brian Wilson), along with admiration from later artists like Jackson Browne and, in his last filmed interview, Tom Petty. Dylan becomes the researcher/interviewer as he guides us through this magical, creative period when the radio hit songs dug deeper with rock merging with folk styles. His research is building up to a new album of the era’s tunes, mainly recorded in the original studios with those music legends and a few new ones like Norah Jones. We also get to sit in on rehearsals at one of those Laurel hide-aways, where Dylan harmonizes with Cat Power, Regina Spektor, and Beck. This leads to an incredible 2015 concert at LA’s Orpheum Theatre, where they’re joined by Fiona Apple and Jade Castrinos (who dazzles the crowd). Happily, the live concert footage is smartly intercut with new interviews and archival footage that create a truly engaging piece of “infotainment”.

So you will learn a lot about that long-ago music revolution, but this flick is far from homework. Slater and Dylan capture the joy of creation and experimentation in the songs and the bands that electrified fans, leaving them with tuneful, enduring melodies and memories. We get a Beatle, a Beach Boy, “guitar god” Eric Clapton along with record producer Lou Adler. And all this was inspired by a little flick of that era. MODEL SHOP from 1969 was the catalyst to look back on the California epicenter of rock (when archival footage was presented I was surprised to see 2001’s Gary Lockwood until the connection to the 50-year-old movie was explained). Dylan turns out to be a very unobtrusive researcher, letting the artists tell their tale. Particularly memorable is the last surviving member of The Mamas and the Papas, Michelle Phillips. Rather than be apologetic or embarrassed by her trysts and flings, Phillips seems delighted and a little bit proud of her “scandalous” past, as she lived her young life to the fullest. With girlish glee, she tells of how her husband’s frustrated retort (“Do what you wanna’ do! Go where you wanna’ go) become a huge hit song. Later she delights in a new rendition by Dylan and the superb song stylist Jade Castrinos (such an engaging stage presence). Slater does a wonderful job of pacing the film, knowing when to shift from interview to rehearsal to concert performance (that was some night in 2015). And the tragedies are dealt with as the bands began to break up, some from clashing egos, others from substance abuse (in one brutally honest exchange David Crosby says he caused a split by “being an as*#ole”). ECHO IN THE CANYON is a true celebration that will have you humming as you leave the theatre and later searching those streaming music services. More convenient, but not nearly as wonderful as those big scratchy “33” discs. Truly groovy.

4.5 Out of 5

ECHO IN THE CANYON opens everywhere and screens exclusively in the St. Louis area at Landmark’s Tivoli Theatre