Echo in the Canyon

Film was interesting strictly from an anecdotal point of view. Some interesting tidbits, archival footage and new versions of the old songs. Jakob Dylan was too fawning and not enough probing with his questions and the group session with Beck, Regina Spektor and Cat Power added nothing to the proceedings. As a result the doc lost some of it's focus at time. Also, can someone tell me how the song 12:30 (Young Girls Coming To the Canyon)! was not included either in the film or over the closing credits. I mean, come on!

Sorry but it seems like there wasn't enough good footage available so they decided to give Jakob Dylan the starring role, even though he wasn't born until 1969. This was a very disappointing movie, as I thought it would have way more story telling about what Laurel Canyon must have been like in the 60's. There was some of that, but generally speaking, I feel like I was sold a bill of goods here...

This is a story of what happened in Laurel Canyon in the 60's and it is a must for any lovers of the music coming out of the west coast that fits in well with the documentary about the Wrecking Crew. But in order to hear the amazing stories about the cross pollination, you have to put up with Jakob Dylan, who not only seems to have no chemistry with the people he is interviewing, to the point where you get the idea that the questions were coming from offscreen, but seems to think we need to hear his take on the songs. I thought it was amazingly self indulgent. I don't know if this was done because the producers couldn't get the original songs, did not have enough original interview material or if Jakob thinks he is better than them, but I'm not interested in his music making process. I want the stories not recreations.

I was excited to watch this as the subject is near and dear to my heart, but I was very disappointed... I thought it was going to be all about Laurel Canyon and the legendary music / musicians and it ended up being 50% Jakob Dylan soundtrack promotion. I wanted more from Tom Petty's last interview and I wanted more from a rare glimpse at Brian Wilson .... i wanted way more in regard to archival footage and photos that exist... I did not need to see Bob Dylan's son in every scene of a movie that has nothing to do with him. Not to mention all of the artists that were there that they didn't even mention like Joni Mitchell and The Doors. Well done otherwise, star power was amazing, cinematography was amazing I'd give it a 7/10 although it could have been a 10/10. I wanted to be immersed in the stories and music of that time and instead they kept pulling the viewer into crappy Jakob Dylan rehearsals and cover band concert footage so we only ended up skimming the surface on a subject that has a lot lot lot more to offer which I felt was a shame.

If I hadn't read so many rave reviews I might not have been disappointed. But I did, and I was. The only person who shoud be unabashedly in love with this movie is John Hall.

Put it this way. If you're the sort of person who believes older is always better and the sequel never equals the original, Echo In The Canyon will not change your mind.

The celebrity cast speaks for itself. There is the heartbreaking charm of Tom Petty and suprising late in life wisdom from David Crosby. But the film seems to be about a group of young performers trying to capture what it was like, based in part on the movie Model Shop. Seriously. It could be worse; someday people will study City Of Industry or Miracle Mile as realistic documents of what L.A. was like.

There are brief snippets of vintage performances and some are thrilling. Like Buffalo Springfield doing a seque from For What It's Worth to Mr. Soul. But the movie works it's way toward a tribute concert and unfortunately, none of the rehearsals or performances can match, let alone improve on, the originals. And that makes the whole thing kind of melancholy.