Film Review: 'Echo in the Canyon'
By Joe Leydon
LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) - Arguably the most sturdily （手先の）技術d and entertainingly anecdotal 文書の of its 肉親，親類d since Denny Tedesco's "The 難破させるing 乗組員," a 類似して nostalgic 祝賀 of artists who generously 与える／捧げるd to the soundtrack of the baby boomer 世代, Andrew Slater's "Echo in the Canyon" 申し込む／申し出s a richly evocative and 星／主役にする-studded overview of the 1960s Laurel Canyon music scene.
Audiences old enough to have many of the epochal LPs 言及／関連d here stashed in their closets will know they're in good 手渡すs 権利 from the start, as the iconic first chords of the Byrds' "Turn! Turn! Turn!" resound during the 不明瞭 of the film's 開始 moments. But wait, there's more: The songs of Buffalo Springfield, the Mamas and the Papas, the Beach Boys and other L.A.-based hitmakers of the 時代 are also featured in a doc that shows how music that defined the California Sound of a half-century ago continues to 奮起させる and 影響（力） 同時代の artists. It's a 一括 that not only will delight テレビ視聴者s of a 確かな age but also folks who weren't introduced to the songs until １０年間s after the fact.
The movie 示すs the directorial debut for Slater, a former 新聞記者／雑誌記者 and music 産業 退役軍人 who 共同製作するd with Jakob Dylan on a 2015 尊敬の印 concert in Los Angeles that showcased Dylan and other artists of his 世代 -- 含むing Fiona Apple, Beck, Cat 力／強力にする, Norah Jones and Jade Castrinos -- 成し遂げるing songs 記録，記録的な／記録するd more than 50 years earlier by the aforementioned 伝説の artists.
While "Echo in the Canyon" features 最高潮の場面s from that concert, it 充てるs most of its running time to interviews Dylan 行為／行うd before and after the live event with Roger McGuinn and David Crosby of the Byrds; music 生産者 Lou Adler; Michelle Phillips of the Mamas and the Papas; Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys; Stephen Stills of Buffalo Springfield; and other 最初の／主要な sources from the 時代 (含むing Ringo Starr, John Sebastian and Eric Clapton).
焦点（を合わせる）d まず第一に／本来 on a period from 1965, when the Byrds topped the charts with their 見解／翻訳／版 of （頭が）ひょいと動く Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man," to 1967, just 事前の to the advent of psychedelia, when Buffalo Springfield 解放（する）d their ineffably haunting "推定する／予想するing to 飛行機で行く," Slater's 文書の 解任するs a heady time when folk music went electric; bold innovators and play-it-safers vied for attention on "American Bandstand" and "The Ed Sullivan Show"; and British sensations like the Beatles and Cream cross-pollinated with Los Angeles 禁止（する）d like the Byrds and the Beach Boys.
Tales are told, memories are 再燃するd, and 賞賛 is 表明するd. McGuinn amusingly 解任するs a point in his 単独の-artist salad days when he tried, and failed, to make club audiences in New York and L.A. 受託する his cheeky folkie cover of the Beatles' "I Wanna 持つ／拘留する Your 手渡す" -- the type of musical hybrid that, not long after, would be typical of his 早期に 成果／努力s with the Byrds. Phillips candidly 収容する／認めるs that John Phillips, her then-husband and Mamas and Papas bandmate, wrote "Go Where You Wanna Go" for the group in 返答 to her adulterous 事件／事情／状勢s.
Tom Petty, in one of his last 記録，記録的な／記録するd interviews before his death in 2017, 会談 of 存在 drawn to L.A. from Florida after 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる）ing to music of the '60s folk-激しく揺する 時代, and 主張するs that he "cannot see something in Mozart" that 最高の，を越すs the best of Brian Wilson.
Wilson himself appears on camera to 述べる how the Beatles' groundbreaking 1965 album "Rubber Soul" 影響（力）d the Beach Boys' 1966 "Pet Sounds" -- which in turn 影響（力）d the Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club 禁止（する）d" (1967). "Echo in the Canyon" 述べるs several such instances of 相互の inspiration の中で the '60s artists who gravitated toward L.A.'s Laurel Canyon 地区, an area where even struggling artists could find affordable 宿泊するing -- and supportive peers who might 株 麻薬s and/or sleeping partners -- while building careers. It's left almost 完全に up to the unapologetically blunt- spoken David Crosby to 示唆する that いつかs, jealousy 後部d its 長，率いる: He 自由に 収容する／認めるs that when Buffalo Springfield 調印するd on (簡潔に) as the 開始 行為／法令／行動する while he was with the Byrds, he 恐れるd they might steal the スポットライト.
The playlist for Slater's 文書の is so chockablock with 広大な／多数の／重要な songs that it may seem churlish to complain about the 欠如（する） of this golden-oldie or that one. にもかかわらず, it does seem more than a trifle 半端物 that what might seem like a natural for 傾向 -- John Phillips' "Twelve-Thirty (Young Girls Are Coming to the Canyon)" -- is absent. Could that be 予定 to the song's 暗示するd 批評 that there was a downside to the period this movie romanticizes?
And speaking of romanticizing: At several points in "Echo in the Canyon" -- even during a snippet of the 2015 concert -- Slater 試みる／企てるs to conjure the 中央の-'60s zeitgeist with clips from the late-'60s "Model Shop," French filmmaker Jacques Demy's L.A.-始める，決める 演劇 of an about-to-be-草案d architect (Gary Lockwood) and his の近くに 遭遇（する） with a financially strapped French beauty (Anouk Aimee) who 提起する／ポーズをとるs for cheesecake photos to raise money for her ticket 支援する to Paris. Anyone who remembers (or 跡をつけるs 負かす／撃墜する) "Model Shop" will 公式文書，認める that any 15 minutes of that movie 含む／封じ込めるs more 言及／関連s to the Vietnam War than can be 設立する in all of Slater's 大部分は apolitical 文書の.
On the other 手渡す, "Echo in the Canyon" maybe be arriving at 正確に the 権利 time to 申し込む／申し出 a different sort of history lesson: Seeing it might be useful period prep for under-35 audiences before they 取り組む Quentin Tarantino's 1969-始める，決める "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood."
