I think son Dylan does a great job tapping into dad's influence without mentioning his name. The film's MC role is played with perfect Bob Dylan DNA detachment by son Jakob Dylan, born in 1969. (As a side note to the playlist below- I also include Buffalo Springfield's (Stephen Stills) Questions, which morphs into Carry On with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, and then Eric Clapton adapts the Questions riff for his song, Let It Rain(1970). In turn, The Beatles are inspired by Pet Sounds, and in 1967 create Sgt. Then, Brian Wilson is blown away by Rubber Soul and that inspires him to write Pet Sounds in 1966. One example from the doc, is how George Harrison adapts Roger's riffs on The Byrds version of The Bells of Rhymney that influence him in his 1965 song, If I Needed Someone. In the 1960's, Laurel Canyon becomes such a place where collaboration + competition = creativity. I bought a book a couple of years ago by Austin Kleon with the perfect title to describe this process of creativity, Steal like an Artist. I also enjoyed the conversations with famous musicians who discuss how art is a continual process of iteration and the 'cross pollination' of songs that influence song writing. Man, to have a time machine and be a young adult in Laurel Canyon and on the Sunset Strip in the mid-sixties, would be. For me, learning anything new about three of my all-time favorite bands- The Mamas & The Papas, The Byrds, and Buffalo Springfield are gem pieces to the rock 'n' roll puzzle for those of us who just can't get enough of this stuff. The beginning of the film with Tom is a fantastic hook that for me is my ultimate sweet spot of Monday Mondayjingle jangle 60's rock 'n' roll and my original inspiration for writing this blog. My favorite was getting to watch Tom Petty talk about music one more time as this was his last recorded interview. With that said, this 1 hour and 22 minute doc has plenty of great clips of its own as you get a snapshot of the the mid to late 60's in Laurel Canyon with some of the famous musicians who lived there and some famous musicians who didn't.
Also the overuse of clips from the 1969 art film Model Shop as Slater's and Dylan's inspiration for the documentary is annoying but is easily put aside. For god's sake, as a Laurel Canyon resident who released Ladies of the Canyon in 1970 she (and The Doors) deserved a little shout out here.
This documentary has gotten a few harsh reviews, as notably Joni Mitchell is not even mentioned, even in the context of the California Sound evolving from surfing and car songs to more socially conscious and interpersonal songs. So I finally got a chance to see the Andrew Slater documentary echo in the canyon(2018) starring Jacob Dylan and just released this past week on Netflix and linked here.