Original released on CD BMG 538493922
(US 2019, August 9)
With the documentary featuring Jakob Dylan, the son of Bob Dylan, the film explores and revolves around the the beginnings of the Laurel Canyon music scene back in the mid 60’s, where many of the nations best loved artists honed their craft, developed their style and painted a new hypnotic vision for the world. In the documentary, Jakob Dylan surfaces new and never heard before personal encounters and stories behind the bands, their sound and how the music of that time and place continues to inspire others today. "Echo in the Canyon" is both a documentary and a musical soundtrack laying out candid conversations and performances with the likes of Brian Wilson, Ringo Starr, Michelle Phillips, Eric Clapton, Stephen Stills, David Crosby, Graham Nash, Roger McGuinn, John Sebastian, Lou Adler and Jackson Browne, as well as contemporary musicians that were influenced by those emancipated dreamy sounds, artists such as Tom Petty in his very last film interview, along with Beck, Fiona Apple, Cat Power, Regina Spektor, Jade Castrinos and Norah Jones. Several of todays most popular artists lay out their take on some of these wondrous classics, including Fiona Apple covering the Beach Boys’ “In My Room,” Regina Spektor laying out her take of “Learning to Fly” by the Buffalo Springfield, and of course the collection would not be complete with a a rendition of the blistering Monkees’ single “She.” All of the material captured here is rather laid back in its nature, encompassing a sort of easy going Rick Nelson attitude meshed with a orchestral Phil Spector ‘Wall of Sound’, where these songs move and interplay with each other smoothly, not so much evoking or designed to reenact those actual hits, more to shine a new light, both instrumentally and vocally, breathing new life into these classic manifestations that so readily captured the attention of the world during those heady days and nights. All of the songs are rather short, reflecting the AM radio nature of some of the best and most powerful songwriting and dynamic music from that time. Laurel Canyon was more than a spot in the California hills, it was a community of musicians and artists who inspired and pushed each other to be more than they individually ever dreamed they could become. It was also party central with mysterious neighbors that included the CIA, various manufacturers of LSD, drug smugglers, recording studios and hangers-on, all of whom coaxed this amazing time into being. (streetmouse in RateYourMusic) 
