Interest in Laurel Canyon as a sound, a place and a state of mind seems undiminished by the passage of time. For me, it’s like a river running through my taste in music, a sound and a feel I always come back to even though I was still a child when the artists who lived there, or associated with those that did, were at the height of their creativity. Two recent documentaries have explored the history of the place from different perspectives – the excellent two-part Laurel Canyon, and Echo in the Canyon fronted by Jakob Dylan and other younger artists captivated by the sound.
There are other documentaries available for those like me with more than a passing interest. Legends of the Canyon narrated by Henry Diltz, photographer to the stars, came out in 2010 but never got a UK release – it’s very good, by the way. Troubadours: the Rise of the Singer-Songwriter focuses on Carole King, James Taylor and the Troubadour club but covers a lot of the same ground and artists. There are inevitably numerous rock docs on individuals, of which the recent Remember My Name (David Crosby) and The Byrd Who Flew Alone (Gene Clark) are particularly noteworthy.
Books abound too, and Hotel California by Barney Hoskyns and Laurel Canyon by Michael Walker are both solid reads. Harvey Kubernik’s Canyon of Dreams has been around for a while, but is now out of print and sells for silly money on eBay. It takes a sweeping approach, but is heavy on pictures and light on analysis, nicely produced but best avoided except for completists prepared to take out a second mortgage.
For me, it’s very poignant that the Laurel Canyon mystique of the late 60s and early 70s is now so distant in time. So many of the artists who defined the era are lost to us; all those that remain are very much in the twilight of their years. Some, like David Crosby and Jackson Browne are still producing material on a par with their very best. We should cherish them while we still can as the last of their kind.
The Americana UK website has recently published its ‘essential’ 10 albums that define the genre. It’s worth a read.
So, if push came to shove, what would be the song or album that encapsulates the Laurel Canyon sound for you? It’s an almost impossible choice, but for me it would probably have to be this. (See comment below).
I’ll go for this one, with its idea of the Canyon as a Shangri-La where you can escape to a new life and it’s inferred (or maybe it’s just me?) meet young girls like Michelle Phillips.
Why is Mama Cass standing next to Emo Philips?
There was also a documentary on BBC4 back in 2011 called Hotel California: LA From The Byrds to the Eagles based on Barney Hoskyns book. It appears to be on YouTube and is well worth a watch. Interviews with all the major players if I remember correctly
Yes! Completely forgot about that. It was very good indeed.
This amazing track came from the Youngbloods move to California, and always seems to me to be a harbinger of the intelligent, reflective sounds we associate with the Canyon.
Never heard that before. Good stuff.
Any allure the Canyon had had long kicked the bucket by 1975.
The increasing wealth of the protagonists, Charles Manson, and (especially) cocaine had seen to that at least five years earlier.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18617616-weird-scenes-inside-the-canyon
This band weren’t from the Canyon – but clearly they have soaked up the vibe…this is sun-dappled, harmonised, acoustic loveliness…
The “magic” of the Canyon didn’t work for everybody.
Alice Cooper were invited to Frank Zappa’s House- they turned up at 7:00 as agreed. Only error was it was 7am. Frank wasn’t happy.
Their breakthrough only came at album #3 when they’d left the Canyon and returned to Michigan
Alice Cooper had a “breakthrough”?
They did get a record deal out of it though.
They did – on Frank’s label, so he can’t have been that upset.
Thing is though, I’ve never met anyone who said: “My favourite two Alice Cooper albums are Pretties For You and Easy Action”
No I had them back in the day but they hit peak form with the run of Love it to Death, Killer, Schools Out and Billion Dollar Babies which I still play and sound fantastic.
Billion Dollar Babies is a classic, with the best band Alice ever recorded with. I’m sure that Donovan’s falsetto on the chorus of the title track is the thing that sealed the deal.
Classic Crosby
(Ooops….)
Jesus, a top ten of Laurel Canyon albums which doesn’t have Tapestry in it? I mean, I know it doesn’t really need a boost or anything, but COME ON????
She may have lived there when she wrote and recorded it, but somehow the album, for me, has always reeked of New York, not Laurel Canyon.
I think their rationale (see comments at the bottom of the list) is that they are an Americana website, and Carole King isn’t strictly Americana. Dodgy logic when a lot of the other stuff they feature isn’t anything like Americana either, but I agree she should be in there, although I’m not a great Tapestry fan myself.
Lowell George was brought up in Laurel Canyon so I’m going for Little Feat and here is possibly their best song.
White Light – Gene Clark
This chap is about as Laurel Canyonesque as anyone I have heard this year:
Steve Dawson: At the Bottom of a Canyon in the Branches of a Tree