Butler's Cinema Scene

Jakob Dylan and band (foreground) play a tune by the Byrds

“ECHO IN THE CANYON”  My rating: B 

82 minutes | MPAA rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: I may not be the ideal individual to review “Echo in the Canyon,”  Andrew Slater’s doc about the musicians who lived and created in L.A.’s Laurel Canyon from 1965 to ’67.

We’re largely talking about the  Byrds and Buffalo Springfield, two groups with which I’ve been semi-obsessed for more than 50 years. So, yes, I’m a fanboy and “Echo…” is like a dream come true.

That said, I don’t think you have to be of any particular age to appreciate this narrow but flavorful slice of pop music history. Divided almost equally between talking heads and musical performances, this doc is tuneful, insightful and, yeah, awesomely nostalgic.

Our guide is musician Jakob Dylan (yep…Bob’s son) who in 2015 produced a tribute LP of songs from the Laurel Canyon era and followed that up with a concert of the same material.

He interviews lots of folk — producer Lou Adler, musicians like Jackson Browne, Eric Clapton, John Sebastian, Ringo Starr, Graham Nash and Tom Petty — for their memories and impressions.

Among the artists who re-interpret the classic songs are Fiona Apple, Beck, Norah Jones, Cat Power and Regina Spektor.

Jackson Browne

Why was semi-rural Laurel Canyon the incubator of such great music? Browne describes it in the late ’60s as “the one place you could live that was the antithesis of the straight plastic world you saw on the television.”

Back then brilliant musicians wandered back and forth between each other’s homes, showing off their latest tunes or seeking musical advice from their friends.

Segments of the film are devoted to such Laurel Canyon founding fathers as The Byrds (Roger McGuinn and David Crosby are among the inerviewees), The Beach Boys (in the person of Brian Wilson), Buffalo Springfield (Stephen Stills) and the Mamas and the Papas (Michelle Phillips).

Like 2015’s “The Wrecking Crew,” the marvelous doc about the anonymous studio musicians who played on some of the greatest tunes of the rock era, “Laurel Canyon” is chock full of juicy anecdotes and fascinating footnotes to pop history.

For example, we learn that Brian Wilson recorded “Good Vibrations” in four different studios because each offered a different sonic signature required for different parts of the composition.

We’re told that Wilson was so knocked out by the Beatles’ “Rubber Soul” album that he replied with the monumental “Pet Sounds,” which in turn inspired the Fab Four to produce “Sgt. Pepper.”

The Mamas and Papas’ “Go Where You Want to Go” was written by John Phillips after learning that wife Michelle was having an affair.  Listen to it again…it’s a hell of a statement.

Nash maintains that future historians will regard the Laurel Canyon years as an artistic hothouse equal to Gertrude Stein’s between-the-wars Paris.

Don’t know if I’d go that far, but this is one tunefully terrific time at the movies.

| Robert W. Butler