Echo In the Canyon

Not as good as I'd hoped. Needed a bit less of the covers by modern musicians and more stories from the key figures. Just too surface level.

Would have been much better without all the modern concert footage of Jakob Dylan and friends.

Great documentary and footage of a concert paying tribute to all of the great music that came out of Laurel Canyon in the late 1960s.

I usually like rock docs like this but this one felt particularly bland, surface-level and self-congratulatory. I think a big part of it is Jakob Dylan's presence as "host": he's just an inexpressive boring presence, both when he's asking questions and singing. A bit of charisma/enthusiasm would do this doc a lot of good, because as it is this is basically a string of LA musicians telling boring anecdotes. Not bad but I wouldn't go out of my way to recommend this to even the biggest rock fans.

Jakob Dylan is just really not very charismatic or talented and everyone involved is diminished by their presence in this film (except Brian Wilson, who is just blissfully unaware of how lame everyone around him is and also scolds Dylan for playing in the wrong key)