Legends Of The Canyon Classic Artists

While the majority of quantum physicists will tell you that time travel is impractical if not intrinsically impossible they are wrong. Okay not in the sense of propelling your physical form through the chronological void but recently I received a little DVD that became a time machine for me. Moments after placing ‘Legends Of The Canyon Classic Artists’ in my DVD player my mind, in fact my very essence as a human being was propelled back in time about forty years. One thing that is certain invoke extremely powerful memories is music. It is common to mark the events of our lives with a song. We might recall what was playing on the radio during our first kiss or the first dance we had with our spouse at the wedding reception. The music in this documentary was as potent a fuel for a time machine as plutonium was for old Doc Brown in his flux capacitor tricked out Delorean. Some of the music contained here has remained fresh in my mind alive on my’ i-Pod’s’ play list but other songs were like a reunion with a dear old friend I haven’t heard from since high school. Since so much of the music contained here was part of the sound track of my youth it is impossible to review this disc objectively. After how do you hold yourself apart from something that brings you back to one of the most pivotal periods in life? These were the songs I listened to daily as I underwent that major change from a boy graduating high school to a young man walking his bride down the aisle. Those of us that came of age in the late sixties to mid seventies will watch this presentation with more than a little nostalgia; this is revisiting a period when most of us were starting our adult journey.

The man behind this remarkable voyage was Jon Brewer. This is not the type of documentary that is required to be objective; Leo was far too close to his subjects to completely remove his thoughts and personal opinions from his observations here. In this particular case this type of film making is acceptable. There are plenty of films that expose the darker side of the period and the musicians, many haunted by their own personal demons. The purpose of this work is to celebrate a time and place and how that translated into an incubator for music that not only represented a generation it helped to mold it. This is not intended as an expose but rather a love song; a celebration of our collective past filtered through what was spinning on our record players. This is not intended to give the impression that the entire film is skipping through fields of flowers singing happy ditties. As any baby boomer will tell you this was a turbulent time when a war was being fought in a distant jungle threaten to pull our country apart at the seams. Vietnam in conjunction with the assassinations of John and Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King ripped the nation a part largely on generational lines. Music was an integral aspect to our lives as many of our generation protested what was perceived as a great social wrong. Many musicians became part of the voice for this generation making it impossible to separate the peaceful times and an ideal from the protests and social causes that infused this new culture. Both the good and bad are represented here since both formed the generation and drove the musical innovations.

The location where all of this magic happened was a little section of California known as Laurel Canyon. Over a relatively brief time this area became the epicenter for a cultural movement where the lofty ideals were manifested through the lively spirit of the music. The earth mother, muse and cohesive force for the Laurel Canyon musicians was Cass Elliot, best known as ‘Momma Cass’ from one of the founding groups of the Laurel Canyon sound, ‘The Mommas and the Poppas’. Looking back some may forget about this group as being a protest group but they were in the thick of it from the start, one of the first scenes in the film is the aftermath of the assignation of President Kennedy. At a Mommas and Poppas concert John Phillips pauses to inform the audience that the performance was being recorded for television. As such they would be certain to edit out the truth but he was going to tell it anyway; the President was shot by more than one person at different locations. No matter how beautiful the vocals were or how intricate the instrumentals it is impossible to isolate this music from the influences that helped to created it. A large part of that was an inherent distrust of the government, conspiracy was rampant back then and this was long before the internet. At this point several people from back then are introduced as taking head experts and commentators; the worse thing for the target demographic is watching the parade of grey breads making their points. The origins of this phase of the musical movement was when the government was either unable or unwilling to answer questions about the assassination many turned to a new voice; the Beatles. Adding their perspective were artists, record executives and musicians of the time. Brewer did his homework gathering a knowledgeable group of people well able to express themselves clearly.

It should be noted that a consideration of this sort has to discuss the cultural triad; sex, drug and rock and roll. Much of the music was created and enjoyed with the help of psychotropic substances including but by no means limited to botanicals commonly smoked. The influence of pharmaceutically altered perception in juxtaposition with the new sound of the Beatles moved many groups from the folk scene to an electric sound. These roots continued the tradition of social relevance in the music but conveying the message in a more driving, forceful medium. This film does an excellent job of following the progression though folk rock to psychedelic is laid out in fantastic. Part of this documentary goes in to how the early Beatles had rather simplistic music until Bob Dylan charged them as having nothing to say. This infuriated John Lennon who altered the Beatles to a forced in history. There are a lot of stories told here form a folk lore for our generation. The Laurel Canyon community became a close knit artistic community where you could walk out of your door and without leaving the neighborhood run into Stephen Stills or Jim Morrison in your way to drop in a visit Frank Zappa or Mommas Cass. This DVD is not just fascinating it is a vital part of our personal history.

Posted 08/26/2010