The Laurel Canyon scene: s/d

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you know Jackson Brown, Joni Mitchell and the like.

Any gems from that era that might have gone under the radar?

― is anyone anticipating the new Baaderonixx? (baaderonixx), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 14:56 (nineteen years ago)

Judee Sill, for starters.

― Hatch (Hatch), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 15:14 (nineteen years ago)

Charles Manson, also.

― be home by 11 (orion), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 15:16 (nineteen years ago)

lock thread

― m coleman (lovebug starski), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 15:20 (nineteen years ago)

Dennis Wilson

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 17:54 (nineteen years ago)

So, (and stop me if there's a thread on this already) who saw the BBC Four documentary on this scene last night?

― Neil Stewart (Neil Stewart), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 18:27 (nineteen years ago)

there was?

― is anyone anticipating the new Baaderonixx? (baaderonixx), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 20:47 (nineteen years ago)

there was?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/music/features/hotel-california.shtml

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 20:54 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah, a naked, pot-bellied David Crosby with his bowls of cocaine and naked girls in the hot tub. According to Pamela des Barres

― DavidM* (unreal), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 20:55 (nineteen years ago)

Probably based on this:

http://ec2.images-amazon.com/images/P/0007177054.02._SS500_SCLZZZZZZZ_V1138276775_.jpg

Anyone read it? I'm reading that guy's history of music in LA, which I really like.

― is anyone anticipating the new Baaderonixx? (baaderonixx), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 20:58 (nineteen years ago)

dont forget the turtles and all those guys!

― chaki (chaki), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 20:58 (nineteen years ago)

wtf is up with that program description. In the early 60s LA was a "kooky backwater" - no one had heard of Capitol Records or the Beach Boys?!?

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 20:59 (nineteen years ago)

Search:Warren Zevon

― The Dusty Baker Selection (Charles McCain), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 21:02 (nineteen years ago)

I've been listening to the John Phillips album almost every day lately and that seems to be a quintessential Laurel Canyon album (check out the tune "Topanga Canyon") though I don't know much about this stuff. Would this categorization include the David Crosby solo album and all those folks who played on it, like Jerry Garcia, etc.?

― mcd (mcd), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 21:10 (nineteen years ago)

TEH ONLY CANYON SCENE OF NOTE WAS THE KIDS WHO LIVED INNNNN THE CANYON WITH KIM FOWLEY.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 21:15 (nineteen years ago)

that seems to be a quintessential Laurel Canyon album (check out the tune "Topanga Canyon")

Different Canyon dude.

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 21:25 (nineteen years ago)

errrr, I thought Topanga Canyon was part of Laurel Canyon? sorry!

― mcd (mcd), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 21:26 (nineteen years ago)

In the early 60s LA was a "kooky backwater"

Yeah that is so very WTF. I guess Phil Spector & The Wrecking Crew aren't on the BBC's musical map either.

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 21:29 (nineteen years ago)

he was just some punk kid with goofy glasses

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 21:33 (nineteen years ago)

errrr, I thought Topanga Canyon was part of Laurel Canyon? sorry!

Nah, Laurel Canyon is just north of Hollywood while Topanga Canyon is way out by Malibu and is where Neil Young, Woodie Guthrie, Alice Cooper, Will Geer, Lord Buckley, Manson, and lots of other musicians and actors lived through the years. Laurel Canyon is kind of the hollywood-hills mansion, few-minutes away from the city vibe while Topanga is more of the move-out-to-the-country with horses and nudists kind of scene.

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 21:34 (nineteen years ago)

errrr, I thought Topanga Canyon was part of Laurel Canyon? sorry!

Topanga used to be pretty rural during that period. Pretty different area.

― is anyone anticipating the new Baaderonixx? (baaderonixx), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 21:37 (nineteen years ago)

Technically part of the same mountain range though I guess.

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 21:40 (nineteen years ago)

Haha. In retrospect, two canyons with two different names are probably two different canyons.

― mcd (mcd), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 21:44 (nineteen years ago)

topanga canyon = country psych-rock, right?

SPIRIT + the BYRDS

― vahid (vahid), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 21:48 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah, Topanga is all about Spirit & Little Feat and some of those guys still play in bands around town. I don't know if any of the Byrds lived here though. I think the Rising Sons (Taj Mahal, Ry Cooder, Gary Marker) might have lived in Topanga too. Sorry to derail the Laurel Canyon thread though.

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 21:52 (nineteen years ago)

Granted we've established that I don't know what the Laurel Canyon scene actually is, but I think there's a lot of overlap with these two threads (two of my ilx faves).

Recommend for me records from the early '70s that sound similar to NEW MORNING
Can we talk about early-mid70s West Coast post-psych/pop/rock/folk-rock/country-rock?

― mcd (mcd), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 22:06 (nineteen years ago)

Trout Mask was Topanga, right?

― Stormy Davis (diamond), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 22:07 (nineteen years ago)

Close. Woodland Hills.

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 22:13 (nineteen years ago)

damn, I was convinced Trout Mask was Topanga. I once spent an afternoon trying to find that house...

― is anyone anticipating the new Baaderonixx? (baaderonixx), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 22:21 (nineteen years ago)

i recently watched a lil concert doc called Celebration at Big Sur that has a lot of these peeps. best part is when steven stills gets all agro on a freaky hippy and almost busts his head.
http://imdb.com/title/tt0154299/

― jaxon (jaxon), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 22:24 (nineteen years ago)

moms is from woodland hills and lived in topanga during the early 70s. she laughs and kinda thinks it's rad when i'm listening to the same music she was when she was my age (except she's pissed when i steal her records)

walter, you live in topanga, right?

― jaxon (jaxon), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 22:26 (nineteen years ago)

Yep. I tried to find the TMR house too but couldn't. It's somewhere right off of Topanga Canyon Blvd. though, just at the bottom of the hill. Very near to Topanga but really Woodland Hills.

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 22:29 (nineteen years ago)

I think there's some confusion because Topanga Canyon Blvd runs from Topanga Canyon to near Box Canyon (Manson, D.Wilson, etc.)

Trout Mask house = Woodland Hills (not far off Topanga Cyn Blvd).
Flying Burrito Bros = Chatsworth (not far off Topanga Cyn Blvd. also).

― Steve Shasta (Steve Shasta), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 22:30 (nineteen years ago)

that was a xpost.

― Steve Shasta (Steve Shasta), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 22:30 (nineteen years ago)

Is Celebration at Big Sur on DVD?

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 22:30 (nineteen years ago)

Think I'll pack it in
And buy a pick-up
Take it down to LA
Find a place to call my own
And try to fix up
Start a brand new day

― Steve Shasta (Steve Shasta), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 22:31 (nineteen years ago)

Chatsworth also = Spahn Ranch!

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 22:31 (nineteen years ago)

I thought this thread was going to be about a scene in the movie Laurel Canyon.

― The Redd And The Blecch (Ken L), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 22:32 (nineteen years ago)

But anyhoo...

http://ec2.images-amazon.com/images/P/B000002GXU.01._AA240_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

― hearditonthexico (rogermexico), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 22:34 (nineteen years ago)

Nitty Gritty Dirt Band were in Laurel Canyon pretty early.

― Steve Shasta (Steve Shasta), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 22:37 (nineteen years ago)

jaxon whose in that film - imdb review cites the Edwin Hawkins Singers(!), Joni, and Neil... don't the Beach Boys reference this event on "Holland"...?

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 22:48 (nineteen years ago)

Spahn Ranch is Box Canyon, dude. Between Simi and Chatsworth. Canned Heat were also from Topanga Cyn.

― chaki (chaki), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 22:49 (nineteen years ago)

Ah, I haven't heard of Box Canyon. Led astray by Ed Sanders once again.

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 22:57 (nineteen years ago)

I saw Celebration at Big Sur on sundance a month or two ago. shakey, all those people perform. dunno about the Holland ref.

where was Ricki Lee Jones from?

― jaxon (jaxon), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 23:10 (nineteen years ago)

i guess you've never heard "little fluffy clouds"?

― Steve Shasta (Steve Shasta), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 23:11 (nineteen years ago)

i know she's from arizona. but where was she when she lived in LA?

― jaxon (jaxon), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 23:13 (nineteen years ago)

Reading Rainbow Canyon

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 23:15 (nineteen years ago)

It's time for this Gareth thread to make a comeback...

summer 73

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 23:48 (nineteen years ago)

Late For the Sky is so good, along with the judee sill albums and everything joni mitchell did in this time. do the gene clark albums from the 1970s count? this is some of my favourite music.

is rickie lee jones' first album one of the last gasps of this scene? it's great, but eclipsed by her Pirates from 1981.

― derrick (derrick), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 09:15 (nineteen years ago)

The documentary mentioned above was pretty decent, with some great old footage. Slightly marred by the tone of self congratulation of all concerned (in particular Graham Nash and David Crosby). Its ultimate thesis was that the Eagles were the death of rock 'n roll, which seems a little bit harsh, perhaps.

― Neil Stewart (Neil Stewart), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 10:26 (nineteen years ago)

"under the radar" made me think of First Grade by Thomas Jefferson Kaye but that might be more Hollywood than the Canyon.

there's another book on the LC scene besides Hoskins' amirite?

― m coleman (lovebug starski), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 11:04 (nineteen years ago)

I've tried, but I never managed to get into 'Late for the Sky'. My favorite from that era, but I'm not sure if it still counts as 'Laurel Canyon', is Joni's 'Court and Spark'.

― is anyone anticipating the new Baaderonixx? (baaderonixx), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 15:32 (nineteen years ago)

from Ruthann Friedman:

"In 1967, thanks to his kindness, I was living in a spare room in David Crosby's home in Beverly Glenn Canyon. It was while living there that I wrote the song Windy. The Association recorded it and my life changed forever. The success of that simple tune gave me the freedom to do whatever I wanted."

Yet another canyon!

― scott seward (scott seward), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 15:54 (nineteen years ago)

I saw the bbc4 doc, but fell asleep around the time it got Eagles heavy.

I like how Joni Mitchell seemed liked the slag they passed around for inspiration.

Also, am I the only one who notices a similarity between Joni's early look and Joanna Newsom?

― el juan (el juan), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 18:28 (nineteen years ago)

Joanna doesn't have the cheekbones

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 18:32 (nineteen years ago)

Joanna also doesn't have Joni's strong Canadian teeth.

― el juan (el juan), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 18:34 (nineteen years ago)

carly's chompers -vs- joni's chompers

carly will eat yer friggin' leg off.

― scott seward (scott seward), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 18:36 (nineteen years ago)

Laurel Canyon Photo Quiz
How Well Do You Know L.A.'s Famous Rock & Roll Neighborhood?

http://classicrock.about.com/library/quiz/canyon/bl_canyon_quiz.htm?

― is anyone anticipating the new Baaderonixx? (baaderonixx), Thursday, 11 January 2007 10:00 (nineteen years ago)

9/10. I thought that was ********SPOILER********* GH not EC.

― Steve Shasta (Steve Shasta), Thursday, 11 January 2007 18:51 (nineteen years ago)

Quiz was too easy. I got 100% correct...

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Thursday, 11 January 2007 18:55 (nineteen years ago)

i got #5 wrong.

― be home by 11 (orion), Thursday, 11 January 2007 18:59 (nineteen years ago)

same mistake as steve shasta, actually!

― be home by 11 (orion), Thursday, 11 January 2007 18:59 (nineteen years ago)

i think it was the paisely.

― be home by 11 (orion), Thursday, 11 January 2007 18:59 (nineteen years ago)

i missed the EC one and the JB one. fuck, they were all so fucking cool looking

― jaxon (jaxon), Thursday, 11 January 2007 19:21 (nineteen years ago)

yay, 100%. I thought it was going to be locations in Laurel Canyon but that was easy.

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Thursday, 11 January 2007 19:24 (nineteen years ago)

The BBC doc and film 'Celebration at Big Sur' sound great -- anyone know how to get ahold of either?

― def zep (calstars), Saturday, 20 January 2007 13:45 (nineteen years ago)

torrents are your friends

― is anyone anticipating the new Baaderonixx? (baaderonixx), Saturday, 20 January 2007 14:14 (nineteen years ago)

well, what about we say the metaphorical canyon, like post-folkie records of l.a. from 1969 to about the time jackson browne decided no nukes and darryl hannah? anyway, john phillips' "john phillips" is sure a great record, and 1970, so it sort of inaugurates the whole thing, since the point was that once these people were pop stars and in groups and now they're off in their own personal canyons. what's great about "john phillips" is how funny he is, and how craftily he introduces death, drowning, insanity, memories of the south and humidity, into his world, at least that's what i hear, and some great playing by buddy emmons, who i hope to see tonite at a place once called Opryland. so maybe we should sometime discuss l.a.-to-nashville as a canyon move akin to meltzer's tongue or whatever moves.

― edd s hurt (ddduncan), Saturday, 20 January 2007 14:29 (nineteen years ago)

I love that John Phillips album somethin fierce. The bonus tracks on the vers. that came out in 2006 are fantastic, too.

― mcd (mcd), Saturday, 20 January 2007 19:05 (nineteen years ago)

interesting to compare/contrast the UK and US covers of Hoskyns' book...UK with the fab Jackson Browne photo and the "cocaine cowboys" come-on, US with the barefooted guitarist pic (could easily be a promo for The River, and I mean the radio stations that trade in urbane, rootsy music) and the tagline "Mitchell, Browne, Geffen, The Eagles and all their friends"..."friends"?!...who would want to read a rock book about "friends"?!

ILM, which one would YOU rather be seen with on the subway?

― hank (hank s), Saturday, 20 January 2007 22:20 (nineteen years ago)

That BBC documentary was a bit disappointing, I thought. Its structure, focusing sequentially on certain artists, kinda negleced the bigger picture, ie the retreat from the Strip to the canyons, the effects of the Manson killings and the switch from communal utopia to introspective narcissism, etc. Hoskyns' books are pretty good for that.

― is anyone anticipating the new Baaderonixx? (baaderonixx), Monday, 22 January 2007 09:39 (nineteen years ago)

two weeks pass...

Agreed. Hoskyns book much better, too much CS&N for me in the prog, not enough shots of groovy California interiors.

― Edward Trifle (Ned Trifle IV), Monday, 5 February 2007 14:09 (eighteen years ago)

one month passes...

Well, what do you know - Rhino has just edited and released a Laurel Canyon compilation .

― baaderonixx, Monday, 12 March 2007 09:40 (eighteen years ago)

Google's not giving me anything on this. Is there a tracklisting somewhere?

― mcddcm, Monday, 12 March 2007 17:25 (eighteen years ago)

It's a year old apparently:

http://www.amazon.com/Back-California-Gentlemen-L-Canyons/dp/B000GPI2OU/ref=sr_1_2/103-3549422-3855039?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1173727511&sr=8-2

― baaderonixx, Monday, 12 March 2007 19:26 (eighteen years ago)

really good comp...finally a SoCal collection without the usual suspects/ckiches (Beach Boys, Eagles, Jackson Browne)...I had never heard Ned Doheny or Essra Mohawk before I got this, and now I want more...

― henry s, Tuesday, 13 March 2007 00:25 (eighteen years ago)

Even though he was only a tertiary figure in the scene (but mentioned in the Hoskins book), the late 60s/early 70s Lee Hazlewood records are definitely worth checking out.

I would add that that David Crosby solo record is fucking amazing. You just have to get past the title, the cover and the David Crosby.

― William Selman, Tuesday, 13 March 2007 00:46 (eighteen years ago)

i think everyone who owns the crosby album owes it to their friends to put it on without announcing what it is.

― GOTT PUNCH II HAWKWINDZ, Tuesday, 13 March 2007 01:36 (eighteen years ago)

six years pass...

i always thought it was like a real canyon : (

― j., Thursday, 25 July 2013 03:32 (twelve years ago)

There isn't a canyon in Laurel Canyon?

― how's life, Thursday, 25 July 2013 11:37 (twelve years ago)

here, i found one:

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa301/schillid/RSSS.jpg

― how's life, Thursday, 25 July 2013 11:39 (twelve years ago)

Just read the Hoskyns book... Great read

― hello :) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 25 July 2013 16:57 (twelve years ago)

I bought this one a few months ago, but haven't read it yet:

http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/files/original/laurel-canyon-covers.jpg

At least three different covers, I guess, because mine is red inside green.

― clemenza, Thursday, 25 July 2013 17:01 (twelve years ago)

ooh clemenza I've been meaning to read that -- let me know how it is when you get around to it

― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 25 July 2013 17:49 (twelve years ago)

I just finished that this morning, coincidentally! Had a great time with it. It's not territory I was deeply familiar with so plenty of omg and wtf for me. Cass Elliott and Graham Nash both come off as especially likable IMO.

― Thelema & Louise (Jon Lewis), Thursday, 25 July 2013 19:49 (twelve years ago)

Before that I read Don Felder's autobiography, I dunno what this phase is I'm going through. Guess the logical next read is Helter Skelter or some Mike Davis.

― Thelema & Louise (Jon Lewis), Thursday, 25 July 2013 19:51 (twelve years ago)

eight months pass...

Read a few pages of that one with the groovy poster on the cover but found the tone annoying, guy is too much of a true believer. Hoskyns much better.

― Bristol Stomper's Breakout (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 28 March 2014 12:00 (eleven years ago)

http://dangerousminds.net/comments/classic_rock_conspiracy_theory_weird_scenes_inside_the_canyon

― Iago Galdston, Sunday, 30 March 2014 00:55 (eleven years ago)

six years pass...

Has the new documentary been discussed on any other threads? If so, I missed it. Anyway, it's gorgeous:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2paG8l0U_qI

― joni mitchell jarre (anagram), Thursday, 6 August 2020 13:18 (five years ago)

Putting the Momkees in the trailer is not how to interest me, not when it's the Canyon, man!
That BBC documentary was a bit disappointing, I thought. Its structure, focusing sequentially on certain artists, kinda negleced the bigger picture, ie the retreat from the Strip to the canyons, the effects of the Manson killings and the switch from communal utopia to introspective narcissism, etc. Hoskyns' books are pretty good for that.

― is anyone anticipating the new Baaderonixx? (baaderonixx), Monday, January 22, 2007
An album that always seemed to catch this shifting vibe is Michele's Saturn Rings, rom the end of the 60s. Michele O'Malley sang with the Ballroom and was also a session pro, I think, anyway worked with Curt Boettcher, like on tracks by his band Sagittarius, maybe Millenium too, and he arranged and wrote here, also got Lowell George, Elliott Ingber,of the Mothers of Invention, the Association's Gordon Alexander, several from deeper in the West Coast canyon---you get evergreen California psych-pop smarts, yet something more driven too, from misty to stormy, lying in the garden and coming to see what thee stars spell out---it's always on youtube, will try to post
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuj1UT6Ic2A

― dow, Thursday, 6 August 2020 18:50 (five years ago)

Cover art by Dean Torrence, of Jan and Dean---he became a pro illustrator after Jan's crash on Sunset.

― dow, Thursday, 6 August 2020 18:52 (five years ago)

the monkees are featured because Mickey Dolenz lived in Laurel Canyon and was a part of the scene.

it's a fine documentary in the boomer talking heads mythologize the 60s/70s fashion. so kind of annoying and blah but if you have enduring love for a lot of the material and the milieu (check and check for me) worth watching.

― Temporary Erogenous Zone (jim in vancouver), Thursday, 6 August 2020 18:58 (five years ago)

omg is this the one with jakob dylan being boring af all the time? blech, i hated it.

― Give me a Chad Smith-type feel (map), Thursday, 6 August 2020 19:22 (five years ago)

people sure do like talking about the time when hippies made a shitload of money that one time

― Give me a Chad Smith-type feel (map), Thursday, 6 August 2020 19:23 (five years ago)

no jakob Dylan was not in this

― Temporary Erogenous Zone (jim in vancouver), Thursday, 6 August 2020 19:32 (five years ago)

the monkees are featured because Mickey Dolenz lived in Laurel Canyon and was a part of the scene.

As was Peter Tork.

― Udo Starmer (Tom D.), Thursday, 6 August 2020 19:45 (five years ago)

everybody partied at Peter Tork’s place

― brimstead, Thursday, 6 August 2020 21:18 (five years ago)

oh yeah, my memory of this thing I watched 3 weeks ago is not as good as it could be

― Temporary Erogenous Zone (jim in vancouver), Thursday, 6 August 2020 21:20 (five years ago)

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