Laurel Canyon: Part 2

September 14, 2023 8:04 PM - Season 1, Episode 2

Part 2 of the MGM+ docuseries follows the residents of Laurel Canyon from the late 60s through the mid-70s as they write more political songs and start locking their doors for the first time after frightening neighborhood connections to the Manson Family murders. Footage and stories of Gram Parsons and the Flying Burrito Brothers, Altamont, Little Feat, Linda Rondstadt (incl. her role helping start the Eagles), the Doors, Bonnie Raitt, an adorably young Jackson Browne, the love between Joni Mitchell and Graham Nash, the cocaine and ego battles that broke up CSN, and more.
posted by mediareport (1 comment total)

This 75-minute 2nd half explores the darkness that came to the canyon with the Manson murders, the war in Vietnam, and cocaine, but still has some gorgeous music and fun stories about the Laurel Canyon community. The section about Jackson Browne's arrival as a new kid hanging out at the folk clubs, and David Geffen sobbing over the phone as he played one of his songs for another manager, got me listening to Browne's early records again. I'd forgotten how great they are.

I'm not a huge Eagles fan, so that part wasn't as interesting to me as, say, the part about Little Feat, with drummer Sam Clayton laughing off musical categorization in favor of the term "sophisti-funk" and Lowell George waxing nicely philosophical about success or the lack thereof, but there were some neat bits even in the Eagles stuff, like Linda Ronstadt offering guidance, introductions and advice to Glen Frey and Don Henley when they were in her backing band. And, of course, the skyrocket upward is always cute to see.

Like I said in the Part 1 thread, this is a really well-done documentary mini-series about some truly astonishing musicians and the connections between them. One of the best music docs I've seen in a long time.
posted by mediareport at 8:45 PM on September 14, 2023 [1 favorite]