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celtic_oracle's review against another edition
4.0
I never realized how much of the 60s music came out of Laurel Canyon. An interesting story of the evolution of the place in relation to the music and social evolution of the 60s and 70s, but also some lovely tidbits about the various players here (Joni Mitchell, Crosby, Stills and Nash, etc.)
cowiealexandra's review
3.0
2.5 stars
An interesting account but scattered at times and difficult to follow
An interesting account but scattered at times and difficult to follow
todayisnot's review
Was reading this for popsugar 2023 challenge. Ended up with another book for the prompt instead. Would revisit when I have more time to listen along with some of the bands/albums discussed
hippiechick56's review
2.0
Laurel Canyon was a backdrop to the story about the music and social scene in L.A. in the 60s and 70s. There were few big names and most of the people interviewed were the background people to the stars themselves. It was interesting but certainly not what I thought I would be reading.
andipants's review
3.0
Interesting if occasionally nostalgia-tinted tour of the LA music scene in the 60s and 70s. Some bits drag or go a little far afield from the stated topic, and there are a few people interviewed where I was thinking, "Do I really care what this person has to say?" Overall though, it was a reasonably engaging portrait of a fascinating time and place.
tobin_elliott's review
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.0
As music books go, this was all right. Not fantastic, not earth-shaking, but all right.
As many other reviewers have noted, while it purports to be the "inside story of rock and roll's legendary neighborhood" it does take far too many detours out of Laurel Canyon and into the offices of music companies, or into LA, or wherever.
It started out strong, and I will say I quite enjoyed the first half, and I think if Walker had simply focused on Laurel Canyon up to, say, the Manson murders, and gone more in depth on the musicians in the canyon, and more about their songwriting and collaborations and inspirations, this would have been a far more interesting read.
As many other reviewers have noted, while it purports to be the "inside story of rock and roll's legendary neighborhood" it does take far too many detours out of Laurel Canyon and into the offices of music companies, or into LA, or wherever.
It started out strong, and I will say I quite enjoyed the first half, and I think if Walker had simply focused on Laurel Canyon up to, say, the Manson murders, and gone more in depth on the musicians in the canyon, and more about their songwriting and collaborations and inspirations, this would have been a far more interesting read.
blevins's review
4.0
Michael Walker delves into the Los Angeles music scene of the 1960s/1970s based out of the Laurel Canyon neighborhood and gives us a lively history of bands, musicians, groupies, managers, record company employees, music venues and other subjects hooked into this wild scene from the era. I'm a music history nerd--especially rock music--so, I'm an easy mark for this one. If you like The Byrds, Frank Zappa [although I wanted more about Zappa in this], Crosby Stills and Nash, Jackson Browne and the like, you'll like this. If you just like this period of music when folk merged with rock and rock merged with country and Los Angeles helped reign supreme on the early classic rock genre--then you'll like this. Even though I'm not into a bunch of the bands Walker writes about here, it's still a very interesting read.