The Wrecking Crew: The Beach Boys, Elvis, Frank Sinatra, Sonny & Cher, Nat King Cole and many, many more. Behind their success was a group of studio musicians called The Wrecking Crew. What the Funk Brothers did for Motown, The Wrecking Crew did, only bigger, for the West Coast Sound. Six years in a row in the 1960s and early 1970s, the Grammy for “Record of the Year” went to Wrecking Crew recordings. And now, ‘The Wrecking Crew’ tells the story in pictures and that oh, so glorious sound. ‘The Wrecking Crew’ is a documentary film produced and directed by Denny Tedesco, son of legendary late Wrecking Crew guitarist Tommy Tedesco, and tells the story of the unsung musicians that provided the backbeat, the bottom and the swinging melody that drove many of the number one hits of the 1960’s. The Wrecking Crew was a nickname coined by drummer Hal Blaine for the group of studio and session musicians that played anonymously on many of these recordings. The crew backed dozens of popular singers, and were one of the most successful groups of studio musicians in music history. The Wrecking Crew’s members were musically versatile but typically had formal backgrounds in jazz or classical music. The talents of this group of “first call” players were used on almost every style of recording including television theme songs, film scores, advertising jingles and almost every genre of American popular music, from The Monkees to Bing Crosby. Notable artists employing the Wrecking Crew’s talents included Nancy Sinatra, Bobby Vee, The Partridge Family, The Mamas & the Papas, The 5th Dimension, The Association, The Carpenters, Glen Campbell, Cher, John Denver, The Beach Boys, Simon & Garfunkel, The Grass Roots and Nat King Cole. The record producers most often associated with the Wrecking Crew are Phil Spector, who used the Crew to create his trademark “Wall of Sound”; and Beach Boys member and songwriter Brian Wilson, who used the Crew’s talents on many of his mid-1960s productions including the songs “Good Vibrations” and “California Girls”. LOVE – Can’t wait to see this doco in full! Check out the trailer below:
