DVD Review: The Wrecking Crew

The Truth Behind The Music

Review by David Clark

Eras of music like the east coast swing of the 40’s, to the New Orleans Jazz of the 50’s, through the Rock craze of the 60’s, have transcended time and left their imprint on the world of music to this day. It does not matter if a person was born in the 1920’s or the 1990’s, they have heard the names of groups like The Monkees, Sonny and Cher, or Sinatra. To this day modern music is still grounded in and borrows from the riffs, bass lines, and melodies from those decades. Artists in the music industry often point to musical heroes from those years as their inspirations.

There are names from the 1940’s-1960’s that people today do not know. Names that were so important in the music industry they changed the way music was played. Yet, ask around today about Hal Blaine, Tommy Tedesco, Carol Kaye, or Plas Johnson and people will likely scratch their heads in confusion. The documentary titled The Wrecking Crew published in 2008 by Magnolia Pictures and directed by Denny Tedesco (Tommy Tedesco’s son) explores this group of unsung heroes and finally gives them a little piece of the credit they deserve.

For many people both young and old this documentary will change the way they view their favorite groups from the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s. Is this a good thing? That will depend upon the opinion of the person watching. For some it might be disheartening to learn how much or how little their favorite bands actually did in the recording studios. For others it might be enlightening to learn the history of The Wrecking Crews influence on their favorite song or learn how their favorite album was compiled.

Not even people that are dubbed as part of The Wrecking Crew can agree on where the name came from or how many people were in the group. The crew was made up of some twenty to thirty people who were considered session musicians, and they were the instruments behind the famous voices of their day. The crew was not an actual band and they did not travel or book studio time together. They were a group of musicians so talented they were sought after and contracted by every major studio. By the 60’s Rock & Roll was the genre in style and most of the major albums were being produced out of the west coast in cities like Los Angeles. These talented studio musicians followed the money and would often work together on various projects because of their proximity to each other.

The session musicians were turning band albums from that time period into top charting musical successes and the studios wanted more. Eventually the record labels began viewing their session musicians as star-making-machines. It did not matter who the studios brought in to sing and tour on the albums, it seemed like The Wrecking Crew turned them into best sellers. The most shocking thing depicted in this documentary was the revelation that some of the most famous people in the music industry did not play on their own records. Not only that, but when performing their albums live the instrumentals would often be different because the band members were not talented enough to duplicate the talents of the studios session musicians. It became such a prevalent practice that studios would put off record production until they could book their desired session musicians even if the band members were available.

This often created problems because members of the bands felt underappreciated when they were left out of the creative process on their own records. In certain cases like The Monkees, session musicians wrote and recorded the entire album. When the album became a billboard #1 hit for 13 weeks in a row the studios put four people together to form The Monkees and tour on the album. For the most part the public consumers had no idea the faces of the band had nothing to do with the music they were playing. In the documentary a member of The Monkees says he felt like an actor playing a part rather than a musician, because they did not write or play the instruments on the album.

Some session musicians were finally brought up to front their own bands but the majority stayed in the background for the entirety of their careers. One of the reasons for this; studios wanted to use the same musicians on all of their albums and it would have been immersion breaking for record consumers to see the same names on every album. People would have started realizing they were listening to the same people whether they had on a Beach Boys album or an Elvis album.

With a 102 minute runtime this documentary is an eye opening presentation on how the music industry was run during the golden era of music. Calling The Wrecking Crew a must watch documentary for any musician might be taking things too far; however, fans of music from that time period might find this documentary a fascinating look behind-the-scenes of their favorite bands.

The Wrecking Crew is presented in a way that is very light and easy to follow. The round table discussions between crew members reflect on short funny stories or explain the history behind a particular famous song. Those moments are inter-mingled with footage from the recording sessions that take an audience back to that time period. Every moment, from listening to Carol Kaye play the bass riff to the Beach Boys “Good Vibrations,” to watching Nancy Sinatra explain why she wanted to sing “These Boots Are Made For Walking,” are fascinating. Topped off with a soundtrack that compiles some of the most famous songs in the history of American Rock & Roll, and this documentary will have audiences tapping their feet while watching The Wrecking Crew make music history.