July 15, 2015 -- This is about what I expected. It is a documentary similar to those I've seen before about the Muscle Shoals musicians known as “The Swampers” (the film is called “Muscle Shoals”) or the “Funk Brothers,” the Motown studio musicians featured in “Standing in the Shadows of Motown” and, of course, the great background singers featured in “20 Feet from Stardom.”

This documentary is about elite, but largely unknown, Los Angeles studio musicians of the 1950s - 1970s. They provided the music on many hit records, including the Beach Boys biggest hits (the Beach Boys, like the Monkees and some other popular groups of that era did not play any instruments in some recording sessions). The story follows a similar arc to those mentioned above. Those great musicians ruled the studios for years until musicians and recording practices changed. These musicians, like the others in those other documentary films, were eventually squeezed out.

In large part, this film chronicles the career of the late studio guitarist Tommy Tedesco. It was directed by his son, Denny Tedesco. The name “The Wrecking Crew” was applied loosely to a group of musicians, including Tedesco, who played in Los Angeles at various studios with the biggest stars in music and who worked the biggest music producers, including Phil Spector. So, of course, the film delves into Spector's famed “Wall of Sound.”

Probably the most surprising thing is the extended interview footage of Brian Wilson, the musical genius behind the Beach Boys who was a recluse for many years. He comes across as a normal kind of guy in this film. There is a lengthy discussion by Brian Wilson, and the musicians who worked with him, about the creative process behind some of the best Beach Boys recording sessions.

Another surprising thing to me was finding out about Carol Kaye, a bass player. I had no idea there was such a high-profile woman bass player. She played on some 10,000 recordings in her 55-year career. She plays a few of her more famous bass licks and tells stories of hanging out with the boys in the band. The studio scene in those days, particularly among bass players, was a boys club, but Carol Kaye played with the best of them, and excelled.

The impression you get from this film (and you get the same impression from some of the other musical documentaries listed above) is that you could come into the studio and hand the Wrecking Crew the idea for a song and a chord chart and that's all they needed to produce all the music you need for a hit song.

Cher, Herb Alpert, Glen Campbell, Leon Russell (who twice has performed in Laramie in recent years) Dick Clark, Nancy Sinatra, Jim Webb, Bill Medley (of the Righteous Brothers) and many other music notables appear in this film. There are many brief clips of famous songs recorded by these studio musicians, including Webb's “McArthur Park,” Sonny and Cher's “The Beat Goes On,” the Righteous Brothers' “You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'” and many, many others.

Dick Clark, Phil Spector, Tommy Tedesco, and some others also appear in the. Clark and Tedesco are dead and Spector is in prison for murder. Some of this is archive footage, but some of these interviews are included because Denny Tedesco started making this film way back in 1996. I probably knew at one time that Glen Campbell was one of those studio musicians before he became a singer-songwriting star, but I had forgotten. It turns out he was part of the Wrecking Crew.

There is a lot of great music in this film, and a lot of bittersweet stories told by musicians who had a big part in recording that great music. There are lots of interesting stories and musical tidbits. So if you are interested in the history of popular music, this is another musical documentary about the golden years of rock to add to your collection. This film rates a B.

The film is listed as having been made in 2008 at IMDB.com, but its theatrical run and DVD release were delayed until 2015. It looks like there was a hangup with raising money to pay licensing fees. It was financed, in part, with online crowd-funding at Kickstarter.

Click here for links to places to buy or rent this movie in digital formats, or to buy the soundtrack, posters, books, even used videos, games, electronics and lots of other stuff. I suggest you shop at least two of these places before buying anything. Prices seem to vary continuously. For more information on this film, click on this link to The Internet Movie Database. Type in the name of the movie in the search box and press enter. You will be able to find background information on the film, the actors, and links to much more information.

Copyright © 2015 Robert Roten. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.

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