The Wrecking Crew

(USA, 2008, 95 mins)

HDCam

PRODS: Denny Tedesco, Suzie Tedesco, Jon Leonoudakis, Mitchell Linden, Claire Scanlon
CAM: Rodney Taylor, Trish Govoni
ED: Claire Scanlon
MUS: The Wrecking Crew
Cast: Brian Wilson, Cher, Nancy Sinatra, Herb Alpert, Glen Campbell

• www.wreckingcrew.tv

The greatest group of pop musicians you've never heard of, The Wrecking Crew was a loose coterie of approximately 20 Los Angeles session musicians responsible for some of the most sublime music to come from the West Coast in the late 50s and throughout the 60s.

Nominally led by guitar virtuoso Tommy Tedesco--it's his son Denny who's directed this crucial corrective to received pop music history--the Crew were young, talented and willing to try anything for the many music producers who avidly sought their skills and creative imaginations. And what creative imaginations! The sounds and iconic riffs they came up with are jaw-dropping in both scope and the way in which they've become embedded in the collective unconscious of pop music fans. The bass riff on Nancy Sinatra's "These Boots Are Made for Walking?" The Wrecking Crew. Phil Spector's vaunted "wall of sound?' The Crew. Frank Sinatra's lushly arranged backing music? Played by the Crew. The Beach Boys' classic "Pet Sounds" album? It wasn't Brian Wilson and his group playing, it was the Wrecking Crew. Hell, even the ultra-familiar Pink Panther theme was played by Wrecking Crew saxophonist Plas Johnson.

Toiling in obscurity--for top dollar, it should be said--the Crew was rarely credited for the contributions they made to so many classics; various bands were embarrassed to admit they weren't the musicians on their own records! Denny Tedesco's hugely entertaining film should finally, ahem, set the record straight.

Sponsored By:

Rock101

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