Another movie review. Last night I watched a movie about the best band to ever be put together. The catch is, 99% of the people in America have never heard of them! But…99% of America have heard them in one form or another. They were called the Wrecking Crew; a group of studio musicians in Los Angeles in the 1960’s who played on almost every hit record of the era, from Frank Sinatra to the Beach Boys, to the Captain and Tennile! My favorite statistic in the film is that Hal Blaine played drums on the Record of the Year for 7 years in a row in the 60’s!!! These guys worked every day, sometimes 4 sessions a day, to make some of the greatest music of the rock and roll era. They were all men, except for Carol Kaye, the greatest bass player on the planet. The joke was that if there was sexual harassment in those days, she and her lawyers would have been millionaires. (It was a joke).
A quote from Bones Howe, producer and engineer:
“Never say no until you are too busy to say yes.”
They worked so much that sometimes they didn’t even know what records they were on. There was a section where they went in and replaced all the musicians on a Gary Lewis and the Playboys session (They were actually the Playboys). They felt guilty about it until they saw the actual Playboys watching them work, and then thanking them for making the record so good.
There was a moment when Nancy Sinatra snuck in to the end of one of her father’s sessions with Wrecking Crew musicians (after the “real” musicians left) and recorded “Something Stupid” talking her father into dueting with her. It was her first number 1 record!
The stories go on and on. The film is a must see for any music fan!!!