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Post subject: "the wrecking crew"- finally!
Posted: Thu Mar 12, 2015 8:38 pm
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just found out that the wrecking crew story will be available on pay-per-view from dish network soon. can't wait to see it. I believe it is 6.99, and worth every penny. it may be available thru other outlets too. since I haven't seen any indication of a dvd release, this will have to do me.

for those who like these kinds of stories, I encourage a look at "standing in the shadows of Motown"- about the funk brothers. growing up in the 60's, I didn't realize that I was only an hour away from the home of some great music. the Motown museum is on my list of places to hit this summer.


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Post subject: Re: "the wrecking crew"- finally!
Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2015 7:17 am
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I got to go to a private screening of it a few years ago in an old ornate theater that had just been redone. Some of the original members were there and spoke after the screening. It was a really nice evening and the show was eye opening. They were trying to get a limited release in theaters at the time.

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Post subject: Re: "the wrecking crew"- finally!
Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2015 8:24 am
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Thanks for the heads up phreddybee. Should be interesting. :D

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Post subject: Re: "the wrecking crew"- finally!
Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2015 9:28 am
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got to see it this morning-and talk about revealing!

I grew up and learned to play guitar in the 60's. it is still my favorite music. I was surprised to find the extent of the wrecking crew's body of work. even many of the bands that had hits back then were just these musicians in the studio. carol kaye is amazing, and a lot of bands, including the beach boys, used them on their records. I recommend it highly.


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Post subject: Re: "the wrecking crew"- finally!
Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2015 10:46 am
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phreddybee wrote:
carol kaye is amazing,


Yes, I think that was the most eye opening revelation for me. I knew about Tommy Tedesco, and Hal Blaine and Glen Campbell. I had no idea of the bass legacy this lady created. She must have had to stifle a smirk every time she left the studio.

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Post subject: Re: "the wrecking crew"- finally!
Posted: Wed Mar 18, 2015 3:24 am
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I'm not familiar with the " Wrecking Crew " but Standing In The Shadows Of Motown , has become one of my favorite films which I always watch whenever it's on TV. The Funk Brothers were a class act who were responsible for a ton of Motown's classics .


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Post subject: Re: "the wrecking crew"- finally!
Posted: Wed Mar 18, 2015 7:48 pm
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jeffo- the wrecking crew was basically a west coast version of the funk brothers. they played on beach boys, sonny and cher, and countless other recordings.

this show is more about the history of the wrecking crew. there are not as many performances as there was in the "Motown" story. both are worth watching.


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Post subject: Re: "the wrecking crew"- finally!
Posted: Thu Mar 19, 2015 5:30 am
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I saw a preview of the film at On Demand yesterday and it looks very interesting. I think I'm going to order it today and give it a viewing. I wasn't aware that Carol Kaye was part of them.


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Post subject: Re: "the wrecking crew"- finally!
Posted: Sat Mar 21, 2015 8:03 pm
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The sideman's sidemen and woman......or......who was really playing when you were led to believe someone else was. 8)

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Post subject: Re: "the wrecking crew"- finally!
Posted: Sun Mar 22, 2015 4:52 pm
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For bonus points - why did they choose the name "Wrecking Crew"...

Hint: comics :wink:

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Post subject: Re: "the wrecking crew"- finally!
Posted: Sun Mar 22, 2015 5:46 pm
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Miami Mike wrote:
For bonus points - why did they choose the name "Wrecking Crew"...

Hint: comics :wink:

According to Wikipedia, "The Wrecking Crew" first appears in comics in 1974. When did the musicians adopt the name? They'd been working together for at least a decade prior.

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Post subject: Re: "the wrecking crew"- finally!
Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2015 8:45 am
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"According to Hal Blaine, the name "The Wrecking Crew" was derived from the impression that he and the younger studio musicians made on the business's older generation, who felt that they were going to wreck the music industry. Prior to that, in the late 1950s the small group headed by Ray Pohlman was often referred to as "The First Call Gang," since they were the musicians many record producers would call first. With home base being Hollywood's "General Service Studios", this early group consisted of talented musicians such as Earl Palmer, Mel Pollen, Bill Aken, Barney Kessel, and Al Casey. Many historians consider this small group to be the actual origin of "The Wrecking Crew", or "The Clique" as they were sometimes called."

Tommy Tedesco was an avid comics book reader. I think it influenced his
monthly columns in GP, when it was worth reading.

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Post subject: Re: "the wrecking crew"- finally!
Posted: Mon Mar 30, 2015 3:24 pm
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I got to see it with my wife this past Friday. it was her birthday so dinner and a good movie was in order. It was a wonderful documentary, and I am so glad we caught it as there seems to be limited dates at this point. I was aware of them prior to seeing this documentary but I still had know idea of the magnitude of the hits they created. I do recommend this to anyone interested in the music businesses history, the music businesses is no longer that model
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Post subject: Re: "the wrecking crew"- finally!
Posted: Mon Mar 30, 2015 9:56 pm
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Miami Mike wrote:
"According to Hal Blaine, the name "The Wrecking Crew" was derived from the impression that he and the younger studio musicians made on the business's older generation, who felt that they were going to wreck the music industry. Prior to that, in the late 1950s the small group headed by Ray Pohlman was often referred to as "The First Call Gang," since they were the musicians many record producers would call first. With home base being Hollywood's "General Service Studios", this early group consisted of talented musicians such as Earl Palmer, Mel Pollen, Bill Aken, Barney Kessel, and Al Casey. Many historians consider this small group to be the actual origin of "The Wrecking Crew", or "The Clique" as they were sometimes called."

Tommy Tedesco was an avid comics book reader. I think it influenced his
monthly columns in GP, when it was worth reading.


The Wrecking Crew was a name that wasn't coined until Hal Blaine's book. Miami Mike is correct in that they really didn't have an official name at the time they were actually all playing together. If you had to call them anything MM is correct that it would have been The First Call Gang or The Clique, which was how they referred to themselves collectively. Nobody else knew anything about them outside the LA Studio scene at the time. Record labels rarely gave them any credit because they didn't want buyers to know the band wasn't playing their own instruments. The Wrecking Crew was never an official "group" as such. They didn't play gigs or make their own albums, with a few notable exceptions like Herb Alpert and Glen Campbell and Leon Russell who broke out as solo acts. Depending on the session you could get some of them or many of them. They worked for AFM scale, so one AFM guitarist cost a producer the same as another and there were several guitarists and at least two bassists and drummers who could be considered CLIQUE players. There were also violinists, cellists, woodwind players, chime, tympani players, etc who never get any credit and still don't but were just as much Wrecking Crew members as Hal Blane or Marvin Hamlisch or Glen Campbell or Carol Kaye because they too were first call session players present at many sessions with the names that are more famous to us. There were easily over 100 of these people that showed up routinely. Being guitar and bass freaks here we tend to focus on the guitar and bass players leaving totally neglected a legion of forgotten but highly skilled string, hand percussion bongo and marimba players (Julius Wechter for example) that were in there too. This was more than a rhythm section and yet we tend to focus on the guitar and bass and sometimes the drums.

I look forward to seeing this movie but I don't expect any revelations beyond what I already know.

I would dispute that they worked in ONE studio though. They worked everywhere in the LA area, wherever the calls were. Carol Kaye and other Clique members were playing a film studio in the morning, then an afternoon session at another studio and sometimes a night session at a third studio.

A session cat is a session cat regardless of city. About the only 60's session cats that haven't been romanticized to infamy in one book or another is the NYC first call players and the American Sound players in Memphis. I suppose they are next. Every big town around the world where there is a serious recording business has a Wrecking Crew of their own and always has, whether Paris or New Orleans or Memphis or Nashville or Muscle Shoals or NYC or Berlin or Amsterdam there are always studio cats who get paid union scale and residuals but never get any glory. Some of them actually prefer it that way. Imagine if you were playing on 8 of the top 10 songs on the Billboard Hot 100, would you expect to be able to go to the grocery store unrecognized? The "Wrecking Crew" players did that and were never ever recognized or asked for an autograph.


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Post subject: Re: "the wrecking crew"- finally!
Posted: Sun Apr 12, 2015 9:47 pm
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I am a bit bewildered that this isn't available on DVD! For a couple of years they were still seeking donations so the film could be completed and DVD would be the best format to recoup some of the revenue it cost to make.I have Fios on Demand and now have to keep an eye out for it. There body of work is simply mind blowing and any musician able to work in that 'clique' had to be the cream of the crop. Now I am Gassing bad to watch it lol.


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