The Wrecking Crew (2008)

Retrofit Drive In

Jul 31, 2021

Once upon a time … in Hollywood, there was a whole alternate universe spinning out of control that combined a huge chunk of the 60s entertainment spectrum, Southern California style. Their story is as loose as a goose and as tight as a Carole Kaye bass lick1 It involves a lot of unknowns who worked in the background, and in so doing laid the crazy quilt foundation for many of the songs that defined the era, by some of the biggest names.

Carol Kaye works on The Beach Boys “Good Vibrations”

They were the session men and women known unofficially but eventually as “The Wrecking Crew.”

This week’s feature is a fabulous documentary from 2008 that was assembled by director Denny Tedesco, following the death of his father, guitarist Tommy Tedesco (1930-1997). According to Guitar.com, Tedesco was the “most recorded guitarist in history,” having worked with Elvis Presley, The Beach Boys, The Monkees, The Byrds, Phil Spector, Frank Sinatra, Sonny and Cher, The Mamas & The Papas and Frank Zappa. He also played on the themes for Bonanza, The Twilight Zone, M*A*S*H, Starsky & Hutch, Kojak, Batman, The Godfather, Jaws, Mission: Impossible, The French Connection, The Deer Hunter and Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom.

Better call Tommy: Elvis, Beach Boys, Monkees, Byrds, Spector, Sinatra, Cher & Sonny, Mamas & Papas, Zappa

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Spoiler alert: two of the Crew actually got famous: Glen Campbell (1936-2017) and Leon Russell (1942-2016). The other twenty or so worked on a remarkable numbers of recordings for some of the biggest names in the music industry.

In addition to their documentary, rock out to some choice videos from 1966-67, two of the defining years for The Wrecking Crew.

Also Chapter 8 from the Adventures of Captain Marvel (1941) comes back to you in an episode entitled “Boomerang.”

Finally, The Wrecking Crew backs up guitarist Mason Williams in a wild animation that covers 3,000 years of art in 3 minutes. Not for those sensitive to flashing lights, images, and tons of instruments played perfectly all at once.