The 2002 film "Standing in the Shadows of Motown" is a documentary about The Funk Brothers, an anonymous band of studio session musicians that defined the sound of classic 1960s soul music. Now we have "The Wrecking Crew," a documentary about the West Coast equivalent, who played on just about every non-Motown track you hear on "oldies" AM radio stations.
From "California Girls" to "California Dreamin', " the so-called Wrecking Crew were the first generation of hip session musicians to start playing rock 'n' roll — something their "square" predecessors wouldn't touch. In the film, guitarists Tommy Tedesco and Al Casey, bassist Carol Kaye, drummers Earl Palmer and Hal Blaine, and saxophonist Plas Johnson recall the days when they were part of a group of 20 or so musicians who played on scores of hit records in the '60s.
The Wrecking Crew nailed the utterly distinct sounds of Phil Spector's "Then He Kissed Me," the "Mad Men"-era bachelor-pad cool of The Baja Marimba Band's "Spanish Flea" and Henry Mancini's riff-monster scores to "The Pink Panther" and "Mission Impossible." Writing a score on paper is one thing, but the new tonal quality of rock instruments and the notion of "groove" could not be notated — The Wrecking Crew were the people who defined these sounds.
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