The Wrecking Crew [DVD] [2008]

The names Hal Blaine, Plas Johnson, Carol Kaye, Earl Palmer, Don Randi and Tommy Tedesco may not mean much to most music fans, but nearly everyone has heard and loved their work. They were members of the team of session musicians nicknamed "the Wrecking Crew," and they were the backbone of the West Coast pop music industry in the Sixties. Gifted, versatile and possessing the knack for turning a simple tune into something memorable, the Wrecking Crew were the players who turned the Wall of Sound in Phil Spector's head into a reality, and helped Brian Wilson create the musical vision that would redefine California pop. The Wrecking Crew also backed up everyone from Sonny and Cher, the Mamas and the Papas and the Monkees to Herb Alpert, Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra, but while they became legends in the music business, they were all but unknown to the millions of people who made their records some of the biggest hits of the day. Filmmaker Denny Tedesco -- whose father Tommy was a member of the Wrecking Crew and perhaps the most recorded guitarist in history -- brings the free-wheeling story of the most famous musicians you've never heard of to the screen with the documentary The Wrecking Crew, which includes interviews with Cher, Brian Wilson, Nancy Sinatra, Roger McGuinn, Mickey Dolenz, Dick Clark and many more.~Mark Deming