The Wrecking Crew (music)

Recording practices in the 1960s In the era when the Wrecking Crew was in demand, session players were usually active in local recording scenes concentrated in cities such as New York City, Nashville, Memphis and Detroit, as well as Los Angeles, the Wrecking Crew's base of operations, and smaller specialist recording locations such as Muscle Shoals. Each local scene had its circle of "A-list" session musicians, such as the Nashville A-Team that played on numerous country and rock hits of the era, the two groups of musicians in Memphis, the Memphis Boys and Booker T. & the M.G.s with the Memphis Horns, the musicians who backed Stax/Volt recordings, and the Funk Brothers in Detroit, who played on many Motown recordings. Musicians had to be available "on call" when producers needed a part to fill a last-minute time slot. Los Angeles was then considered the top recording location in the United States; consequently, studios were constantly booked around the clock, and session time was highly sought after and expensive. Songs had to be recorded quickly in the fewest possible takes. In this environment, Los Angeles producers and record executives had little patience for needless expense or wasted time and depended on the service of reliable standby musicians who could be counted on to record in a variety of styles with minimal practice or takes, and deliver hits on short order. Musical backgrounds The Wrecking Crew were the "go-to" session musicians in Los Angeles during this era. Its members were musically versatile but typically had formal backgrounds in jazz or classical music, and were exceptional at sight reading. The talent of this group of "first call" players was used in almost every style of recording, including television theme songs, film scores, advertising jingles and many genres of American popular music from the Monkees to Bing Crosby. Several of the Los Angeles recording studios in which the Wrecking Crew regularly appeared were Gold Star Studios, United Western Recorders built by Bill Putnam, Capitol Records' studios located at their tower on Vine Street, Columbia Records' Los Angeles complex, and the RCA recording facility, which was located on Sunset Boulevard near Wallichs Music City, a music store that often supplied instruments for L.A. session players. Like all session musicians who worked in Los Angeles, the Wrecking Crew's members belonged to the American Federation of Musicians (AFM), Local 47, which represented their interests in areas such as pay scale and enforcement of regulations. Name , probably in 1995. He was one of the "first call" drummers in Los Angeles during the 1960s and early 1970s and is usually credited with popularizing the name "Wrecking Crew". The name "Wrecking Crew" was popularized by drummer and member Hal Blaine in his 1990 memoir, Hal Blaine and the Wrecking Crew. Though the unit did not have an official moniker during their years of activity, Blaine has stated that the term was sometimes used disparagingly in the early 1960s by members of the industry's old guard of "coat and tie" session players, who felt that, with their penchant for wearing "t-shirts and jeans" to sessions and their embrace of rock and roll, they were going to "wreck" the music industry. According to biographer Kent Hartman, "Some of the studio musicians I interviewed swear they heard it applied to themselves as early as 1963; others say it was later. One says it was never used at all." Blaine's memoirs, and the attention that followed, cast new light on the Wrecking Crew's role in many famous recordings. Guitarist and bassist Carol Kaye has disputed Blaine's account of the name and stated, "We were never known as that. Sometimes we were called 'the Clique', but "the Wrecking Crew" is a Hal Blaine invented name for his own self-promotion in 1990 ..." Songfacts stated: "We couldn't find any references to 'The Wrecking Crew' in any publications from the era." An article from the July 1977 issue of High Fidelity magazine, quotes Blaine stating that the term was in use in the 1960s. In response to Kaye's contention, Blaine denied that anyone had ever heard the name "The Clique". ==Formation of unit: 1957–1962==

was an early member of the Wrecking Crew The beginnings of the group can be traced to session musicians of the late 1950s including Irv Cottler, Earl Palmer, Howard Roberts, Hal Blaine and a group headed by bassist and guitarist Ray Pohlman, sometimes referred to as the "First Call Gang". Earl Palmer was originally from New Orleans and had recorded with many of the Crescent City's rhythm and blues musicians, such as Fats Domino. In 1962, Phil Spector started a new label, Philles Records, and recorded the song "He's a Rebel", which would be credited to the Crystals. He enlisted the aid of his high-school friend, saxophonist Steve Douglas, who was also working as a contractor in charge of recruiting musicians for recording sessions. Douglas helped him corral the backing unit, which included Pohlman, guitarists Roberts and Tommy Tedesco, pianist Al De Lory, upright bassist Jimmy Bond, and Hal Blaine on drums. They booked Studio A at Gold Star Studios, known for its deeply reverberant echo chambers, which became the preferred recording facility for Spector. The unit became an essential component in developing his "Wall of Sound" style, starting with "He's a Rebel" and a series of several more hits by the Crystals ("Da Doo Ron Ron" and "Then He Kissed Me") and other girl groups, such as the Ronettes ("Be My Baby" and "Baby, I Love You"). It was on these recordings that the Wrecking Crew emerged in their most recognizable form and became the most coveted session players in Los Angeles's thriving recording scene. With them, Spector went on to produce other records by the Righteous Brothers ("You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin", "Ebb Tide", and "Unchained Melody") and Ike and Tina Turner ("River Deep – Mountain High"). ==Peak years: 1963–1971==

After Spector, the Wrecking Crew worked with dozens of producers, such as Brian Wilson, Terry Melcher, Lou Adler, Bones Howe, Jimmy Bowen, and Mike Post. As side players, they were teamed with artists as diverse as Jan & Dean, Bobby Vee, Nancy Sinatra, the Grass Roots, Simon & Garfunkel, Glen Campbell, the Partridge Family, David Cassidy (in his solo work), the Carpenters, John Denver and Nat King Cole. During this heady period, the unit worked long hours—15-hour days were not unusual—and were paid exceedingly well. Carol Kaye commented, "I was making more money than the President." Some reports falsely claim that the Wrecking Crew replaced the Beach Boys on record after their first few hits; however, this misconception derived from incomplete written documentation of the recording sessions. It was not until the 1965 album The Beach Boys Today! that Wrecking Crew musicians began to figure heavily on the band's studio recordings, an arrangement that lasted until 1967. Lou Adler was one of Los Angeles' top music executives and produced records by acts such as Jan and Dean and the Mamas & the Papas, which were often backed by the Wrecking Crew, as on "California Dreamin" and "Monday, Monday". Bones Howe had worked as an engineer under Adler and used the Wrecking Crew when he produced hits by the Association (including "Windy", "Everything That Touches You", and "Never My Love") and the 5th Dimension (including "Up, Up and Away", "Stoned Soul Picnic", and "Aquarius"). Sonny and Cher recorded several Wrecking Crew-backed hits including "I Got You Babe" and "The Beat Goes On", which were produced by Sonny Bono, who had previously worked as Phil Spector's aide. Many of Cher's solo records in the 1960s and early 1970s featured the backing of the Wrecking Crew, such as "Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves" produced by Snuff Garrett in 1971. Rick Nelson used many Wrecking Crew members in various combinations, mostly during the mid-1960s, including Earl Palmer, Joe Osborn, James Burton, Tommy Tedesco, Howard Roberts, Billy Strange, Al Casey, Dennis Budimir, Glen Campbell, Don Randi, Mike Melvoin, Ray Pohlman, Chuck Berghofer, Victor Feldman, Frank Capp, and Jim Gordon. ==Musicians==

Bass, drums, and percussion (pictured in 2012) was one of the first-call bassists during the heyday of the Wrecking Crew. Carol Kaye provided an exception to the predominantly male world of Los Angeles session work in the 1960s. Originally a guitarist, she began doing session work in Los Angeles in the late 1950s, playing behind Ritchie Valens on "La Bamba" and in the 1960s becoming a regular contributor on Phil Spector's recordings as well as on Beach Boys songs, such as "Help Me, Rhonda" and their subsequent Pet Sounds and Smile LPs. Ray Pohlman, who had assumed an early leadership position in the Wrecking Crew, became the musical director for the Shindig! TV show in 1965, resulting in reduced studio work from that point on. Kaye was often teamed with Pohlman on pop music sessions (e.g. those for the Beach Boys) since it was a common practice at that time to reinforce the sound by "doubling" certain instruments like the bass, and producers and arrangers often recorded the bass parts with an acoustic and an electric bass playing together. Kaye would become known as one of the most prolific and widely heard bass guitarists, playing on an estimated 10,000 recordings in a career spanning more than 50 years. Joe Osborn played bass on numerous Wrecking Crew-backed songs, such as Glen Campbell's "By the Time I Get to Phoenix", the Mamas & the Papas' "California Dreamin, Richard Harris' "MacArthur Park", and the 5th Dimension's "Up, Up and Away". Other notable electric bassists who played with the Wrecking Crew were Bill Pitman, Max Bennett, Red Callender, Chuck Rainey, and Bob West, as well as Jimmy Bond, Lyle Ritz, and Chuck Berghofer, who played acoustic upright bass. Drummer Earl Palmer contributed to a handful of hits in the 1960s with the Wrecking Crew, including Phil Spector-produced tracks such as Righteous Brothers' "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin in 1964, and Ike and Tina Turner's "River Deep – Mountain High" in 1966. Hal Blaine, with his abundance of musical skills, personality, and charisma, is also mentioned as having a prominent role in the Wrecking Crew's success during their heyday. Though he had played primarily big band and jazz, he took a job in Tommy Sands' rockabilly group in the late 1950s, discovering a newfound appreciation for rock and roll, which by the beginning of the new decade led to session work in Los Angeles studios, where he became acquainted with Earl Palmer and saxophonist Steve Douglas. Blaine played on Elvis Presley's 1961 hit "Can't Help Falling in Love". Jim Gordon began as an understudy of Blaine, but with the passage of time emerged as a first call player in the Wrecking Crew, playing on parts of the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds album and on hits such as "Classical Gas" and "Wichita Lineman". and Joe Porcaro. Gary Coleman played vibraphone and a variety of percussion instruments and contributed to works such as the soundtrack of the musical Hair and Simon & Garfunkel's Bridge Over Troubled Water album. Some of the other Wrecking Crew percussionists were Julius Wechter, Milt Holland, Gene Estes, and Victor Feldman. Billy Strange was one of the top guitarists with the Wrecking Crew and played on hits such as "The Little Old Lady (from Pasadena)" and the Beach Boys' version of "Sloop John B". In addition to playing sessions in Memphis, guitarist James Burton often recorded with the Wrecking Crew in Los Angeles in the 1960s. Though Glen Campbell became better known as a highly successful country music artist in his own right, he played guitar in the Wrecking Crew during the 1960s and appeared along with them on several of the Beach Boys' classics of the period such as "I Get Around" and "Help Me Rhonda". He and Hal Blaine appeared as members of Steve McQueen's character's band in the film Baby the Rain Must Fall (1965) featuring an extremely clear moment of Campbell standing behind McQueen, but both Campbell and Blaine were uncredited in the film. In 1965 he toured with the Beach Boys, and in 1966 he and the Wrecking Crew played on the Pet Sounds album. Campbell enlisted the Wrecking Crew as a backup unit on many of his own solo records during the 1960s, such as on "Gentle on My Mind", and on two songs written by Jimmy Webb, "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" and his single "Wichita Lineman". pictured in 1970, the year he became a solo recording artist The Wrecking Crew's ranks included a circle of keyboardists who contributed piano and organ parts to many of the famous songs of the era. Al De Lory was part of the original crew assembled by Phil Spector and recorded for many artists including The Beach Boys and Tina Turner; he was inducted as part of the Wrecking Crew to the Musicians Hall of Fame. Larry Knechtel, later in Bread, was a multi-instrumentalist who played keyboards on "California Dreamin, "Bridge Over Troubled Water" and "Classical Gas", as well as upright bass on "Eve of Destruction" and electric bass on Byrds' "Mr. Tambourine Man". Mike Melvoin, a classically trained pianist with an English degree from Dartmouth College, played organ and piano on many tracks on the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds, played organ on "Good Vibrations", and performed on keyboards on many of the sessions for the Beach Boys' never-completed SMiLe album. Don Randi contributed the piano part on Barry McGuire's 1965 hit "Eve of Destruction". Before becoming a solo artist, Leon Russell was a regular member of the Wrecking Crew and played on the Ronettes' "Be My Baby", and Jan & Dean's "The Little Old Lady (from Pasadena)". New Orleans' Mac Rebennack (later Dr. John) did session work with the Wrecking crew while living in Los Angeles in the mid-1960s. Mike (Michel) Rubini was the son of Jan Rubini, a classical violinist, and initially played concert piano, but later became enamored with R&B and switched to playing popular music, eventually becoming a member of the Wrecking Crew and playing on hits such as Sonny & Cher's "The Beat Goes On" and Frank Sinatra's "Strangers in the Night". Brass, woodwinds, harmonica, and backing vocals Saxophonist Steve Douglas, who attended Fairfax High School with Phil Spector in the 1950s, got a call in 1962 to play on Spector's debut recording as a producer, "He's a Rebel", and would, from then on, become a regular fixture with the Wrecking Crew. Years later, in 1978, Douglas played on Bob Dylan's 1978 "Street-Legal" album and accompanied Dylan on tour that year as part of his eight piece backing band. Jim Horn played both saxophone and flute, and contributed parts to numerous tracks with Wrecking Crew, such as in the Righteous Brothers' "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin and Frank Sinatra's "Strangers in the Night". He played flute in the Beach Boys' "God Only Knows" and "Good Vibrations" and would later become a member of John Denver's backing band. Other saxophonists who played sessions with the Wrecking Crew were Jackie Kelso, Jay Migliori, Gene Cipriano, Bill Green, and Allan Beutler. On trombone were Richard "Slyde" Hyde, Lew McCreary, and Dick Nash and on trumpet Bud Brisbois, Roy Caton, Chuck Findley, Ollie Mitchell, and Tony Terran. Tommy Morgan played harmonica on Wrecking Crew-backed tracks such as "The Little Old Lady (from Pasadena)". When backing vocals were needed the Ron Hicklin Singers were called in. ==T.A.M.I. Show (1964)==

Several members of the Wrecking Crew played in the house band for 1964's T.A.M.I. Show, which was captured on videotape, transferred to film, and sent to theaters around the country. Seen in camera shots showing the right-hand side of the stage are musical director Jack Nitzsche, Hal Blaine, Jimmy Bond, Tommy Tedesco, Bill Aken, Glen Campbell, Lyle Ritz, Leon Russell, Plas Johnson, among others, all providing incidental music and backing for many of acts such as Chuck Berry, the Supremes, Marvin Gaye, and Lesley Gore. ==1970s–2010s==

Diminished output The Wrecking Crew's level of success could not be maintained indefinitely, and their services eventually fell out of demand. Kent Hartman cites several factors in the Wrecking Crew's demise, beginning as far back as 1968 when the unit was at their peak of popularity: "By the middle of 1968, popular music was changing once again. In fact it was getting downright heavy. In the aftermath of the recent Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. slayings, the bloody Tet Offensive in Viet Nam, and the ever-growing level of campus unrest at universities around the country, Top 40 radio gradually began to lose step with the times." Hartman mentions that the runaway success that year of Richard Harris' elaborate seven-minute epic hit, "MacArthur Park", written by Jimmy Webb and featuring the Wrecking Crew's intricate backing, might have been another seed in their eventual decline: The Wrecking Crew remained in demand in the early 1970s, even enjoying several hits, but by the end of 1973 they began to experience a downturn in bookings, as a series of changes in the recording industry began to take hold. Unlike earlier bands/artists such as the Monkees, the Grass Roots, the Partridge Family and David Cassidy that often utilized the Wrecking Crew for backing tracks (and as a backing band for Cassidy's earliest concert tours of America in 1971/2), rock groups in the early to mid 1970s began to stipulate in their recording contracts that they be allowed to play their own instruments on records. Younger session players such as Larry Carlton, Andrew Gold, Danny Kortchmar, Waddy Wachtel, Russ Kunkel, Jeff Porcaro, Leland Sklar, and Jim Keltner had a more contemporary sound, better-suited to the changing musical tastes of the decade. By the mid-1970s, technological advances such as 16-track and 24-track tape recording machines and automated large-format multi-channel consoles made it viable for instruments to be recorded, often close-miked, onto separate tracks individually, reducing the need to hire ensembles to play live in the studio. Synthesizers could approximate the sound of practically any instrument. Eventually, drum machines would become the norm, which could be specially programmed to keep beats in place of a drummer or be used for click tracks played in musicians' headphones, making it easier to overdub or re-record any part in-synch and achieve a more uniform and consistent tempo. Post–Wrecking Crew careers In 1969, after scoring hits as a solo artist such as "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" and "Wichita Lineman", Glen Campbell left the Wrecking Crew. Carol Kaye, exhausted from the constant pressure of the L.A. recording scene, went on to other musical endeavors. According to guitarist Bill Pitman, "You leave the house at seven o'clock in the morning, and you're at Universal at nine till noon; now you're at Capitol Records at one, you just got time to get there, then you got a jingle at four, then we're on a date with somebody at eight, then the Beach Boys at midnight, and you do that five days a week ... jeez, man, you get burned out." By the mid-1970s many of the Wrecking Crew's members scattered and drifted into different spheres. Some members, such as Carol Kaye, Tony Terran, Gary L. Coleman, Earl Palmer and Tommy Tedesco, switched to television and motion picture soundtrack work. Leon Russell and Mac Rebennack (as Dr. John) both went on to become successful solo artists and songwriters, enjoying hit singles and albums during the 1970s. Jim Keltner went on to a successful career as a session drummer for much of the 1970s–90s; he played in Ringo Starr's All-Starr band and was the drummer on both albums by the supergroup Traveling Wilburys, where he is credited as "Buster Sidebury". Beginning in 1973 he hosted a regular weekly jam session at Los Angeles clubs called "the Jim Keltner Fan Club" frequented by many of the younger L.A. session musicians of the time (Danny Kortchmar, Russ Kunkel, Waddy Wachtel, Leland Sklar, and Jeff and Steve Porcaro). The unit did a brief, but ill-fated reunion session with Phil Spector in 1992. In 2001, members of the Wrecking Crew reunited in the studio with David Cassidy to recreate Cassidy's hit songs from the 1970s, both solo and with The Partridge Family. These recordings resulted in the album Then and Now which was hugely successful internationally and went platinum in 2002. More recently, they backed Glen Campbell in his song "I'm Not Gonna Miss You" taken from the soundtrack of the 2015 documentary ''Glen Campbell: I'll Be Me''. ==Legacy==

The Wrecking Crew backed dozens of popular acts and were one of the most successful groups of studio musicians in music history. According to Kent Hartman, "... if a rock-and-roll song came out of an L.A. recording studio from between about 1962 and 1972, the odds are good that some combination of the Wrecking Crew played the instruments. No single group of musicians has ever played on more hits in support of more stars than this superbly talented—yet virtually anonymous group of men (and one woman)." According to The New Yorker, "The Wrecking Crew passed into a history that it largely created, imperfectly acknowledged but perfectly present in hundreds of American pop songs known to all." Wrecking Crew musicians were depicted in the 2014 film Love & Mercy, a Brian Wilson biopic. Two of their members, drummers Hal Blaine and Earl Palmer, were among the inaugural "sidemen" inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000, and the entire Wrecking Crew was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame in 2007. In 2010, Blaine was elected into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame. ==List of members ==

Sources: Kent Hartman (The Wrecking Crew) and Robert Lloyd ("Time of the Session"; LA Weekly) Mac Rebennack, Al De Lory, Larry Knechtel, Mike Melvoin, Don Randi, Mike (Michel) Rubini, Leon Russell • Percussion: Larry Bunker, Frank Capp, Gary Coleman, Irving Cottler, Victor Feldman, Milt Holland, Joe Porcaro • Vibraphone & Marimba: Terry Gibbs, Julius Wechter • Other Percussion: Jingle Bells and Tambourine Sonny Bono • Saxophone: Gene Cipriano, Steve Douglas, Jim Horn, Plas Johnson, Jackie Kelso, Jay Migliori, Nino Tempo • Trombone: Richard "Slyde" Hyde, Lew McCreary, Dick Nash, Lou Blackburn • Trumpet: Bud Brisbois, Roy Caton, Chuck Findley, Ollie Mitchell, Tony Terran • Flute: Jim Horn • Harmonica: Tommy Morgan • Vocals: Ron Hicklin Singers often performed backup vocals on many of the same songs on which the Wrecking Crew had played instrumental tracks. • Conductor and arranger: Jack Nitzsche Blaine, Osborn and Knechtel were often collectively referred to as the Hollywood Golden Trio. == Selected recordings ==

Compilations • The Wrecking Crew (2015, RockBeat; 4-CD set) == See also ==

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