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I’m a big fan of music documentaries, but “The Wrecking Crew: The Untold Story of Rock & Roll Heroes” is easily the best I’ve seen in years. The band was made up of LA studio pros who would show up for a 3- or 4-hour session, and produce hit after hit. Their biggest successes came in the 1960s and 1970s, and for six consecutive years starting in 1966 the Wrecking Crew played on the Grammy Award-winning “Record of the Year.” The band worked all the time, with Frank Sinatra, Simon & Garfunkel, the Beach Boys, the Mamas and the Papas, the Monkees, the Byrds, and hundreds of one-hit wonders (in those days bands didn’t always play their instruments on recording dates).
I have an advance “screener” of the film, and it looks and sounds excellent. Interviews with some of the original band members were filmed in 2010, and there are a lot of historical clips of the Wrecking Crew at work in studios. The stories they tell about artists are fascinating, but the real takeaway is they all shared a passion for making great music, even though they remained unsung heroes. The stars and bands grew rich and famous; the Wrecking Crew just went in, did the job and went on to the next session.
Denny Tedesco, son of the late guitarist Tommy Tedesco of the Crew produced and directed the film. It’s been shown in over 50 festivals and won a dozen awards, but to officially release “The Wrecking Crew” Tedesco needs $250,000 to cover fees owed to the American Federation of Musicians, song licenses, stock footage licensing, and an online edit. That’s why he’s doing this Kickstarter project, and he’s got a long way to go before he reaches his goal. There’s a nice assortment of Kickstarter rewards listed on the site, but just $30 buys a DVD of the film.
If you love the music of the period, “The Wrecking Crew” is a must-see; it would be a real shame if the movie remains unreleased.
