The Wrecking Crew, a review by Antares
The Wrecking Crew (2015) 75/100 - If you grew up in the sixties the music was unparalleled in history. In 1965 alone, you had three major movements just in Rock & Roll. You had the British Invasion leading the charge, surf music on the West Coast and Berry Gordy forging a musical empire in Detroit with Motown. But along side these three movements was a pop hit making machine in Los Angeles which rivaled the Brill Building in New York City in the early sixties. And at the various producer's disposal was a group of musicians whose abilities were second to none. They were called The Wrecking Crew. Phil Spector wouldn't record without them. All of The Monkees hits were instrumentally done by them.
Pet Sounds is virtually a Brian Wilson and the Wrecking Crew album. The amount of hit records they played on is mind boggling in its scope. Yet, Hal Blaine, Tommy Tedesco, Joe Osborne, Carol Kaye, Earl Palmer & Bones Howe are names that most music aficionados do not know. A few of the Crew would go on to music careers of their own, with varied success. The most successful was Glen Campbell, who is thought to be by many, one of the greatest studio guitarists of all time. Leon Russell would have a short successful career and Larry Knechtel would become a member of the group Bread in the early seventies. The documentary mainly focuses on the six unknowns I mentioned and while it tells of their history in the recording studio, it offers very little in revelations. And that is why I can only give this documentary a lukewarm rating. It was made by Tommy Tedesco son, and he's really not a filmmaker. He's basically just trying to give his pop some props for what he accomplished while he was in the music business. In a sense, it works, and if you know nothing about this group of extraordinary musicians, you will be entertained and schooled a bit. Though there's one really sad and poignant moment when the Crew's days are long since over and Tommy Tedesco appears on and wins
The Gong Show. It brought a tear to my eye to think that Tedesco was desperate for any gig and chose that. He should be remembered, and so should the rest of the Crew. There wouldn't be a sixties without them.
Teal = Masterpiece
Dark Green = Classic or someday will be
Lime Green = A good, entertaining film
Orange = Average
Red = Cinemuck
Brown = The color of crap, which this film is(From Antares' Short Summations on December 16th, 2019)
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May 14, 2024, 05:44:05 PM
