The Wrecking Crew

[Mikey]

Got about 1/3 of the way through this last night before Netflix crapped out. Hope to finish it tonight.

Really damned amazing what these mostly unknown LA studio musicians accomplished in the 60s and early 70s.

[Dr_Phibes]

Brilliant, every one of Duane Eddy's Rebels wound up there. It gets confusing though, so do I like Mike Nesmith or The Wrecking Crew?

[Mikey]

There's another one about Muscle Shoals that's pretty good.

An amazing amount of music came out of that small town in 'Bammy.
At the end they tried to turn it into the story of a feud between Rick Hall and The Swampers who left FAME Studios to open their own shop.

[Mikey]

There's another one about Muscle Shoals that's pretty good.

An amazing amount of music came out of that small town in 'Bammy.
At the end they tried to turn it into the story of a feud between Rick Hall and The Swampers who left FAME Studios to open their own shop.

Muscle Shoals was awesome. I've watched it twice now.

I'm going to watch the Wrecking Crew for sure. I've seen a lot of the stuff (that I reckon was in the movie) on Carol Kaye on YT. Just holy shit at her. Whatever she got in royalties (and it was probably zero) was never enough - certainly for some of the most memorable bass lines ever created...

Yep. The other one is Tommy Tedesco. You'll be amazed, if you don't already know, at the memorable licks that came from his guitar. Including TV themes and movie soundtracks.

[Mikey]

Yeah, pretty good stuff.

The thing that amazed me, and I think it was Dick Clark that was talking about it in the film, was finding out how many bands didn't play their own instruments in the studio. Not at all surprising when I look back on it. Back then, we all knew the Monkees didn't play their own music. After all they were a made for TV group. But the Beach Boys? The Byrds? Some artists you never saw with instruments, so you knew they had to have hired musicians (Mamas and Papas, Sonny and Cher, etc.) but some of these bands would play their music on the road but not in the studio. No wonder the records always sounded better. Not just the production but the musicians themselves were superior.

You never saw musicians get credit on album covers back then. That sort of changed with the coming of the "singer/songwriter." These folks were proud of their own musicianship but would also give credit where it was due. Also, for me at least, seeing musicians who I knew were good would give the album that much more cred.

[smackaholic]

Didn't the Beatles do a lot of that, particularly with Ringo as he simply didn't have the chops?

I haven't seen this, but will. Is there anyone on it, who you thought was some monster musician, but wasn't on the studio cut?

[Mikey]

Didn't the Beatles do a lot of that, particularly with Ringo as he simply didn't have the chops?

I haven't seen this, but will. Is there anyone on it, who you thought was some monster musician, but wasn't on the studio cut?

Absolutely wrong about Ringo.

As for the Beatles doing "a lot of that" - pretty much wrong again.
George Martin added a lot of stuff, like different instrumentation, that was innovative at the time but they weren't replaced in the studio by other musicians playing their individual parts. They had payed their dues as a working band with literally thousands of gigs before they hit the big time in the USA. I'm sure it was a hard decision for them to stop playing live gigs in 1966, because that's what they did. The whole thing had just become unmanageable.

After that it was the complete opposite of "a lot of that" as they had become solely a studio band. In fact the white album,though it has a lot of great stuff on it, is considered by some to be the prime example of overindulgence by a bunch of guys who own their own studio and have more money and more time than they know what to do with.

[Mikey]

Well - they did use Clapton on "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", and Billy Preston was pretty much starting to become the 5th Beatle...

But ya - they didn't go all Beach Boys, which is one reason I always liked the Beatles a whole lot more...

Yeah, they used Billy Preston on a couple of the late albums, and actually credited him on Get Back. Angelo Mysterioso was given credit on While My Guitar Gently Weeps.

Whole different thing, though. These guys were used "in addition" to the Beatles, not in place of.

[smackaholic]

In the middle of watching the documentary about Muscle Shoals. This is been around since 2013. Not sure How I managed to not watch it yet.

What are the chances of a handful of local necks becoming the center of the music universe for a pretty good stretch. OK, maybe not THE center, but certainly as important as NYC, LA. Detoilet, Memphis, Nashville, etc....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKmGUIM1uAI

[Mikey]

Another great house band was the Funk Brothers, who played on virtually every Motown record until Berry Gordy moved his operation to LA in 1972.

James Jamerson = legendary bass player