“Lie la lie, [Crash], lie la la la lie la lie, lie la la [crash]!” The Boxer, Paul Simon
Elvis, Sinatra (Frank and Nancy), The Mamas and The Papas, The Beach Boy, Simon and Garfunkel, The Righteous Brothers, Sonny and Cher, Steely Dan, The Byrds, The Association, Herb Alpert and The Tijuana Brass, America, The Monkees–these diverse musical legends seemingly have little in common, both in terms of their music and the personnel who performed it. Appearances and sounds, however, can be deceiving. All of these icons relied on one man to pound out the beat in the recording studio. From the big drum echo crashes in The Boxer to the emphatic thud that kicks off California Dreaming, that man was legendary session drummer Hal Blaine.
Blaine was not alone in providing expert, albeit nameless, faceless musical punch to the music of he sixties and seventies. He and a handful of equally superb musicians formed a collection of studio players for hire that became known as The Wrecking Crew. Similar to the session men at Motown known as the “Funk Brothers,” the “Crew” could be relied on to create just the right sounds and moods through their expert playing and uncanny skill at devising arrangements on the fly. A few of the Wrecking Crew went on to stellar careers of their own, most notably Rhinestone Cowboy Glenn Campbell, and piano player Leon Russell. But the rest, like Blaine and guitarist Tommy Tedesco, remained unheralded and anonymous, not even earning mention on the liner notes of the many hit albums they created. But their work was prolific and prodigious.
The Funk Brothers’ unsung genius finally came to light through the marvelous documentary Standing in The Shadows of Motown. Now The Wrecking Crew is poised to get the credit that is long past due via a documentary of their own. www.wreckingcrew.tv Tommy Tedesco’s son, Danny, has a film in the can that pays homage to his dad, Hal Blaine, and the others. It’s been shown and won awards and acclaim at SXSW, Sundance, and other film festivals. It should be coming to a theater near you.
But there’s just one hang-up. The Wrecking Crew played on so many records, for so many artists, on so many labels, that wrangling the necessary copyright clearances and licences for the film’s trove of music clips has proven quite the chore. And an expensive one at that. While the filmmakers behind Standing In The Shadows had only Motown to deal with, Tedesco and company have had to haggle with multiple labels. As recently reported in The New York Times, Tedesco says that “There are 132 music cues in this film, and you’ll know 99.9 percent of them. But when I asked one record company for a quote, they said it was going to cost $2.5 million.” He’s been able to strike better bargains, but he is still short on cash to the tune of around $175,000.
According to the Times, with the music business on the skids due to declining record sales, digital piracy, and the stagnant economy, the record labels have tried to grab any opportunity to profit from their catalogues. That’s spelled trouble for Tedesco and the film’s other producers. But they have persevered.
Fundraisers, including a concert and an online campaign, are in the works. Hopefully, before too long, the beat will go on and The Wrecking Crew, The Film will have its long-awaited theatrical release. Until then, we’ll have to make do with the trailer and all the great music that forms the Wrecking Crew’s true legacy.
Watch the trailer and learn how to donate @ http://wreckingcrew.tv/
Read the New York Times article @ http://wreckingcrew.tv/nytimes0412.pdf
QUOTE OF THE DAY: “I didn’t realize the [bands] didn’t play on their own records until the Monkees came on [American Bandstand].” Dick Clark
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