There have been a bunch of great documentaries about the unsung heroes of Rock in the last few years: "Standing in the Shadows of Motown," "Twenty Feet From Stardom," "Muscle Shoals" and "Sound City" among them.

Another top notch film, "The Wrecking Crew" will be screened next Tuesday night at Bethel Cinema.

"The Wrecking Crew" tells the story of the session musicians in Los Angeles in the 60's and early 70's. An informal "band" of somewhere between 25 and 40 musicians played anonymously on the lion's share of hit records that came out of L.A. during that time frame.

Everyone from The Beach Boys, Monkees, Grass Roots, Byrds and Mamas and Papas to Sonny and Cher, Nancy Sinatra, the 5th Dimension, the Association and many more used the Wrecking Crew on their records. The Crew would record the backing tracks, and the artists would come in, sing the songs and go out on tour.

The members of the Wrecking Crew never received the fame that the bands that used their services did. They were very rarely credited on anyone's album liner notes. However, they were paid very well for their musical skills.  Bass player Carol Kaye, who can be heard on the Beach Boys' classic "Good Vibrations" among others, says in the film that she made more money than the President during that period.

The member of the Crew played on so many sessions that some of them can't remember exactly who played on what songs.  The creation of a Classic hit was just another "day at the office" for them and they would often run from session to session, recording someone's next hit single in the morning, an advertising jingle in the afternoon and back at it after dinner for another artist's session.

The film was directed by Denny Tedesco.  His father, guitarist Tommy Tedesco, was a member of the Wrecking Crew and recognized by Guitar Player magazine as the most recorded guitarist in history.  The film was completed in 2008 and since then has mostly been screened at film festivals while Denny Tedesco has raised the necessary money to pay the licensing fees for all the songs heard in the movie. That hurdle has finally been cleared, and the film saw a theatrical release last month and will be released on DVD and Blu-Ray later this year.

The film will be shown at Bethel Cinema next Tuesday night, May 6th, for one night only.  If you are a fan of 60's rock you really need to see it.  It is a fascinating look behind the scenes of the hit-making machinery of the 1960's. For more info and tickets click here.

Here's a look at the "Wrecking Crew" trailer.

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