The Wrecking Crew

The Inside Story of Rock and Roll's Best-Kept Secret

By: Kent Hartman

Narrated by: Dan John Miller

Length: 9 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's summary

Audie Award Winner, History, 2013

If you were a fan of popular music in the 1960s and early '70s, you were a fan of the Wrecking Crew - whether you knew it or not.

On hit record after hit record, by everyone from the Byrds, the Beach Boys, and the Monkees to the Grass Roots, the 5th Dimension, Sonny & Cher, and Simon & Garfunkel, this collection of West Coast studio musicians from diverse backgrounds established themselves as the driving sound of pop music - sometimes over the objection of actual band members forced to make way for Wrecking Crew members.

Industry insider Kent Hartman tells the dramatic, definitive story of the musicians who forged a reputation throughout the business as the secret weapons behind the top recording stars. Mining invaluable interviews, the author follows the careers of such session masters as drummer Hal Blaine and keyboardist Larry Knechtel, as well as trailblazing bassist Carol Kaye, who went on to play in thousands of recording sessions. Listeners will discover the Wrecking Crew members who would forge careers in their own right, including Glen Campbell and Leon Russell, and learn of the relationship between the Crew and such legends as Phil Spector and Jimmy Webb.

Hartman also takes us inside the studio for the legendary sessions that gave us Pet Sounds, Bridge Over Troubled Water, and the rock classic “Layla”, which Wrecking Crew drummer Jim Gordon cowrote with Eric Clapton for Derek and the Dominos. And the author recounts priceless scenes, such as Mike Nesmith of the Monkees facing off with studio head Don Kirshner, Grass Roots lead guitarist (and future star of The Office) Creed Bratton getting fired from the group, and Michel Rubini unseating Frank Sinatra's pianist for the session in which the iconic singer improvised the hit-making ending to “Strangers in the Night”.

The Wrecking Crew tells the collective, behind-the-scenes stories of the artists who dominated Top-40 radio during the most exciting time in American popular culture.

©2012 Kent Hartman (P)2012 Tantor

Critic reviews

"[ The Wrecking Crew] has the...potent excitement of a collection of greatest hits. It makes good music sound better." (Janet Maslin, The New York Times)

I liked the documentary. This was even better.

Well done, with plenty of good facts and factoids. As I listened, I wished the recordings had been provided as they were mentioned. Made me want to create a matching playlist. I did stop a few times to search out a record on YouTube.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I learned things about the music that I grew up listening to. If you are a music lover check this book out.

WOW! What a surprise!

Got this thinking it might be interesting account of the music industry. I was totally blown away! As a child of the 60’s it was fascinating to get the back story on so much of the music I loved growing up! What an INCREDIBLY talented group of, until now, unknown artists!

Better Than Muscle Shoals

If you listened to the radio in the 1970s and 1970s, you will know these songs. It isn't a surprise that many singers used studio musicians. That's common. The surprise is that MANY top bands of the day, not just The Monkees, didn't play on their own records. This is an excellent listen, a fascinating story well told. The research must have been exhaustive because there are so many wonderful stories.

Familiar names to any 70's rock fan

The Beach Boys were always a mystery to me. I have gone to see them several times, each time they were worse than the last. The voices intermittently hit the mark, but the musicianship would embarrass a 3rd grade band. I wondered how the same people who recorded Pet Sounds could be in front of me with a minimal knowledge of their instruments. Now I know.
This book is good.

Popular music history at its finest

Now this is the kind of popular culture history I love. A thorough overview of 60s-70s popular music and why we loved it. Who knew? Nobody, and that's how they wanted it. Just enough detail to put together an interesting story but not so much as to bore.

Good story, problematic narration

Would you listen to The Wrecking Crew again? Why?

Yes. In the right mood, I could overlook some of the narrator's problems and enjoy the wonderful stories behind great records.

Would you listen to another book narrated by Dan John Miller?

Not without listening carefully to a sample. Once again, a good story about rock music is dragged down by a rather affected, old-fart style of narration. Why do American audiobooks insist on doing this? British narrators seem to have a gift for getting tones right, and for doing pretty good imitations of main characters. Miller "imitates" women characters by simply raising the pitch of his voice--pretty lame and pretty offensive. His "southern" characters sound like caricatures. He should skip the imitations (although his Richard Harris moments were kind of fun).
Finally, would someone please EDIT, direct, or correct these narrators who mispronounce famous names and titles (such as Betty Friedan and "What'd I Say"). A whole section on Ray Charles and his most famous song title is mispronounced!

Any additional comments?

I wish a second volume would be written with even more detail.

A MUST LISTEN...

There is a proper way of getting through this book:

1. Listen to every word...
2. After each story of a particular song or session, immediately upload that song, and appreciate it as you never had before.
3. Return to the story...
4. Repeat

Great unknown story for music lovers

loved it very informative and entertaining. If you loved 60's & 70's music, this is a great story for you

And the Beat Goes On...thanks to the Wrecking Crew

Anyone who remembers the excitement of buying a hit 7 inch single to play on your turntable (sans collectors) will find this book amazing, chock full of tales behind the hits. " Wrecking Crew" the book tells the true life stories of a band of studio musicians called The Wrecking Crew, made up of a cast of unknown musicians that played on most of the hits produced on the west coast during the late 50's to the early 70's but were kept a secret from the public who assumed the bands actual members were playing on the recordings

The Wrecking Crew shines a new light on a lesser known part of pop history and the handful of top players that helped shape the rock industries ability to produce hit records.

The book offers fascinating glimpses of the groups encounters and sessions with many legends as WC Guitarist, Glen Campbell Sonny Bono who owed them his career, Phil Spector, Brian Wilson, The Monkees (the crew performed most of their songs), Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Jimmy Webb, The 5th Dimension,The Grass roots etc. etc. I could go on forever which is why the only downside to this book is that you will irritate your friends retelling tales from it.