Top 5 "Wrecking Crew" Tunes

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Kent Hartman has pulled back the curtain to reveal the great session musicians who really played on many of our favorite hits. The Wrecking Crew was a group of incredibly talented artists who played on records by The Beach Boys, The Mamas and The Papas, The Monkees, The Grass Roots, Sonny And Cher and Paul Revere and The Raiders.

The Wrecking Crew at a Phil Spector session

Among them: Glen Campbell, Leon Russell, drummer Hal Blaine, and bassist Carol Kaye. In The Wrecking Crew Hartman tells the true stories behind the great songs ( Sonny wrote the lyrics to "I Got You Babe" on a pizza carton) and celebrates the unheralded musicians who taught a generation how to rock and roll.

Carol Kaye ( in 1974)

Kent has been kind enough to send me a list of Top 5 Fave Wrecking Crew Tunes:


"Bridge Over Troubled Water" - Simon & Garfunkel - 1970





The biggest hit of their career and one of the best-selling pop hits of all time. Listen toward the end of the song for the crashing sounds. That's Wrecking Crew drummer Hal Blaine on his hands and knees in the studio slamming tire chains on a cement floor.

"Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)" - The First Edition - 1968





You may not know it, but that's Kenny Rogers singing the lead vocals. Yes, that Kenny Rogers! And the Wrecking Crew are playing all the instruments. Note Wrecking Crewer Mike Deasy's spacey guitar stylings.

"Mr. Tambourine Man" - The Byrds - 1965





Only one Byrd played on this, the band's first single. It went straight to number one with Roger McGuinn playing his twelve-string Rickenbacker and the Wrecking Crew playing everything else. Four out of five Byrds weren't very happy that day.

"Wichita Lineman" - Glen Campbell - 1968





Most folks don't know it, but the Rhinestone Cowboy actually got his start as an out-of-this world session guitarist in the Wrecking Crew. And when it came time to cut his own singles? You guessed it---Campbell hired all of his pals from the Crew to play right along side him.

"Good Vibrations" - The Beach Boys - 1966





At the risk of bursting a whole lot of balloons, it should be noted that, instrument-wise, there isn't a Beach Boy on this song. Or on virtually any of their other hit records. Once again, it's all the Wrecking Crew.

5 Horrible Songs that Mar Great Albums

1. "Mother" from SynchronicityAndy Summers' Mother was a bomb dropped right into the heart of The Police's Synchronicity. Small wonder that it was the last album the blond boys did together.



2. Mind Gardens for Younger Than YesterdayDavid Crosby must have been inspired by The Incredible String Band for this foray into psychedelic folk. Roger McGuinn hated including the song on the poppy Younger Than Yesterday, claiming the tune had no "rhythm, meter, or rhyme." Crosby was fired during the recording of the next album.



3. Phenomenal Cat from Village Green Preservation SocietyWere The Kinks smoking helium? "Phenomenal Cat" is kitty litter compared to the rest of Village Green Preservation Society, which has become a fan favorite for good reason.
At least it's better than Bowie's equally helium filled "Laughing Gnome"




4. Fitter, Happier from OK Computer
It's the NOT OK tune on OK Computer. Described by Thom Yorke as a checklist of slogans for the 1990s he considers "Fitter, Happier" "the most upsetting thing I've ever written". Might have been better as liner notes.



5. Student Demonstration Time from Surf's UpThe Beach Boys were always better at offering us breakaways from our troubled times than commenting on them. But good old Mike Love had something to say about student protests--even if it meant swiping the Leiber-Stoller song "Riot in Cell Block #9" to do it. The must skip track off Surf's Up was also released as a single as if it say "Look, we can crank up our guitars too!"

What's your choice for wretched songs that nearly ruin great albums?