THE WRECKING CREW (4CD)

They were the studio musicians behind some of the biggest hits in the 1960s and 70s. From Be My Baby to California Girls Strangers in the Night to Mrs. Robinson You've Lost that Lovin Feelin to Up, Up and Away and from Viva Las Vegas to Mr. Tambourine Man the group dubbed The Wrecking Crew played on them all. Six years in a row in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the Grammy for Record of the Year went to Wrecking Crew member recordings.
The talents of this group of first call players were used on almost every style of recording including television theme songs, film scores, advertising jingles and almost every genre of American popular music, from the Monkees to Bing Crosby. Notable artists employing the Wrecking Crew's talents included Nancy Sinatra, Bobby Vee, the Partridge Family, David Cassidy, Jan & Dean, the Mamas & the Papas, the 5th Dimension, the Association, the Carpenters, Glen Campbell, Cher, John Denver, the Beach Boys, Simon and Garfunkel, the Grass Roots and Nat King Cole.
The record producers most often associated with the Wrecking Crew are Phil Spector, who used the Crew to create his trademark Wall of Sound and Beach Boys member and songwriter Brian Wilson, who used the Crew's talents on many of his mid-1960s productions including the songs Good Vibrations, California Girls, Pet Sounds, and the original recordings for Smile. Members of the Wrecking Crew played on the first Byrds single recording, Mr. Tambourine Man, because Columbia Records, namely, producer Terry Melcher did not trust the skills of Byrd musicians except for Roger McGuinn. Spector used the Wrecking Crew on Leonard Cohen's fifth album, Death of a Ladies Man.
Two of their members, drummers Hal Blaine and Earl Palmer, were among the inaugural Sidemen inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000, while the entire Wrecking Crew was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame in 2007. According to Blaine, the name the Wrecking Crew was derived from the impression that he and the younger studio musicians made on the business older generation, who felt that they were going to wreck the music industry.

Disc 1
1. Be My Baby (Ronettes)
2. Walk Right In (The Moments)
3. This Diamond Ring (Gary Lewis and The Playboys)
4. The Birds and the Bees (Jewel Akens)
5. La Bamba (Ritchie Valens)
6. Johnny Angel (Shelly Fabre)
7. Mr. Tambourine Man (The Byrds)
8. Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr discuss Stone Soul Picnic
9. Stoned Soul Picnic (5th Dimension)
10. Lets Go Pony (Routers)
11. Deep Purple (April and Nino)
12. Donna (Ritchie Valens)
13. Let’s Dance (Chris Montez)
14. Mike Melvoin Drummer Joke
15. Dean Torrence talks about Baby Talk
16. Baby Talk (Jan and Dean)
17. Monday Monday (The Mamas and The Papas)
18. To Know Him Is To Love Him (The Teddy Bears)
19. Guantamera (The Sandpipers)

Disc 2
1. Good Vibrations (The Beach Boys)
2. California Dreamin’ (The Mamas and The Papas)
3. Dizzy (Tommy Roe)
4. Barry McGuire talks about Eve of Destruction
5. Eve of Destruction (Barry McGuire)
6. Windy (The Association)
7. Up Up and Away (5th Dimension)
8. This Guy’s In Love With You (Herb Alpert)
9. Everybody’s Talkin (Harry Nilsson)
10. The Big Hurt (Miss Toni Fisher)
11. Mary Mary (The Monkees)
12. The Beat Goes On (Sonny and Cher)
13. Baja (Jack Nitzsche)
14. California Sunshine Girl (The Shacklefords)
15. Flying Telecaster (Michael Nesmith)
16. You Told Me (Michael Nesmith)
17. Little War (Suzi Jane Hokom)

Disc 3
1. Wichita Lineman (Glen Campbell)
2. Midnight Confessions (The Grass Roots)
3. God Only Knows (The Beach Boys)
4. Danke Shoen (Wayne Newton)
5. Louie Shelton talks about Valleri
6. Valleri (The Monkees)
7. Another Saturday Night (Sam Cooke)
8. Out of Limits (The Marketts)
9. Sleep in the Grass (Ann Margret and Lee Hazlewood)
10. Indian Reservation (Paul Revere and the Raiders)
11. Mike Melvoin Saxophone Player Joke
12. Gypsies Tramps and Thieves (Cher)
13. Summer Breeze (Seals and Crofts)
14. The Lonely Surfer (Jack Nitzsche)
15. Hal Blaine 3 Piece Suit Joke
16. Whipped Cream (The Tijuana Brass)
17. Dedicated to the one I love (Mamas and Papas)
18. Bein Green (Ray Charles)
19. Julie Do Ya Love Me (Bobby Sherman)
20. Forget Marie (Lee Hazlewood)

Disc 4 (Crew Cuts)
1. The Beat Goes On (Hal Blaine)
2. Surfin’ Hootenanny (Al Casey)
3. James Bond Theme (Billy Strange)
4. Walking and Talking (Tommy Tedesco)
5. Floreando (Al Delory)
6. DePatie Melt (Don Randi and John DePatie)
7. Safari West (Buddy Collette)
8. Deep Drum (Hal Blaine)
9. Lost In The Shuffle (Mike Deasy)
10. Cute (Frank Capp)
11. Concierto De Aranjuez (Dennis Budimir)
12. Ciao Bella (Emil Richards)
13. Blues Cha Cha (Michel Rubini)
14. Beginners Luck (Lyle Ritz)
15. Afternoon In Paris (Chuck Berghofer)
16. Begin the Blues (Barney Kessel)
17. Room 2000 (Tommy Tedesco)
18. Grease Patrol (Plas Johnson)