The Wrecking Crew: The Inside Story of Rock and Roll’s Best Kept Secret

From 1962 to 1975, one group of studio players, the Wrecking Crew, provided the tracks for records as various as “He’s a Rebel,” “Surfer Girl,” “California Dreamin’,” “MacArthur Park,” ”Classical Gas,” and “Bridge over Troubled Water.” Industry insider Hartman opens our eyes to this fascinating group of musicians, tracing the careers of three members of this group—Glen Campbell, Carol Smith, Hal Blaine—who shared little more than an innate inner drive, musical talent, and a work ethic shaped by grinding poverty. Campbell, for example, lit out on the road when he was 13 to play guitar. Eight years later, Campbell joined the Champs, whose “Limbo Rock” Chubby Checker would soon record as “The Twist.” In 1962, Phil Spector gathered Campbell, Smith, Blaine, Billy Strange, Bill Pitman, and seven other highly skilled session musicians to lay down the tracks for “Zip-a-Dee-Do-Dah,” added the voices of Bob B. Soxx and the Blue Jeans, and a #1 record and the Wrecking Crew were born. Hartman also traces the work of later members of the Crew such as Leon Russell, Larry Knechtel, and Jim Gordon, as well as the successful solo careers of Campbell and Russell. Hartman’s fast-paced tale offers dazzling insights into a little known chapter of rock and roll history. (Mar.)