The Wrecking Crew

Finished in 2008 but released in 2015, this is a fascinating music doc exploring a subject I know very little about: the session musicians in Los Angeles who, almost anonymously, played on some of the most famous recordings of the 60s and 70s. Sinatra. Elvis. The Beach Boys. The Byrds. The Mamas and the Papas. While it’s not a uniformly tight or technically marvelous doc, the personal anecdotes of the musicians and the loving details about how the rock-n-roll sausage was made is fascinating, enlightening, and highly worthwhile. Learning where the bassline came from in the opening seconds of “These Boots are Made for Walking” sung by Nancy Sinatra is revelatory.