The Wrecking Crew - Dir Denny Tedesco (2015)

The 2015 New Zealand International Film Festival has just wrapped up and there was a plethora of good music documentaries on show. One of these was the long-awaited and much heralded film “The Wrecking Crew”. Directed by Denny Tedesco, the film which was originally made for release in 2008, but had its release delayed due to distribution issues is about a group of Los Angeles-based musicians who made up the session group from the late 50s and 60s called the Wrecking Crew. This collective of session players which totalled over fifty musicians played on all the big hits of the period, including those by the Beach Boys, Frank and Nancy Sinatra and the “Wall of Sound” records produced by Phil Spector. At that time big name American pop artists wanted the best musicians backing them on their records and in the form of the Wrecking Crew they knew they were getting the case. In the process this often led as was the case with the Beach Boys to bands ditching their own members for the Wrecking Crew to play on their records.

You might not know the names of the musicians, but you will definitely have heard some of the music they played on, with songs like “Good Vibrations”, “The Beat Goes On” and “You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling” coming to mind. And, this is one of the things the film sells itself on, the idea that these musicians stories have been left untold for too long, while the superstar singers and bands whose records they played on have gained all the fame and fortune. Session musician groups such as the Wrecking Crew are now a thing of the past, and that is one if the sad facts of this story in that once the 70s came, many of these musicians had no more work and simply vanished from the industry as work became scarcer. Some fortunately such as Leon Russell and Glen Campbell were able to get gigs with other big acts, or in the case of Campbell carve out successful solo career. But other interesting personalities such as bass player Carol Kaye and guitarist Tommy Tedesco, both highly influential players struggled to maintain work in an industry which was undergoing significant change as the decades moved on. Session players were out as more and more acts picked up their own instruments. A shame really as these players are talented and extremely gifted players, with the ability to play any style of music, play it more than competently and read music to boot, something which in itself is becoming rarer and rarer amongst pop and rock acts today.

“The Wrecking Crew” is a truly beautiful story which was actually quite a touching watch at times, as these musicians sat with one another yarning and reminiscing of the good times had in the studio. And, although many of them have long since had much to do with the industry, this film was a fitting reminder that they once carved out a place at the centre of the music industry and made their mark well and truly in the process. Thankfully the distribution problems which have prevented the release of this film were able to be sold and the opportunity for these musicians to tell their story has come about. A great rockumentary film which anyone with an interest in popular music history should see if given the opportunity.

A

- Sam 

The Beatles - Revolution in the Head: The Beatles Records and the Sixties 3rd edition (2007)

In terms of popular music literature, I would hazard a guess that The Beatles have probably had more written on them than any other musician, despite the fact that most of that literature is sub-standard, lacking in quality and even in some cases factual information. This is definitely not the case with Ian McDonald’s book Revolution in the Head: The Beatles Records and the Sixties, which to my eyes is the most complete analysis of The Beatles and their music I have ever read.

Ian McDonald was a British music critic and author whom sadly passed away in 2003. But he has left a brilliantly researched and well written sociological and musicological Beatles bible. “Revolution in the Head” details every song the band recorded together in chronological order from 1961 to the reunion session sin 1995, describing in detail the music itself, the context behind it, the lyrics, and for some individual songs a complete backstory contextualising that song with the personal life of the writer and the cultural context of the time. Each entry is also accompanied by a list of the musicians who played on each song and how they contributed musically to that track, which in itself offers a very good insight into the way the band operated in the studio and also how multi-skilled they were at moving between different instruments. McDonald’s analysis and opinion of each song is very forthright and this book is certainly no Beatles love-in by any means, thank god, as often Beatles literature is reduced to nothing but praise for their achievements without considering their lesser moments both musically and personally. His musicological and sociological commentary is highly critical and he is not afraid to come out strongly against the songs themselves, the cultural climate of the 60s and even the band members and their personal misgivings while in the band. This makes “Revolution in the Head a refreshingly interesting, informative and un-biased read.

Aside from the main body of the book which contains the analysis of the music, the book also begins with an interesting essay titled “Fabled Foursome, Disappearing Decade”, an essay where McDonald offers an analysis of the major social and cultural changes of the 60s and the decade’s legacy thereafter in the 1970s and 80s. Here McDonald’s argument is that the Beatles represented a meeting point of three cultural trends which were crucial to the 1960s period, materialistic individualism, the radicalism of the new left, and the psychedelic pacifism of the hippy movement. McDonald then reaches the conclusion that the 60s as a whole had little in the way of a long-lasting influence on mainstream society, something which you can kind of see when you look at what followed during the me-decades of the 70s and 80s.

In conclusion, McDonald does a good job in placing the Beatles and their music within the context of the time, giving the songs some cultural and social meaning, especially their later more experimental work. I am also glad he avoided going down the line of attempting to interpret hidden meaning behind their lyrics and investigate potential hidden messages as many have made a life-time obsession out of, as this would only have served to distract from what is a very detailed and thoroughly researched analysis. If ever there was a book which highlighted how this band’s journey was a long and winding road both musically in terms of style and culturally it is this one. McDonald gives the Beatles story an honest and rigorous assessment, with no pre-conceived fandom encroaching on the story and the overall content. A must read for any music fan and also those interested in musicology and 60s-70s sociology. 

A+

- Sam 

Various Artists - Bossa Nova and the Rise of Brazilian Music in the 1960s (2011)

I am not a huge fan of music compilations. To me “best ofs” or “greatest hits” are often not true representations of an artist’s back catalogue and I find they tend to gloss over a lot of the lesser known and often obscure material that you can find when exploring the original studio releases. However I found myself being pleasantly surprised on listening to this particular compilation of Brazilian bossa nova music.

Bossa Nova and the Rise of Brazilian Music in the 1960s is a two disc compilation of early bossa nova music, a style of music which fused together jazz and samba and that emerged in Brazil in the 1950s. Released on the Soul Jazz Records label, a British label which specialises in releasing mainly compilations of non-western styles of music such as reggae, Latin, and Afro-Cuban, this brilliant compilation offers a good introduction to the origins of bossa nova not just in sound but also visually and historically. The CD package comes with a published booklet complete with some amazing photographs and a well written history of the rise of bossa nova and its social significance in Brazil at the time. As someone who knows very little about original bossa nova but whom is a big fan of the fusion bossa nova that Stan Getz recorded in the early 60s, on reading this booklet I quickly became aware that bossa nova was more than just music and in many ways represented an age of developing modernism and idealism in Brazilian society during the late 50s and early 60s, particularly amongst the youth of the country. Bossa nova was seen to represent everything modern, sophisticated and cool in Brazil at the time and became associated with urbanisation, apartment living and consumer lifestyles. Not something you usually associate with traditional non-western styles of music, but certainly in describing the wider cultural significance of bossa nova it makes you think how cool it would have been to be there at the time.

In terms of the music itself, one of the good things about not knowing most of the artists on here – I was familiar with Sergio Mendes, as well as Joao Gilberto is that I had no pre-conceived expectations of what the music was going to be like, or of the artists themselves. Therefore I could just relax and enjoy the music for what it was as I went through the thirty-four tracks, a good number when a compilation is dealing with an entire genre. The tracks are a mixture of lively fiesta numbers, as well as the more rhythmic jazzier instrumentals and I must say all and all I wasn’t disappointed as I was taken through a broad sweep of the more popular people in bossa nova of the day. Just some of the artists whose sounds I was attracted to more included Elis Regina, Baden Powell and Vinicius de Moraes, Dom Um Romao, and finally Tama Trio but with this said I couldn’t pick a favourite as there was just so much which appealed.

In an ideal world compilations should be designed and packaged to introduce people to the artist or music in question and therefore should offer a broad sample of music which is representative of the entire body of work. Bossa Nova and the Rise of Brazilian Music in the 1960s does a very good job at this and doesn’t just focus on a small section of the performers who were around during the early stages of bossa nova. The fact the music was also accompanied by a very well presented companion to the period and the music itself made it that much better to. Bossa Nova and the Rise of Brazilian Music in the 1960s I feel is a true representation of early bossa nova and is a good one at that, making it one of the better compilations I have listened to.

A-

- Sam 

Book Review: "All The Madmen" by Clinton Heylin (2012)

Written by Clinton Heylin and published in November 2012, “All the Madmen: Barrett, Bowie, Drake, the Floyd, The Kinks, The Who and a Journey to the Dark Side of English Rock” puts the microscope on six of English rocks biggest stars, who in the years following the often mythicized “Summer of Love” experienced various problems with their mental wellbeing, while often battling to maintain their sanity. In this fascinating and insightful read, Heylin explores the drug problems of Syd Barrett and Peter Green, the battle David Bowie faced over his identity in the guise of Ziggy Satrdust, the depression faced by Nick Drake and Ray Davies often in response to their lack of commercial success, and the eccentricity of Pete Townshend. Heylin also looks into how these musicians were able to take their own personal experiences and use them as fuel for their work, highlighting how during this period (the early 1970s) these great musicians used their somewhat fragile state of minds to produce some of the greatest British albums of all time. He puts the spotlight on the making of albums such as Quadrophenia, Ziggy Stardust, and The Dark Side of the Moon looking into the influences behind these albums and the themes they explore, as well as how a lot of the music on these albums came about as a response to how the likes of Bowie and Townshend were feeling at the time. This book is very well researched and pays great attention to detail in its subject matter, while Heylin does a good job in presenting what can often be sensitive areas to go into including the issues of drug abuse and mental illness in a carefully considered manner. I would recommend "All the Madmen" to anyone interested in rock history, as well as those interested in the psychological side of music making. "All the Madmen" is a highly informative and interesting read that examines an area which is often overlooked in rock history, the madness and mystery of its participants, and how psychology and self-examination came to play a massive role in influencing the art that was created.   

A+

- Sam