Wrecking Crew Charts More Than the Beatles

Mystery Group Dominated U.S. Airwaves

On AM radio back in the day, the Beatles charted a total of 47 times. Not all of these were number one positions, with the biggest travesty—at least in the U.K.—being the power-single Strawberry Fields Forever/Penny Lane losing out to Englebert Humperdinck's Release Me.

But there was another group—perhaps one you've never heard of—that gave the Fab 4 stiff competition when it came to dominating commercial radio airwaves in America. Consider this partial list of super hits:

All I Really Want To Do, California Dreamin', Classical Gas, Da Doo Ron Ron, Danke Schoen, Donna, Eve of Destruction, Everybody Loves Somebody, Everybody's Talkin', Fun Fun Fun, Good Vibrations, Help Me Rhonda, Homeward Bound, I Got You Babe, I'm a Believer, La Bamba, Let's Dance, Little Old Lady (From Pasadena), MacArthur Park, Mrs. Robinson, Mr. Tamborine Man, Natural Man, Rhinestone Cowboy, River Deep Mountain High, Rockin' Robin, San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair), Scarborough Fair, Sixteen Tons, Sloop John B, Stoned Soul Picnic, Strangers in the Night, Surf City, The Beat Goes On, The Girl Can't Help It, Then He Kissed Me, These Boots Were Made for Walkin', This Diamond Ring, Walking To New Orleans, We've Only Just Begun, Wichita Lineman, Windy, You Send Me, You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'.

Blaine is credited with having played on at least forty U.S.
number one hits and more than 150 top ten records.

You may have also heard the group playing the theme music on such television shows as The Flintstones, M.A.S.H., I Dream of Jeannie, Ironside, Mission Impossible, Get Smart, The Love Boat, The Cosby Show and Green Acres.

The group is The Wrecking Crew, featured in an unreleased documentary by a son of the late Tommy Tedesco. Tedesco was a multi-style guitarist extraordinaire who, along with Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame drummers Hal Blaine and Earl Palmer, Glen Campbell, Barney Kessell, and several other regular session musicians, comprised L.A.'s hit-making machine. Others included Paul Beaver (of Beaver and Krause), Tom Scott, Paul Horn, Toots Thielemans, Larry Carlton, Joe Sample, Russ Freeman and Dave Grusin. From the classic rock world, keyboardists Leon Russell, Billy Preston and Mac Rebennack (a.k.a, Dr. John) were members at one time, as were drummers Jeff Porcaro, Jim Keltner and Jim Gordon. Count noted vocalists Clydie King and Merry Clayton in the mix, too. In the first-call instrumentalist category, however, guitarist and bassist Carol Kaye was the only woman to achieve outstanding success in what was then primarily a man's world.

Women like...Fender bass player Carol Kaye...
could do anything and leave men in the dust.

Quincy Jones, in his autobiography, Q

Click below to watch the movie trailer:

Guitar Player magazine cites Wrecking Crew member
Tommy Tedesco as "the most recorded guitarist in history."

If your appetite isn't yet whetted, David Was (of Was, Not Was) has a very positive review of the film on NPR.

So when will we get to see this intriguing documentary? When Floydian Slips contacted Denny Tedesco in May, we were told that the film still awaits wide-scale distribution. In the meantime, visit the movie site online and leave your e-mail address so as to be notified when you might be able to see the movie in its entirety.

Andy Summers Reveals Police Memorial

There was much more substance to the Police than Sting, the superstar artist. Without guitarist Andy Summers and drummer Stewart Copeland to help arrange the music, Sting's Roxanne may possibly have been recorded by someone else as a bossa nova track and the fledgling group might never have become stadium rockers.

Reading from his critically-acclaimed memoir, One Train Later, here Summers tells how the Police collectively developed their Outlandos d'Amour megahit and, in so doing, also defined the group's distinctive sound:

Andy Summers reads from One Train Later

From One Train Later one learns that Summers is a few years older than those who became his eventual bandmates, and that he was no stranger to London's early rock scene. A fixture on the circuit, he jammed with recent arrival, Jimi Hendrix, and sold Eric Clapton his '59 Gibson Les Paul guitar after EC's matching model was stolen.

Eric records Fresh Cream with my Les Paul [and] the terms Les Paul and Clapton become synonymous...before it was regarded as a weird failure...But possibly because of our little interchange, it becomes a Stradivarius of rock guitars.

Together with keyboard player and vocalist Zoot Money, Summers founded Dantalian's Chariot, soon a local headliner. In '67 they found themselves on London concert bills with the likes of Pink Floyd, Soft Machine and the Crazy World of Arthur Brown. (Also achieving notoriety in Paris, Dantalian's Chariot disbanded after a series of foibles in Northern Scotland that resulted in a hospital stay for Summers.)

Soon Money and Summers found it more lucrative to play sidemen to Eric Burdon in the New Animals. Life was good until Burdon decided to go in a different direction during a U.S. tour. After floundering awhile, Summers joined the Soft Machine but was dismissed just before they were to tour the states as a supporting act to Hendrix's Experience. A serendipitous, career-saving stint with Neil Sedaka (who was big in the U.K.) followed, and when the Rolling Stones went looking for a replacement for departing guitarist Mick Taylor, Summers was on their short list.

Other accounts like these take the reader half-way through the book. The remainder details the history of the Police, culminating in their historic Shea Stadium appearance. Many more fastinating anecdotes await you, including a wild chance encounter with John Belushi while vacationing in Bali!

Captured shortly after the release of his memoir, below is Summers being interviewed on the BBC's Later... With Jools Holland. This segment includes some brief footage of the Police as they approach the pinnacle of their career:

What's not well-known is how accomplished a guitarist Summers is and the numerous styles he can readily play, including jazz and classical music. Since the Police, he has recorded numerous albums as a leader or in collaboration with others, including (old friend) Robert Fripp, Ginger Baker, Brian Auger, Herbie Hancock and Brazilian jazz pianist, arranger, vocalist and songwriter, Elaine Elias. Listen to two tracks from Summers' World Gone Strange:

World Gone Strange

Oudu Kanjaira

Other post-Police recordings by Andy Summers may be heard in their entirety at his MySpace page. A more recent compilation, including a pairing with Deborah Harry, may be sampled here. And guitar players/collectors may be interested in learning more about Fender's Andy Summers Tribute Telecaster®, used by Summers to provide the Police with their unique guitar sound.

Clapton, Winwood Play Madison Square Garden

Having seen Cream play at Detroit's Grande Ballroom in the autumn of '67, like many fans I was disheartened when they disbanded. Also being a fan of Steve Winwood's Traffic, my excitement was quickly renewed when I learned that Eric Clapton and Ginger Baker were teaming up with Winwood to form Blind Faith. Their one and only album shortly hit the streets in August of '69.

That fall I saw them at Olympia Stadium (then home of the Red Wings)—the worst venue ever at which to stage a concert of any sort. The warm-up acts that night included one-hit wonders Friend & Lover (Reach Out of the Darkness), followed shortly by Delaney & Bonnie and Friends. Yes, I had reserved seats, but because the stage was set "center-ice," mine faced the rear of the band's speaker columns! Only on occasion would my heroes duck around between their Marshalls to play a few bars for us poor sods relegated to the "low-rent district." (As the promoter of this fiasco, you owe me one, Russ!)

With the exception of paying the big bucks to see Paul McCartney at "Echo" Arena a few years back in Sacramento, I've managed to steer clear of the large indoor "concert venues"—instead enjoying arena rock on my 52" video/surround sound system. So preferring my couch-potato venue for the really big acts, to my delight Steve Winwood was the featured end-of-show performer at Clapton's 2007 Crossroads benefit concert held outside of Chicago. First performing many of Traffic's chestnuts as a frontman, he then teamed up with the concert host to perform several Blind Faith numbers.

I had seen advertisements for the current Clapton~Winwood concert tour online, but had no idea—until today—that a DVD release of their February Madison Square Gardens tour stop was in the works. Among many others, tracks include Had To Cry Today, Dear Mr. Fantasy, Pearly Queen, Tell the Truth, After Midnight, and Voodoo Chile (for which Winwood played keyboards on Hendrix's original Electric Ladyland release).

PBS will be broadcasting this terrific performance in June, so check your local TV listings. Below is an amateur video from that event featuring the rocks legends' version of Hendrix's Little Wing. While it gives you an idea of what to expect from both the video and any forthcoming live concert of theirs, please remember that this sample is not at all representative of the quality provided by the authorized DVD. Enjoy!