The Wrecking Crew by Kent Hartman

[Jon Stebbins]

Is it possible that the wrecking crew did more for the Beach Boys then is credited? Is it possible that the Beach Boys are given credit for playing something they didn't play? How do we know that the documents are correct and not the claims of the wrecking crew?

Its generally not documents that support the fact that the Beach Boys played on the majority of their sessions...its the audio evidence. When you listen to raw session tapes, you can hear who is on the floor, you can hear Brian or Chuck Britz talking to who they are setting levels for. On something like Don't Worry Baby you can hear Chuck dialing in the drum intro with Dennis, on Dance Dance Dance you can hear him getting excited about the snare sound Dennis is getting as the session begins. These verbal exchanges between musicians and engineers, while the session is underway, are the best way to ascertain who is there and playing the instruments. Often documentation is just a redundant piece of information confirming what you already know by listening to the session.

[Andrew G. Doe]

Is it possible that the wrecking crew did more for the Beach Boys then is credited? Is it possible that the Beach Boys are given credit for playing something they didn't play? How do we know that the documents are correct and not the claims of the wrecking crew?

Fair point, which I will counter with the incident that made Carol Kaye flounce off the Bloo over a decade ago when I suggested her memory was at fauly. She pitched a fit and screamed she'd get her buddy Russ Wapensky to check his research for his book and prove I was wrong by looking at the relevent AFM sheet. I pointed out he'd only be reading from the same document as I was quoting, which was when she called me a liar and a thief. Point is, she always bangs on about the AFMs being reliable, which is correct to a point as if they weren't listed on the AFM, they didn't get paid union scale and the pension fund wasn't credited.

Plus what Jon said.

[Magic Transistor Radio]

Thank you. I wasn't sure how many song sessions were accessable.

[pancakerecords]

I just finished this - not too good.  The Beach Boys history isn't the only inaccuracy here. Mostly anecdotal with very little in the way of hard facts.