The Smiley Smile Message Board

Today on Facebook Mr. Tedesco is touting the new improved website featuring Wrecking Crew AFM sheets for the sessions they played on. https://www.facebook.com/WreckingCrewFilm?fref=photo

He's STILL using non-Beach Boys versions of I Get Around and Don't Worry Baby as proof the WC played on the Beach Boys hit versions of those songs. Even after AGD, Mark Linett, myself and so many others have pleaded with Mr. Tedesco for years to correct this mis-information. There were NO WRECKING CREW musicians on the Beach Boys version of Don't Worry Baby. Zero. I Get Around has a few of them in support of the Beach Boys, who play the core instruments on the track themselves. There must be a way to finally get this guy's attention. He's STILL selling a lie regarding those two iconic Beach Boys songs. I need a drink.

It is so obvious, look at the other songs on the session Hot Rod USA....

Has he ever been asked/politely confronted about this subject in person, perhaps one-on-one at one of the screenings? Does he just refuse to discuss/address the issue in the face of factual research? I'm sure it would be an awkward conversation, but as a film like this gets more and more eyes on it (as it certainly will now), I can't imagine the issue can just simply be ignored without it being addressed in some fashion (even if just a flat-out denial).

Did you provide Tedesco with the sessions sheets for those gigs as evidence? Or do they not exist or are they incomplete/inaccurate? Or he wouldn't believe the information on the sheets anyway even when they're provided to him?

Mikie, we shouldn't need to - that they're spurious shoudl be obvious to anyone with two brain cells to rub together and the ability to read a calendar correctly. I told him they were wrong over two years ago, and he thanked me, promising he'd amend them later ASAP. Still waiting. I can only guess he's been hanging with Carol Kaye too much of late...

Since they were NOT for the Beach Boys, do we know who the IGA and DWB sessions were for?

I've detailed what they were for in the FB thread, but just for you...

AFM #96891 dated 5/20/64 is for a Catalinas session, for their Fun, Fun, Fun album: five of the six titles listed were never, EVER, recorded by The Beach Boys. It's a Terry Melcher project, which he also produced.

AFM #94459 dated 7/23/64 is for a Knights session for their Hot Rod High album. As before, four of the songs listed were never, EVER, recorded by The BB in the sixties. A Gary Usher production.

AFM #96724 dated 7/10/64 is for the entirely instrumental album by The Hollyridge Strings The Beach Boys Songbook: look at the musicians, overwhelmingly orchestral types. Also, by the session date, four of the seven titles listed had already been released as singles.

Tedesco Responds on Facebook!...

Here is my response to some of the emails in regards to the contracts. You are correct to say some of them are wrong and we thought we pulled them from the website. I take responsibility there. The contracts were handed off to me over the years from the AFM but I haven't kept up with the corrected ones. Intentionally misleading? That is quite a statement.
I've never said I was an expert. Most of you know way more than me in regards to the music and certain facts. I'm trying my best to showcase these musicians and the memory of my father and the others who have passed over the years. After 18 years, its finally coming together. So bare with me with the mistakes. We only trying to have fun.

Thanks AGD and Jon.

The main issue, for me, is that the recording dates on those session sheets are after the BB recordings were released.

It's as simple as that, and not something that required "expertise" to fix or realize.

OOF; Guess we've got his attention now.

I'm not convinced he intentionally did that, though...what would he gain from that?

I did that to get his attention... but honestly, Jon & I have been tel;ling him that for close on three years, and nothing was done. I'd call that wilful. Whatever, he's fessed up. Not if he'll just actually remove the offending documents...

I'd guess the Beach Boys' songs sell part of the movie. Imagine this campaign: meet the musicians that were not behind your favorite hits of the 60s like I Get Around, Don't Worry Baby, Fun, Fun, Fun.... etc.  :-D

But maybe it was really just a slip-up.

But he already does have several other ACTUAL Beach Boys AFM contracts up there; he doesn't need more to sell it, and I'm pretty sure he knows that. Again, I doubt he's doing that on purpose. My guess is that he's got so much actual physical work he has to do to get the movie, get the rights, travel with it around the country, etc., in addition to other unrelated work he has going on in his life, plus family life, etc., that maybe the last thing on his mind is "Whoops, better update that link on the site!" (And this is coming from a professional web developer, btw; I know what I'm talking about.)

That's one of the aspects of this trend of over crediting the WC musicians regarding the Beach Boys that really burns me up. No need for it. The WC did enough that no embellishment is needed. They were the core musicians on so many great Beach Boys tracks. Why The f*** do people insist on crediting them for the ones they are not on? Or solely crediting them for the ones that they intermingled with the Beach Boys on. It's as if people cannot get their heads around the fact the the Beach Boys played the instruments on a bunch of their classic stuff. I recall pointing out to a very veteran and respected music journalist that the Beach Boys played the core instruments on the MAJORITY of their top 40 hits. This was met with utter disbelief. As if my naiveté was so off the mark that it barely was worth a response. But check the songs that made top 40...most of them had the Beach Boys on them as musicians, and a bunch had the WC as well, just not as many as had BB's on them. As Tedesco said "we're only trying to have fun." Myth killers are no fun I guess.

Amen, Jon

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Oh, I disagree with that. They were incredibly important to the sound of the era. There's definitely room for such a film.

But the BB stuff is just unnecessary. As Jon said, they did appear on number of the group's most orchestrated hits -- I mean, "Wouldn't It Be Nice" and "Good Vibes" aren't nothing!

Interesting that they "lost" the original post. :)

Whatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhat ?

Looks like Tedesco is on the up and up and will straighten this out.  Follow-up with him will be necessary in the next few weeks to see if he's corrected the credits.

Yup. The original post was gone, and it the announcement was RE-posted with an apology for "losing" the original post. :)

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I finally got a hold of the WC film, and I was baffled by the statement that none of the Beach Boys played on most of their records in the mid-60s, then cuts to a photo of Carl Wilson and Hal Blaine, clearly sitting in the studio together on their respective instruments!!!

It also uses the "Little Deuce Coupe" intro from the Lost Concert which demonstrates what capable musicians they all were.

  The popular misconception that The Beach Boys rarely played on their hits is troubling; thanks to all on this board who have worked diligently in getting the actual facts out.

It's okay. In the next Beach Boys documentary, there will be a segment focusing on the startling revelation that Brian wrote "Love You" and "That Lucky Old Sun" with absolutely no help whatsoever from the Wrecking Crew, or the Lovin' Spoonful, or Hootie and the Blowfish.

Total bummer that a WC film has to minimize others to pump up the Wrecking Crew, not to mention implicit or direct contradiction of known facts.

Carol Kaye was even on "Surfin'". She's the one that goes "baw-baw-dip-da-dip-da-dip".

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It appears that Mr. Tedesco is saying the mistakes will be fixed when Stebbins, Doe, and Linett get naked with him.

Get with it guys, this needs to be fixed ASAP!

Wow, that would really be taking one for the team...so to speak.

This is over-crediting thing has become a real problem. I routinely go at it every few weeks with Monkees fans who repeatedly point to The Beach Boys as a band that "never played a note in the studio". Unfortunately this line of thinking is so pervasive online now that I don't see how it can become undone. Well...I guess with proper credits and some embarrassed apologies. We'll see.

Yup, whenever I see a Beach Boys vs. argument, without fail the other side always claims "They never even played on their records!  I suppose it'll be like most things where in time most people won't care and the people who are interested in the Boys will know the truth. 

Taking one for OUR team

Great post. This is interesting, and let me say from the outset that The Monkees' music has been one of my absolute favorites and biggest influences in playing and working in music in general. Beatles-Beach Boys-Monkees, it's the Big Three for me that I most often return to for pure enjoyment.

So - As much as has been written about The Monkees and how they fit into all of this, keep in mind that back in 1967 some would point to a Mike Nesmith interview where he essentially said "tell the world that we don't play on our records because damn it, we don't!" or something along those lines (don't have the quote in front of me).

Consider the time when that interview was given, it was during the power struggle with Don Kirshner over that very issue: The band wanted to play and choose their music that would appear on their releases, Kirshner in what is still one of the more bizarre axes ever ground in the music biz simply refused to allow this apart from a few Nesmith songs, and as a result Rafelson and Schneider eventually showed him the door. It was as if Kirshner had something personal against the notion of letting the guys play in the studio...thus, he was out.

As far as the opinions in the present day, I thought a lot of the actual history had replaced the mythology, but perhaps that isn't the case as much as I assumed. The Monkees music and their other media from the 60's have gotten more respect, they have gotten a revisiting from listeners, critics, and new audiences, and people generally seem to think they were better than the reputation of "plastic" would suggest.

And with that, consider a few things I sometimes forget even as a major, die-hard fan and follower of the band:

They were actors cast to play a band on a TV show. Simple as that, no secret. That borrows the Mike Nesmith line he's repeated often, the backlash against them as individuals would be like Star Trek fans criticizing Leonard Nimoy for not being a real Vulcan. The difference is that not only *were* they working musicians who had played gigs and released material prior to the Monkees, but they wanted to have a part in creating their own music. Whatever hangups Kirshner had against that, they were musicians who wanted some stake in what their names and photos were being used to sell.

Consider: The first two albums, are there credits anywhere on them that "lied" in terms of who played the parts? No. It was standard practice to not credit musicians who had played the studio parts on album liners. Nesmith's "blow the lid off" interview brought it to the fore, though, and it did become an issue and cause a backlash which you can see in vintage music papers and fan mags. Ultimately, though, people still watched the show and bought the records, especially in 67-68.

Now look at their third and fourth albums, Headquarters and "Pisces, Aquarius...": Their first four albums appeared in a time frame of just over one year...four Monkees albums in a year, how many bands today have that? Anyway, on the third album which appeared less than a year after the TV show premiered, the band members are playing the majority of instruments on the album, and the liner notes on that album in '67 list their credits. Pisces Aquarius, from Fall 1967, same thing: The band members are playing on that album, supplemented by session guys like Chip Douglas, Fast Eddie Hoh, etc.

Question: What is difficult to understand or comprehend about that? They're playing prominently on those recordings, they're credited as doing so...if anyone still suggests the "they didn't play their instruments" B.S. 45+ years later, I'd tell them flat out they are foolish or lazy, or both.

Fans in '67 knew this, it was printed on millions of albums that were sold that year. Fans who watched the TV show also saw two things: The finale episode of the first season was called "Monkees On Tour", and shows the band playing a live show. Yes, PLAYING a live show for thousands of screaming fans with actual guitars, a bass, and a drum set. And in a ragged kind of garage-y vibe, they played a really cool show. But the point is, they played instruments on stage.

In '67 the fans watching the show also saw a group interview which they used to cut into the end of the episodes when they first ran. One of them has the band being asked about playing their own instruments, and Nesmith (again) took the lead: "I'm about to go on in front of 15,000 people, if I don't play my own instrument I'm in trouble."

Anyone from 1967 on knew the story, yes Kirshner kept them out of the studio chairs but everything recorded from February 1967 onward had the band playing instruments, and it created some of the best AM pop of the year, from Pleasant Valley Sunday, to Daydream Believer, to The Girl I Knew Somewhere, to Randy Scouse Git, and the terrific album cuts.

It is another case, perhaps, of some people simply wanting to claim ignorance in order to express an opinion, which in this case might be backing up a claim that they don't like the Monkees without saying it outright, so the old standard "they didn't play their own instruments" continues to be repeated, and continues to be complete nonsense and has been known to be nonsense since they did start playing in the studio in 1967.

Yet in the past several years, there were the three surviving band members reuniting and playing hits and deep album cuts live on stage, playing their own instruments, singing their own songs, and basically playing to packed venues and getting very positive reviews...and big ticket sales. Interesting, right?

There is a difference between being ignorant of history and wishing to rewrite history...

O/T but thanks GF :)

getting back to our team.....  

Maybe, and I'm not all that certain anyone here holds enough sway to get them to participate, Capitol could play a big part in this. If someone could convince Capitol Records/UM to list the musicains for each track on their next BBs reissue and subsequent reissues, because after all, there's bound to be a couple of those in the pipeline before anything else sees the light of day, the public could have the credits somewhat shoved in their faces

Thanks - Is it really off-topic, though?  :)  I say that, and posted all of that, because my bigger point was that anyone interested or anyone with, let's say, some measure of common sense could have looked at the Headquarters or Pisces Aquarius album covers waaaayyyy back in 1967 and read the musician credits. They would have seen the actual band who apparently didn't play their instruments actually had played their instruments! When Pleasant Valley Sunday started playing on 'MCA or KHJ or 'RKO in summer 1967, that hot guitar riff was actually played by a real-life Monkee! Imagine that!  ;D

And it goes to repeating something false when the truth has been out and available since the issue was still current. In this case, 1967.

And it has parallels in the session musician issues being discussed here, and also shows up in Beach Boys circles as well, where what happened, we're told, actually didn't happen...or told in a more nuanced way that history was wrong, or missed the mark, when in fact the actual truth of the story has been sitting there all along.

And in those cases, like the Monkees nonsense, "ignorance is bliss" is not an excuse when the facts of the story are available yet ignored.

I have not yet seen the Wrecking Crew film but have been eagerly awaiting its release for what seems like well over half a decade.  When I first learned of the story behind the LA studio musicians, some years ago, I was in awe that they had played on so many records, etc.  That same kind of awe was when I first realized Brian Wilson's prolific growth as a songwriter from 1962-1966. 

It cannot be said enough that there are two Beach Boys.  The one that the mass public thinks of and the one we are all here for.  Those who "know", "know".  This one force (Brian Wilson) was channeling this rapid growth in songwriting and arrangement.  Eventually that imagination ran up against logistics and he had to augment his band and eventually completely enhance and replace the musicianship to get all of the sound in his head on to tape.  5 people could not create the sounds heard on "California Girls" or "Pet Sounds" or "Good Vibrations"...  but the vision of 1 person did, with the use of studio musicians and heavenly Beach Boy voices.

I, for one, am appalled at the trailer that has been around for a number of years for the Wrecking Crew film.  It intimates that the Beach Boys were nothing more than the Wrecking Crew.  That they were the Monkees basically.  And I, like everyone else here that knows better, regards that as simply insulting.  Those notes that are being played on "California Girls" came from the head of one man, Brian Wilson.  Not a group of studio musicians.

Do we discredit Mozart or Brahms because they couldn't shape shift and play a room full of instruments all at the same time?  Of course not.  Subjugating the contribution of the band/Wilson to amplify the role the musicians played is sickening.  Especially when you consider that Wilson has long been a cheerleader for those same studio players.  Far more so than say...Philip Spector.

The bold sentence, that is the irony of the whole thing! Even that sentiment isn't accurate to what actually happened in that case, so you get a false impression being based on another false impression leading to viewers making a false assumption based on that. Endless cycle!  :)

Wasn't commenting on your post which was on topic. More like thanks for your consideration.

 :) No worries! I wanted to clarify why a multi-paragraph dissection of the Monkees myth appeared in this thread.  ;D

I know Brian speaks well of the Wrecking Crew, and he should for all the amazing work that they did on Beach Boys records. But has Brian ever tried to set the record straight? It would be nice to see Brian stand up for the playing that Carl, Dennis, Dave and Al -- and he himself -- did on the recordings.

The pervasiveness of the "Beach Boys didn't play in the studio" meme is alarming, especially in musico or pop aficionado circles. People who think they know stuff, REALLY think they know this particular thing. Why? because it became an essential element in certain journalists criteria for rationalizing Brian's claim to genius. The basis of the meme, they weren't really a BAND. They were a Genius, and a vocal group, and they had studio musicians play on the records...because they weren't good enough for Brian's brilliant records. This became somewhat true in a small slice of their career. But sloppiness by writers and historians have turned the small slice into the entire melon. It's tricky to turn it around. Dude says, they didn't play on the records. You say yes they did. Dude says they didn't play on any of the good stuff. You point out that many of the classic Beach Boys sides are actually played by the Beach Boys. Dude says...well Pet Sounds and GV's is the Wrecking Crew. You say yes, that's right, except for one or two exceptions. Dude says, see I'm right because THAT was their best stuff. As he walks away you mutter, but what about Surfer Girl and Catch A Wave and In My Room and Fun Fun Fun and Don't Worry Baby and Warmth of the Sun and All Summer Long and I Get Around and Little Honda and Dance Dance Dance and When I Grow Up To Be A Man and Girl Don't Tell Me and You're So Good To Me and I Can Hear Music????? All absolute classics and all with the Beach Boys playing the core instruments...but by this time you are shut down...they played that one too!  Never mind. If I were the Beach Boys I'd be hammering on this all the time...hey yeah, the Wrecking Crew and lots of other great musicians played on many of our records...but don't ever think we didn't play our asses off on some of the greatest sh*t... because we did. But it won't happen. I recall interviews with Carl where they are like...was that REALLY you on Surfin USA? The look on Carl's face was like...can't believe I even have to address this. And still...today...there are well meaning people who will INSIST that Carl was not a good enough musician to play that intro. I mean his solo on I Get Around is probably better than anything George Harrison did to that point, probably more unique than anything Keith Richards did in the mid '60's...but you won't find Carl on any list of the best guitarists will you? And don't get me started on Dennis. There is a rock history crime being committed, and the WC movie is only going to make it worse.

WC in this case might as well stand for Water Closet for all the good....

The problem is, I don't think Brian or the other guys (with the exception of Carl) really thought about it much, or cared. They all eventually used session guys on their records, and they all kept plaiying on them too, to greater or lesser extents (heck, BW even plays on Imagination for some reason). Making the best track was always the thing, and most of them (again with the exception of Carl) weren't flashy players. So they left the door open for misinterpretation, in some ways.

Dave has been good about emphasizing that he and Carl played on the surf classics, though, which is an excellent point to make.

None of the living BBs who played instruments on BB albums (which would be all of the living members, sans Mike, his few sax parts excepted) seem like they care enough to go out of their way to set the record straight... to really make a stink about inaccurate credits. It just doesn't seem like it's much in their personality.

Still, I think things would likely be different if Mike had been an instrumentalist in the band, because if that were the case, I couldn't imagine him keeping as low-key about not doing much to correct the misinformation out there, especially if it's provable, which it seems to be.  I'd imagine he'd be making a stink to some degree, and rightfully so.

The lack of fact seeking on the 60's stuff is troubling, not just for the sake of properly crediting the BB's musicianship, but also for the simple sake of being factually correct.

But it certainly hasn't helped the perception of observers or the BB's themselves that they have often sought out and used other musicians on their stuff even in later years. Some of the "TWGMTR" stuff was cut by sessions guys before the other BB's even entered the project. There are sessions guys on the stuff from the 80's and 90's too.

Carl and the other guys didn't do themselves any favors (if indeed they cared about their perceptions as musicians) by continuing on without releasing much new studio material, and often not playing on the studio stuff they did issue, and then on top of that doing a predominantly stale setlist in the 80s and 90s on stage that certainly didn't overtly showcase them as ace musicians.

Not only was Carl a better musician than we usually got to see, even Al is too. As little as he seems to actually play guitar during concerts (and/or however softly they put it in the mix), he's actually a really solid guitar player. As I've often mentioned, I've even seen him do the Carl/Dave guitar stuff, including lead bits, in concert. As much if not moreso than Carl, Al doesn't seem to care about being perceived as a good musician. It seems to be about the song and the vocals.

Apart from the obvious issues of under-crediting or outright misrepresenting the musician credits, I think some of it has to come back to doing what was best for the song at hand, both with what was available or physically possible and also going for different sounds and concepts in various recordings. A lot of it is very often repeated sections of Beach Boys history, sure, but I think the choices were made based on those factors. However the history has been warped or inaccurately reported for decades seems to be the burden of those historians who are telling it, and like the Monkees playing their own instruments routine, often in light of the hard facts which have been available all that time as the myths were being reported.

One point to consider: Brian playing marimba on the song "All Summer Long". It turned out to be a terrific hook, a great part that the song wouldn't be as powerful if it were not there, but on the sessions you can almost hear Brian getting frustrated as he tries to play the part. He may have thought about the availability of someone like Julius Wechter or Emil Richards, professional mallet and percussion players, and if he needed that kind of part in the future these guys could do what was needed based on a simple chord chart and an outline sketch of the song form, short of an actual written part. And Brian could focus on producing and getting everything going from the booth without having to do take after take on an instrument he could play, but not at the level of guys who did it everyday for hire.

Another factor: After Brian stopped touring, there were those times when the band was physically not there to do tracking sessions in the studio, as they were out on tour. The fact that Brian throughout 65-66 was specifically looking to expand his own "sound" in the studio as well as chasing his own version of the Spector studio sound gave him access to the musicians who had done the Spector records. And that was, simply, the sound he was going for at that time, and what he wanted for the songs he was recording. He'd obviously have Carl there for guitar parts among the studio players, but where having the core Beach Boys band doing the full sessions in this process sometimes wasn't physically possible due to touring and scheduling issues, he had the musicians for hire on call.

I really do not think there was anything within the band that would suggest negativity or resentment of this process, specifically the 1965-66 sessions, and I have to think the band was more likely on board with what was happening and the roles they were playing if the records being produced were that good, and as importantly, that successful in a business sense. Perhaps there was a sense of giving up their previous roles as the core studio band willingly and without resentment if the results were records like California Girls and Wouldn't It be Nice, among others. Maybe that's why it didn't seem to be a trigger issue in decades to come, or it wasn't something that was a sticking point within the band. Again, separating that from how some history has incorrectly assumed or reported things that are not true in general.

Thanks GF! Part of the problem RE: Monkees-vs-Beach Boys was Peter and Davy going around saying the Beach Boys "didn't play a note in the studio" in countless interviews. Monkees fans have seized on that like there's no tomorrow. Don't get me wrong, I love those guys but it's really underhanded to disparage another group to build themselves up. They didn't need to do that. Their work speaks for itself and considering the group's origins, the fact that they took control of the records accounts for at least %50 of The Monkees appeal.  Only a complete buffoon would suggest The Monkees didn't play their instruments at this point...but then again, I guess those same kinds of buffoons are suggesting The Beach Boys didn't either.

Incidentally, The Monkees are up there with The Beach Boys for me as well. I'm casually involved with this Monkees podcast and you may want to check it out: http://zilchmonkeescast.blogspot.com/

I don't know if it was posted but the Facebook site has a trailer up. Unfortunately I can't link it here...

In the subtley named thread "Finally!!!":

Denny's motivation to credit his father and other Wrecking Crew musicians is indeed powerful. I admire his perseverance, even if it clashes with the facts, which of course is not desirable. I sympathise with his obvious frustration at the lack of support for making this movie and I'm relieved it's finally coming out.

All entirely laudable, and long overdue... but maybe he should have asked someone other than the musicians (say, the Stebbins dude, or Craig) about their claims to have played on this or that hit, at least in the BB cosmos. That it took him over two years to remove three spurious AFM sheets despite being reminded frequently that they were not BB sessions tells me he's not an entirely impartial individual.

Further problem is... now the DVD is, essentially, out there, the canards are pretty much set in stone - look, the actual guys who played on the Beach Boys/Monkees/your band of choice here sessions are saying on camera that the bands didn't play on their records ! Must be true !!

Something Jon said a few years ago about all this resonates strongly with me: he stated that we're not in this to win any popularity contests, we just want the truth documented and set down. Problem is, sometimes the truth can be inconvenient, too inconvenient for those involved to accept.

A big thank you to Andrew, Jon and Mark for — at the very least — staying the course. 

Wonder what will be on the soundtrack

http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/thewreckingcrew?utm_campaign=project5085&utm_source=facebook

http://youtu.be/ERGw5c-g3p0?t=49s

From the relevant page:

Dean Torrence: “In mid-late 1962, Jan (Berry) invited Brian Wilson to the studio to hear the finished instrumental track to Surf City.”

"The studio guys were also able to nail a track in two or three takes compared to The Beach Boys, whom one can assume would have taken much longer." [Debatable].

Larry Knechtal: … “I did some of the Beach Boys' early surfin' stuff. I played piano on Surfer Girl and that's the first one where I went, 'Wow, wait a minute, there's something here.'”



Sound Explosion!: Inside L.A.’s Studio Factory with the Wrecking Crew, a new 12" x 12" album sized book, serves as the perfect companion to the Wrecking Crew film.

At least they got that part right ;D

Oh, FFS...

Apologies to rehash this old topic.

Saw the Wrecking Crew film last week in Toronto.  If I recall correctly, the only music clip from the Beach Boys used was Fun, Fun, Fun.  Also included the video of how the Beach Boys puts a song together (Dennis on the drums, Al on rhythm guitar...) like the Concert version of Little Deuce Coupe, cut just before the beginning of the song and instead playing the intro of FFF.  Album covers where the Wrecking Crew played started with Summer Days, and then PS, Today!, and All Summer Long.  May have missed others and I don't think I saw Smile.  Of course there are many clips with Brian.  After the film there was a Q&A with Denny Tedesco but nobody asked questions about the Beach Boys so he didn't address them.

Watching for any suggestion that the Beach Boys "didn't play a note", I didn't get much of that impression and it was more like WC came in when the music got more advanced.  That is until an interview clip of Micky Dolenz at the end of the film, where he suggested WC played on almost all the BB hits.   Seeing that was a little disappointing.  There was also mention of Hal being a better drummer than Dennis.  This point did not refer to any specific song.

I'm not an expert by any means and I enjoyed the film overall.   Too bad the time didn't really allow in depth analysis of any songs.  Hope this "review" is somewhat useful until the film goes into wider release when you can see it for yourselves.