The Wrecking Crew
The Inside Story of Rock and Roll's Best-Kept Secret
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Narrated by:
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Dan John Miller
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By:
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Kent Hartman
About this listen
Audie Award Winner, History, 2013
If you were a fan of popular music in the 1960s and early '70s, you were a fan of the Wrecking Crew - whether you knew it or not.
On hit record after hit record, by everyone from the Byrds, the Beach Boys, and the Monkees to the Grass Roots, the 5th Dimension, Sonny & Cher, and Simon & Garfunkel, this collection of West Coast studio musicians from diverse backgrounds established themselves as the driving sound of pop music - sometimes over the objection of actual band members forced to make way for Wrecking Crew members.
Industry insider Kent Hartman tells the dramatic, definitive story of the musicians who forged a reputation throughout the business as the secret weapons behind the top recording stars. Mining invaluable interviews, the author follows the careers of such session masters as drummer Hal Blaine and keyboardist Larry Knechtel, as well as trailblazing bassist Carol Kaye, who went on to play in thousands of recording sessions. Listeners will discover the Wrecking Crew members who would forge careers in their own right, including Glen Campbell and Leon Russell, and learn of the relationship between the Crew and such legends as Phil Spector and Jimmy Webb.
Hartman also takes us inside the studio for the legendary sessions that gave us Pet Sounds, Bridge Over Troubled Water, and the rock classic “Layla”, which Wrecking Crew drummer Jim Gordon cowrote with Eric Clapton for Derek and the Dominos. And the author recounts priceless scenes, such as Mike Nesmith of the Monkees facing off with studio head Don Kirshner, Grass Roots lead guitarist (and future star of The Office) Creed Bratton getting fired from the group, and Michel Rubini unseating Frank Sinatra's pianist for the session in which the iconic singer improvised the hit-making ending to “Strangers in the Night”.
The Wrecking Crew tells the collective, behind-the-scenes stories of the artists who dominated Top-40 radio during the most exciting time in American popular culture.
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Legendary music producer LA Reid - the man behind artists such as Mariah Carey, Toni Braxton, Kanye West, Rihanna, TLC, Outkast, Pink, Justin Bieber, and Usher - changed the music business forever. Now he tells his story, taking fans on an intimate tour of his life. Sing to Me is a fascinating journey from Reid's small-town R&B roots in Cincinnati, Ohio, and his work as a drummer to his fame as a Grammy Award-winning music producer and his gig as a judge on the hit reality show The X Factor.
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Wow!! What a journey!!!
- By Marty Cohn on 02-06-16
By: LA Reid
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So Many Roads
- The Life and Times of the Grateful Dead
- By: David Browne
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 15 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
No longer dismissed as relics of the hippie era, a new generation has lionized the Dead for creating a culture that paved the way for social networking, free music swapping, and the uncompromising anticorporate attitude of indie rock. Now, fifty years after the band first began changing rock 'n' roll both sonically and psychically, So Many Roads paints the most vivid portrait yet of the Grateful Dead, one of the most enduring institutions in American music and culture.
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Great first book on the Dead
- By robert on 10-30-15
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Thelonious Monk
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Thelonious Monk is the critically acclaimed, gripping saga of an artist's struggle to "make it" without compromising his musical vision. It is a story that, like its subject, reflects the tidal ebbs and flows of American history in the 20th century. To his fans, he was the ultimate hipster; to his detractors, he was temperamental, eccentric, taciturn, or childlike. His angular melodies and dissonant harmonies shook the jazz world to its foundations, ushering in the birth of "bebop" and establishing Monk as one of America's greatest composers.
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The definitive bio of Monk
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By: Robin DG Kelley
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Outlaw
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- Narrated by: John Pruden
- Length: 7 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Waylon Jennings. Willie Nelson. Kris Kristofferson. Three renegade musicians. Three unexpected stars. Three men who changed Nashville and country music forever. Streissguth's new book brings to life an incredible chapter in musical history and reveals for the first time a surprising outlaw zeitgeist in Nashville. Based on extensive research and probing interviews with key players, what emerges is a fascinating glimpse into three of the most legendary artists of our times and the definitive story of how they changed music in Nashville and everywhere.
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Revealing little-known Details does Captivate!
- By Cody Meyer on 11-20-17
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Here Comes the Night
- The Dark Soul of Bert Berns and the Dirty Business of Rhythm and Blues
- By: Joel Selvin
- Narrated by: Christian Rummel
- Length: 11 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Here Comes the Night: Bert Berns and the Dirty Business of Rhythm and Blues is both a definitive account of the New York rhythm and blues world of the early '60s, and the harrowing, ultimately tragic story of songwriter and record producer Bert Berns, whose meteoric career was fueled by his pending doom. His heart damaged by rheumatic fever as a youth, doctors told Berns he would not live to see 21. Although his name is little remembered today, Berns worked alongside all the greats of the era.
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Great book.
- By The Blimmer on 10-14-23
By: Joel Selvin
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Paul McCartney
- A Life
- By: Peter Ames Carlin
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 13 hrs
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The best-selling author of the definitive biography of former Beach Boy Brian Wilson offers new insight into the life and music of Paul McCartney, one of the world's most popular and influential musicians. Informed by new, exclusive interviews with friends, bandmates, and collaborators, the book describes McCartney's many triumphs as well as his failures, from the Beatles era through his decade with Wings and his subsequent solo career.
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Great...But
- By Diego on 05-02-10
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Relentless
- The Memoir
- By: Yngwie J. Malmsteen
- Narrated by: Yngwie J. Malmsteen, Fred Berman
- Length: 7 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Story
Yngwie Malmsteen's revolutionary guitar style - combining elements of classical music with the speed and volume of heavy metal - made him a staple of the 80s rock scene. Decades later, he's still a legend among guitarists, having sold 11 million albums and influenced generations of rockers since. In Relentless, Malmsteen shares his personal story, from the moment he burst onto the scene seemingly out of nowhere in the early 80s to become a household name in the annals of heavy metal.
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Bloviations
- By David A. Kaplowitz on 12-29-19
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My Life with Earth, Wind & Fire
- By: Maurice White, Herb Powell
- Narrated by: Dion Graham
- Length: 11 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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The late Grammy-winning founder of the legendary pop/R&B/soul/funk/disco group tells his story and charts the rise of his legendary band in this sincere memoir that captures the heart and soul of an artist whose groundbreaking sound continues to influence music today. With a foreword by David Foster.
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Maurice--Earth, Wind and Fire
- By Linda Ealey on 02-28-17
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Wild Tales
- A Rock & Roll Life
- By: Graham Nash
- Narrated by: Graham Nash
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Overall
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Story
From Graham Nash - the legendary musician and founding member of the iconic bands Crosby, Stills & Nash and The Hollies - comes a candid and riveting autobiography that belongs on the reading list of every classic rock fan.
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The Best of the Recent Rock Biographies
- By Steven Schuster on 10-28-13
By: Graham Nash
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When Giants Walked the Earth
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- By: Mick Wall
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 18 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
They were the last great band of the '60s and the first great band of the '70s. They rose, somewhat unpromisingly, from the ashes of the Yardbirds to become one of the biggest-selling rock bands of all time - and eventually paid the price for it, with disaster, drug addiction, and death.
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Very annoying but tolerable for serious fans.
- By M. Allen on 08-14-19
By: Mick Wall
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Everybody Wants Some
- The Van Halen Saga
- By: Ian Christe
- Narrated by: Fred Berman
- Length: 9 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
How did a pair of little Dutch boys trained in classical music grow up to become the nucleus of the most popular heavy metal band of all time? What's the secret behind Eddie Van Halen's incredible fast and furious guitar solos? What makes David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar so wacky? And, are all those stories about groupies, booze bashes, and contract riders true? The naked truth is laid bare in Everybody Wants Some - the real-life story of a rock 'n' roll fantasy come true.
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Good details of albums and post-1984 career
- By IndyMATT on 12-30-18
By: Ian Christe
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Power Chord
- One Man's Ear-Splitting Quest to Find His Guitar Heroes
- By: Thomas Scott McKenzie
- Narrated by: Fred Berman
- Length: 8 hrs and 47 mins
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Power Chord is the story of one man’s epic pilgrimage to gain rock enlightenment from the gods and guitar heroes of the Golden Age of heavy metal. Author Scott McKenzie set off to make contact with the legendary metal superstars he worshipped in his rural Kentucky youth - men like George Lynch of Dokken, Glen Tipton of Judas Priest, and Ace Frehley of KISS - hoping to gain wisdom and a better understanding of the electric guitar mystique.
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Such a fun read, especially for metal-heads
- By Jack on 04-01-23
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Fire and Rain
- The Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, James Taylor, CSNY and the Lost Story of 1970
- By: David Browne
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 11 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
January 1970: the Beatles assemble one more time to put the finishing touches on Let It Be; Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young are wrapping up Déjà Vu; Simon and Garfunkel are unveiling Bridge Over Troubled Water; James Taylor is an upstart singer-songwriter who's just completed Sweet Baby James. Over the course of the next twelve months, their lives---and the world around them---will change irrevocably.
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Fascinating information, easy to listen
- By NCKitkat on 07-28-11
By: David Browne
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No tell all ... not at all
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1965
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Seems like a good overview
- By wylie smith on 01-12-23
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Skydog
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Revised and expanded, with a new afterword by the author, this is the definitive biography of Duane Allman, one of the most revered guitarists of his generation. Skydog reveals the complete story of the legendary guitarist: his childhood and musical awakening; his struggling first bands; his hard-won mastery of the slide guitar; his emergence as a successful session musician; his creation of the Allman Brothers Band; his tragic death at age 24; and his thriving musical legacy.
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duane was the best great story
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With over 125 gold and platinum records, and two Grammys for Steely Dan's Aja and Gaucho, Schnee has been called a living legend - recognized and respected in the industry as the consummate music man with an incomparable career that he lovingly shares with listeners in humorous detail.
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Worst narration ever!
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What listeners say about The Wrecking Crew
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
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Performance
-
Story
- L. Peeples
- 12-15-13
Easy Listening
If you could sum up The Wrecking Crew in three words, what would they be?
light, enjoyable, informative
What other book might you compare The Wrecking Crew to and why?
Atlantic Records: The House the Ahmet Built
What three words best describe Dan John Miller’s performance?
competent, corny
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
No
Any additional comments?
The anecdotes that make up this book were amusing, and I learned a lot about the music studio scene in LA in the 60s and early 70s. If you like pop music trivia, you'll probably enjoy it. On the other hand, I thought the writing was pretty hackneyed and unnecessarily repetitive. The performance was ok, but I was sort of annoyed that Dan John Miller read all quotes from women in exactly the same soft, high-pitched voice. He sort of did the same thing with some of the men, trying to distinguish voices but not really pulling it off -- Paul Simon, Art Garfunkel, and Phil Spector, for instance, sound exactly the same. I enjoyed this audiobook overall, though.
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- Grumpyswife
- 04-09-19
Great book.. Enjoyed it
Easy listening and interesting. It was fun to find out about the early music that I loved.
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- Kevin
- 08-07-21
Brilliant!
This is a side of music that I never knew much about. I had heard about the Wrecking Crew but never knew much about them!
This book is a must for anyone who love the music of the 1960s and the 1970s!
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- David Anderson
- 09-09-17
Very intriguing story
Several times I found myself sitting in the car listening after I arrived, not wanting to stop the audio. it's that good.
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- Donald Perrin
- 12-09-22
Much better than I anticipated! Yea
More information was covered than was received from the wrecking crew documentary of the same name.
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- deeva
- 07-30-12
Fascinating Story Well Told
What made the experience of listening to The Wrecking Crew the most enjoyable?
Bought this book after watching the documentary and found that it contains many more stories and interesting details than the documentary (which was equally good). Who knew?
What other book might you compare The Wrecking Crew to and why?
I can't think of another book to compare this to - it is unique.
What about Dan John Miller???s performance did you like?
Good voice well paced.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
I wish.
Any additional comments?
Anyone who likes rock and roll would like this book.
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- Chalis
- 09-17-17
For Music Fans
I was in my 20's during the time period covered in this book. I remember all of these songs very well. As much as I loved music, I didn't have much talent for it. I believe that is why I have so much appreciation and respect for people who are excellent musicians. I attended many concerts. All I needed to be entertained was a good band who could play well in a live show. I had the pleasure of seeing Leon Russell (part of the Wrecking Crew) perform live with his own band. I remember it as one of the best live performances I ever saw.
The performance by Dan John Miller is very good.
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- Marshall
- 10-23-17
Terrific stories of 60’s & 70’s hits
If you thought the Monkee’s were the only 60’s band that didn’t play on their own recordings, you’re quite wrong. Most of those bands played on the road but their studio recordings were played by session musicians. In LA the hot players were informally known as the Wrecking Crew and here are the stories of the great records they cut. If you lived & loved the music of this era and you want to know how these great tunes were made, this us the book for you! NOTE: There is also a wonderful 2 hr documentary movie available by the same name where you see some of these players and hear their work. Highly recommend that, too!
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- D. Lichtenstein
- 09-23-17
The Hidden Treasures of Rock
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
Yes, I already have. It is such a detailed and captivating look behind the scenes of recording studio "magic" in the early days. I learned so much that I did not know.
What other book might you compare The Wrecking Crew to and why?
Canyon Road, about the music scene in LA during the same time period.
Which character – as performed by Dan John Miller – was your favorite?
Definately the main drummer, whose name escapes me at the moment. He was involved in most of the hit songs and his input was included in many too.
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
When technology had really taken over the recording studio and Phil Spector gave up on trying to produce his Wall of Sound. It showed a time when the old style of studio work was gone, with the new technology not even allowing for it to be reproduced.
Any additional comments?
Just a great read, or listen in my case. I have a strong desire to learn as much as I can about the early rock artists, their lives, methods, and feelings through this golden age, late 1960's - mid to late 1970's.
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- Joel R. Strahota
- 07-27-21
If you love music
If you love music and it’s history this book is for you. The story of how music was made is both interesting and kind of sad. Those you grew to love to here play may not have been who you thought.
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