The 20 All-Time Greatest L.A. Studio Musicians

apparently the author saw the Wrecking Crew doc. Oh wait, it took 3 people to compile and write that list. Barney Kessel is an obvious omission, but that's probably because he didn't play on many pop/rock albums and didn't play on Pet Sounds (which every hipster LA journalist is still fixated on, despite the album's massive amount of mediocre filler songs).
 
rickenvox said:
apparently the author saw the Wrecking Crew doc. Oh wait, it took 3 people to compile and write that list. Barney Kessel is an obvious omission, but that's probably because he didn't play on many pop/rock albums and didn't play on Pet Sounds (which every hipster LA journalist is still fixated on, despite the album's massive amount of mediocre filler songs).
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if the author saw the wrecking crew documentary......he would have included glen campell, larry carlton, et al.
 
mongooz said:
if the author saw the wrecking crew documentary......he would have included glen campell, larry carlton, et al.
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Campbell definitely. Carlton, uh, hmmm, not so much. I would add the guy who did the Coral electric sitar (guitar) solo on Steely Dan's Do It Again. I don't know what else he did but just that one solo was good enough for a lifetime achievement award.
 
Had to click just to see if Waddy Fucking Wachtel was on the list.

Yup :annoyed:

Nothing like being the genius behind the C-D-E muted sixteenth note riff throughout "Edge Of Seventeen", or the wily, intriguing solo on "Oh, Sherrie", or some possible kiddie pron issues and who-knows-how-many-blowjobs-he-had-to-deliver in order to be employed in the business and achieve this glowing honor rolleyes1rolleyes1rolleyes1
 
CBHScott said:
Had to click just to see if Waddy Fucking Wachtel was on the list.

Yup :annoyed:

Nothing like being the genius behind the C-D-E muted sixteenth note riff throughout "Edge Of Seventeen", or the wily, intriguing solo on "Oh, Sherrie", or some possible kiddie pron issues and who-knows-how-many-blowjobs-he-had-to-deliver in order to be employed in the business and achieve this glowing honor rolleyes1rolleyes1rolleyes1
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jeez.....tell us how you REALLY feel
:grin:

and ^^^^ my post above.
there are some legitimate monster studio folks on that list, but there's a bunch that are not in the top 20 of the best.
 
mongooz said:
if the author saw the wrecking crew documentary......he would have included glen campell, larry carlton, et al.
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I saw the Wrecking Crew movie at the weekend, I didn't notice Carlton in it at all although Et Al was prominently featured.

Having also recently seen Standing in the Shadows of Motown, I wish to PROVOCATIVELY remark that the Wrecking Crew's discography through ADMITTEDLY NO FAULT OF THEIR OWN is actually pretty underwhelming, however you feel about Pet Sounds. Apparently they played on everything from Sonny & Cher to Jan & Dean to the um Monkees to a METRIC fuck-ton of justly-neglected surf and pop junk that posterity has LARGELY shoveled into landfill without undue remorse.

Or did I miss a bit? (I am DELIBERATELY neglecting Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass it is an act of mercy.)
 
CBHScott said:
Had to click just to see if Waddy Fucking Wachtel was on the list.

Yup :annoyed:

Nothing like being the genius behind the C-D-E muted sixteenth note riff throughout "Edge Of Seventeen", or the wily, intriguing solo on "Oh, Sherrie", or some possible kiddie pron issues and who-knows-how-many-blowjobs-he-had-to-deliver in order to be employed in the business and achieve this glowing honor rolleyes1rolleyes1rolleyes1
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I think the kiddie porn charge ended up being some sort of mistake, didn't it?

When you are Keith Richard's favorite guitar player, you must be doing something right.
 
Psychotronic said:
I don't consider Carlton to be part of the Wrecking Crew. He was just after their hayday.
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Carlton was part of the post Wrecking Crew era with Lukather, the Pocaro family, Lee Ritenour and so on. I think that guys like mike landau and Carl verheyen are even the wave after that.
 
GomezAddams said:
I think the kiddie porn charge ended up being some sort of mistake, didn't it?

When you are Keith Richard's favorite guitar player, you must be doing something right.
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Wachtel pleaded "no contest", paid a fine, and had to complete some kind of training.

Keef's entitled to his opinion.
 
The issue isn't who's on the list or who's excluded, it's that the list is too short.

It's kind of like making a list of best basketball players without making considerations for positions, eras (and therefore competition), teammates, etc. That said, drummers and bassists laydown the foundation, keyboard players fill in the harmony (usually more expansively than guitarists), guitarists wade between harmonic development and melodic extrapolation, while horn players (in the session world) go between the aforementioned extrapolation (generally at a higher harmonic level than guitarists) and awesomely unique filling out of the harmony (i.e.: horn sections).

Yes massive generalizations on my part, but I'm basing this on their role in popular music recording, arranging, creating, etc. in the studio. In more specific genres (e.g.: jazz, country, funk, etc.) and live it's a similar, but different animal. There are a lot of folks that didn't and couldn't cross over to other or just didn't want to for myriad reasons.

I used to want to be a sideman. Depending on the artist, you might only get to play amazing music with an amazing artist and other stellar musicians, you might get to be a part of the creative process. Ideally, however, it would have been being in a band and filling the role of someone like Mike Campbell. He's another great studio guy, but focused his work on Petty with wonderful guest appearances on some great albums.

Lord I'm a borin' ramblin' man...
 
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