Glen Campbell's Studio Sessions

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Posted on Thursday, December 06, 2012 - 05:54 am:


Well, to pull the discussion about Tequila to this thread, here's my two cents.

Tequila was recorded on december 23 1957(!).

Glen made an audition tape for The Champs in mid-1960 (which can still be found here: http://web.archive.org/web/201007181730 ... champs.mp3" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;). He joined The Champs in late October 1960 and left the band in May 1961. The first known recording session on which Glen is present is one from January 13, 1961.

I'm still hoping they found a rerecording of Tequila on which Glen IS present. Note that The Champs rerecorded Tequila as "Tequila Twist" in november 1961. However, Glen was not on that recording session either!

PS: Stephen. On that Glen Campbell Music Show from 1975 Dash Crofts probably means to say that during those days they would all be in the back and say "hey we can sing" and the guys in charge would say "we will get to you later" but they were never allowed to sing, because The Champs was strictly an instrumental band.

-Cowpoke

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Posted on Saturday, November 24, 2012 - 06:45 pm:


Thanks Dee,
My pleasure. It is a great DVD and Glen is so young. I think anyone that collects Glen Campbell material OR the Wrecking Crew people--this DVD is for you and they really did a great job in making this available in such GREAT QUALITY.

This is from 1964 so for those like me, and others, we weren't old enough to enjoy this as we were all too young and didn't even know about it. So to have it now, 48 years after the fact is terrific! Glad this made your holiday special. And, glad to help with the slo-mo!

-Arlw

[admin]

Posted on Saturday, November 24, 2012 - 06:02 pm:


Dear Arlw,

Thank you so much for quickly confirming with very helpful details regarding Glen's contribution to this landmark concert AND also for providing detailed descriptions of when/where Glen appears in this film! Your record keeping is AMAZING (and consequently you saved me a lot of slow-mo time!). I'm definitely ordering this DVD & booklet now. It will be exciting to see GC and other Wrecking Crew members in action! Christmas came early for me, thanks to you!

-Dee

[admin]

Posted on Saturday, November 24, 2012 - 05:29 pm:


Dee,
My write up as I own this DVD:

Collector’s Edition -T.A.M.I. SHOW – “Teenage Awards Music International”- This DVD is Marketed and also released by the Shout Factory. This DVD is long overdue vault material in black and white from the original release date of 1964. NTSC Format. SF-11742. (978-1-60399-358-6) / (8-26663-11742-4). Running time is 112 minutes with Bonus Features. Complete booklet is included where they talk about the “Wrecking Crew” which is Glen Campbell who is seen in this DVD. Filmed at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium on October 29, 1964. Glen was 28 when this was recorded. Released in March 2010, but also lists 2009 Dick Clark Productions, Inc.

I watched my DVD of "The T.A.M.I. Show", the 1964 rock & roll concert film that has Glen & the Wrecking Crew as the house band. While Glen is not visible for much of the film, he is easily seen during several segments. This was the time when his hair was combed back. He's sitting on the front/bottom row of the musicians, all the way to the right (as you are looking at the stage). He can be seen several times during segments by Jan & Dean, the Supremes, Billy J. Kramer & the Dakotas, and the Rolling Stones, but the most visibility is during the James Brown segment. James Brown performs such amazing antics on stage, and toward the end of his performance he gyrates over to the band area where Glen can be easily seen (even the spotlight on him briefly) laughing & clapping for James. A minute or two later James goes to sit down on stage at Glen's feet and there's a nice close-up of Glen smiling & clapping, although you might need to pause or slow-mo the DVD as James is sitting down in order to clearly see the close-up of Glen. What a great DVD with Glen Campbell sitting in the background with guitar in hand and on the stage.

This is a real Collector’s Edition. There is also Chuck Berry, The Beach Boys, Marvin Gaye, Lesley Gore, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, The Barbarians. Jan and Dean are the Hosts of this great show.

-Arlw

[admin]

Posted on Saturday, November 24, 2012 - 04:52 pm:


According to American Songwriter, Jan/Feb 2011, GC and members of the "wrecking crew" can be seen in the house band for the 1964 groundbreaking rock concert film, "The Teenage Awards Music International ('T.A.M.I.') Show." Glen is playing guitar.

The following source also credits GC as a participant:

http://www.learmedia.ca/product_info.ph ... ts_id/1202" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

QUESTION: Can anyone confirm that Glen (and any other session players) can be seen in the March 23, 2010 release (amazon.com) of this film?

Thanks!

-Dee

[admin]

Posted on Tuesday, November 20, 2012 - 07:11 am:


This is a follow-up to an earlier session discussion below regarding the Walter Brennan album, "Talkin' From the Heart." Two different record catalog numbers were attributed to it.

The two numbers are explained by the fact that the album was released in "Monaural" (cataloged as LRP-3317) and in Stereo (cataloged as LST-7317).

[Source: Liberty Records, Inc.'s label on the album's back cover of LRP-3317]

I'm continuing my session research on it.

-Dee

[admin]

Posted on Monday, November 19, 2012 - 11:54 pm:


You could make yourself crazy trying to figure this session stuff out. Some listings say Glen played on Sounds of Silence, some listings leave him out.

-Roberthd

[admin]

Posted on Sunday, November 18, 2012 - 03:05 pm:


I remember reading Brian Wilsons biography and i am sure he mentions booking the "wrecking crew" for sessions.

-john clark

[admin]

Posted on Friday, November 16, 2012 - 04:06 am:


RE: Wrecking Crew
I always thought that the Wrecking Crew term was made up by Hal Blaine for his book. But if Carol Kaye is the main person who points that out and Carol Kaye is, like you say, known for bending the truth, then it's Hal Blaine's word against hers isn't it? It would be interesting to know how other "members" of the "Wrecking Crew" think about that specific term.

Either way, I don't really mind that they use that term for the documentary. It's a better title than

"Some group of unnamed studio musicians who played on a large portion of the biggest hits to come out of Hollywood in the sixties".

It just doesn't SOUND as good...

Regarding Glen exaggerating... he has done that in the past as well. When an interviewer asks on which Beach Boys songs he played, and he can't remember the names, the easiest and best sounding answer is "oh, all of them!". Is he consciously taking credit for playing on certain recordings? No I don't think so. It's just a show bizz answer. Glen has also said he played on "all The Mamas and The Papas records". Well so far, I haven't come across any AFM contract for The Mamas and The Papas with his name on it! Still, in my opinion, that does not diminish his role as the legendary studio musician he is.

-Cowpoke

[admin]

Posted on Thursday, November 15, 2012 - 04:56 am:


There is no 100% sure way to prove someone is playing on a certain record, especially one that took place over 50 years ago. However, a copy of an AFM session contract is about as good as it gets. Sadly enough, in those days, they didn't list the recording artist on the contract, not by default anyway. Still, there are some ways to find out for which recording artist the session was (probably) done.

In this case, I have a copy of an AFM contract for a session that took place on June 11, 1963. The session was led by arranger Ernie Freeman, and the employer was Liberty Records. More importantly, it lists the song titles they recorded:

Keep Moving Old Man
Detroit City
Sound of Silence
Moon Wanderer

These facts combined all point towards Walter Brennan's 1963 "Straight from the Heart" album (LRP-3317/LST-7317 on Liberty records) which was indeed, according to the backsleeve, arranged by Ernie Freeman.

On the contract Glen Campbell is mentioned as contributing musician, next to a host of other musicians (including a string section and a few "Wrecking Crew" musicians like Earl Palmer, and William "Bill" Pitman).

Does this prove without a doubt that Glen was on that record? No. This session could have turned out rubbish so they decided to do another one (without Glen) and use that session for the record (which taking into the number and quality of people involved in his session does not seem likely). There is also a (very small) chance this session was actually done for a completely other record. Note that the opposite can also be true. If you have a session contract that does not mention a certain musician, there is always the chance that he did contribute on some overdubbing session for which you don't have the contract!

I cannot post the contract on this forum as the Los Angeles AFM local 47 only allows personal use. The forum would not allow it either and rightly so.

So, there is also the chance that I'm making this all up! And even if I posted it, I could have forged a fake one, like president Obama did with his birth certificate!

-Cowpoke