Director Danny Tedesco gave us the acclaimed documentary “The Wrecking Crew!” a film that celebrated the unsung heroes of the songs of the ’60s, LA’s most popular recording studio session musicians. They were the players who always got the call for the records that became the soundtrack of that era.

Guitarist turned country music star Glen Campbell to bassist Carol Kaye, drummer Hal Blaine to director Tedesco’s dad, Tommy, this handful of people contributed to the pop hits, rock records and even comprised the legendary Tijuana Brass, although almost no one knew their names.

Tedesco’s follow-up film “Immediate Family” simply takes that idea into the ’70s and ’80s, the golden age of the singer-songwriter. Carole King didn’t just play the piano and sing. James Taylor and his acoustic guitar weren’t and aren’t the only instruments you hear on his records or on tour. And it wasn’t just The Eagles who made a living backing Linda Ronstadt.

And while the only name on TV composer Mike Post’s “Rockford Files” to “Magnum” to “Hill Street Blues” music might have been his, he wasn’t the guy doing most of the performing.

The core group of guys — male only — in this “world’s greatest cover band” would flesh out, contribute to, co-write and even morph into producers for the music of the Laurel Canyon era, hitting the road with the stars whose sounds they created on record. They’d work into the ’80s and beyond, adapting to the synth sound era, playing for Phil Collins, Neil Young and Keith Richards, Stevie Nicks and Steve Perry.

James Taylor called them “The Session” when they backed him, and Waddy Wachtel, Danny “Kootch” Kortchmar, Russ Kunkel, Leland Sklar and Steve Postell even toured and recorded under that name. But in their fifth decade of working together, they’re better known now as “The Immediate Family.”

The film is built around a collection of interviews that sort of recreate how the “group” came together, beginning with guitarist Kortchmar meeting young James Taylor when their families were both vacationing on Martha’s Vineyard. “Kootch,” who’d eventually write, play on and produce Don Henley’s post-Eagles solo hits, led a band that served as the backing group for Peter & Gordon for some of the British duo’s U.S. dates. When Taylor went to England to try and get from demo artist to pop star, he took the phone number of Peter Asher of Peter & Gordon, Asher having moved to A&R chief with The Beatles’ Apple Records, with him. Taylor was given that contact by his pal Kootch.

This association led to that one, and so on, as bassist Sklar, drummer Kunkel and guitarists Wachtell and Postell found their way to LA just as Jackson Browne, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Joni Mitchell and others were creating “The Laurel Canyon Sound.”

It’s been 15 years since “Wrecking Crew” came out, and while the history presented here and the musicianship — distinct solos, styles, etc. — celebrated in the movie will trigger a lot of memories, “Immediate Family” never feels much more than an addenda to “Wrecking Crew” and all the docs on that scene (“Sound City,” et al) and that sound (“Echo in the Canyon”) that preceded it.

Carole King tells more of the story of how she went from being half of a divorced songwriting duo to a solo songwriter and star, first by playing piano with these session men in the studio and then on stage with James Taylor.

Lou Adler and David Crosby, who were also in “The Wrecking Crew!” doc, have another round of relating the “genius” of this player or that one and their contributions to hits from Jackson Browne to Hall & Oates.

But if you’ve seen any of those other docs, “Family” offers few surprises. It’s repetitive and just plain less interesting. No matter how amusingly Wachtel recalls the creation of “Werewolves of London,” stealing some of the credit for that hit back from credit thief (according to his biographer) Warren Zevon, rounding up the rhythm section named Fleetwood Mac (Mick Fleetwood, John McVie) for scores of takes, there’s not a lot of punch to that story.

The film’s documenting of a notoriously druggy era in studio work is sanitized. If Ronstadt winning at poker on the band bus because “I was the sober one” is the best you’ve got, maybe keep asking questions.

It’s a film best-appreciated as part of a contiuum, where “The Wrecking Crew!” sees its time pass, and a new generation mellows out the sound and the scene and jumps at the chance to going on the road with their idols and employers, something the members of The Wrecking Crew rarely did.

As “the sound” changes and singer-songwriters slip into the background, the guys who adapt to the synthesizer era keep working. The players who can write or co-write songs thrive. And the guys — it’s a frankly less diverse cast of characters (drummer Steve Jordan integrates the movie) here — who paid attention in the studio and learned how to produce become key figures in the ’80s and into the ’90s.

What’s more, as Phil Collins and Billy Bob Thornton (?) point out, none of these people — Wachtel and Kootch in particular — are anonymous. Producers Asher and Adler started crediting them on the records they played on and cult followings for them were born in the early ’70s.

That lowers the stakes. This isn’t about honoring invisible talents “20 Feet from Stardom.” They’ve gotten their accolades and their riches and came out all right. Remember the Linda Ronstadt doc? That had pathos and heart, also lacking here.

Tedeceso teases us with references to Mitchell, Hall & Oates, Billy Joel and others’ music, but none of those figures turn up here and the role the Family had in creating their records isn’t discussed.

It’s OK to repeat yourself, especially if your last film on the subject was almost a generation ago. But Tedesco has turned out a blander, refill-toner-light-on photocopy of a movie that had more colorful characters and a wider range of sounds, songs and life experiences than this “Family.”

Rating:unrated, drugs mentioned, profanity

Cast: Danny Kortchmar, Carole King, Leland Sklar, Stevie Nicks, Russ Kunkel, Steve Jordan, Linda Ronstadt, Waddy Wachtel, Lyle Lovett, Steve Postell, Don Henley, Phil Collins, Lou Adler, Peter Asher, Keith Richards, James Taylor and Neil Young.

Credits: Directed by Danny Tedesco. A Magnolia release.

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