Every drummer "of a certain age" remembers when he found out that Hal Blaine was several of his favorite drummers. Usually between 4 and 7. I think he was 5 of mine at that time.
Hal Blaine is my hero! Several years ago, I managed to get an autographed photo from Hal... Got one from Carol Kaye too. These people made wonderful music!
It brings a lump in my throat, every time I hear Hal Blaine and his Wrecking Crew, playing on all these hits that I grew up listening to. Brings a bigger lump to my throat, knowing that this spectacular group of musicians are mostly gone now. AMAZING Talent!!
Just imagine, in the 1960's on an hour of top 40 singles you'd hear on any radio station, Hal and the Wrecking Crew could be the actual group playing on ALL of them!
I was listing to Sirius Sixties on 6 channel a few weeks ago and they played -- not on purpose I am sure -- five Wrecking Crew songs in a row. All different artists, and different pop styles, but yet, the same group of studio musicians on all five songs.
What a truly magnificent body of work! How fortunate I was to grow up listening to all these great hits in the sixties. This music was the tapestry of my life. I wish I could do it all over again!
Neil Peart had a similar revelation.... He said something to the effect....That is was staggering to learn the Hal Blaine was six of his favorite drummers....
Count the writer, singers, producers, engineers and various musicians... Hal Blaine is the most prolific musician in the history of music and will never be surpassed.
A most beautiful dedication. Wow! RIP Hal. Died but lives on, March 2019, who knew? Thank you for this post😮an amazing timeline of pop tunes, for us "Baby Boomers" here.
Fabulous compilation. I did a drum cover compilation of a few select tracks Hal played on. He was a big influence on my drumming without knowing until later he played on these hit songs.
A mark of any "great" musician is how many different idioms and bands they perfectly play for over their career. Hal Blaine's reading ability, creativity, versatility, and chameleon ability to perfectly adapt to so many styles, makes him the greatest studio drummer in history.
Hal was an iconic drummer and member of the West Coast "Wrecking Crew" of session musicians. It's easier and faster to list the recording artists whose albums Hal _didn't_ -provide drums for during his career. Playing on Sinatra albums is _no_ surprise. If it got recorded in LA, Hal likely worked on it. And like any other good session player, he was protean. It was all about the _song._ His question was what kind of drumming a song needed, and that was what he played.
Hal Blaine's "protege' Jim Gordon eventually took session drumming to the next level. I'd like to hear one of these compilations covering all his hit songs. By the way, he was the drummer on Witchita Lineman, not Hal.
Hey Eddy! There's a number of songs on which the drumming was mistakenly attributed to Hal, but it was a different drummer. There are at least two songs in this video compilation that weren't even recorded in Los Angeles. One of them is The Supremes "The Happening", which was recorded in Detroit with The Funk Brothers, the drummer on that song was Richard 'Pistol' Allen. The other was The Monkees "A Little Bit Me, a Little Bit You", which was recorded in New York City using a set of prolific East Coast session musicians, the drummer on that song was Herbie Lovelle.
According to The American Federation Of Musicians, Hal played percussion on Wichita Lineman, as well as playing percussion on "Can't Help Falling In Love" (the drummer on that was D. J. Fontana) "Yesterday Once More" (Karen Carpenter was the drummer on that), and Surf City (Earl Palmer on drums), and played the timbales on "I Get Around" and the tambourine on "Fun, Fun, Fun" (both have Dennis Wilson on drums). Furthermore, there are at least two songs in this compilation that weren't even recorded in Los Angeles. One of them is "The Happening" (which was recorded in Detroit with The Funk Brothers during the same session that yielded "Reflections", the drummer for that session was Pistol Allen) and the other one was "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You" (which was recorded in New York City with East Coast studio musicians, the drummer for that session was Herbie Lovelle), and I guess it can be hard for those unsung heroes to keep track of the sessions in which they participated.
Although Hal Blaine played on most of these songs, there are at least two songs in this video compilation that he had nothing to do with, as he did his recording sessions in Los Angeles, when these songs I'm about to mention were recorded somewhere else with a different set of musicians. One of them is The Supremes "The Happening", which was recorded in Detroit with The Funk Brothers (recorded during the same session as "Reflections", the drummer for the March 2nd 1967 recording session that yielded "Reflections" and "The Happening" was Richard [Pistol] Allen), and the other one is The Monkees "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You" (recorded in New York City, the Wikipedia article for the song says the drummer for that session was Herbie Lovelle), I guess it can be hard for some of the most popular studio musicians to keep track of what sessions they participated in.
Hal did NOT play on "Boots," despite his claim - it was Donald "Richie" Frost, though Hal played on all the other tracks for Nancy's "Boots" album. He also didn't play on Petula Clark's "I Couldn't Live Without Your Love," but rather on "My Love." Also, he didn't play DRUMS on Elvis' "Can't Help Falling in Love" - that was D.J. Fontana, though Hal was credited with percussion.
Hal Blaine also didn't play *drums* on "I Get Around", "Fun, Fun, Fun" and "Wichita Lineman". Dennis Wilson was the drummer on "I Get Around" (Hal Blaine played timbales with brushes) and "Fun, Fun, Fun" (Hal played tambourine on that), while Jim Gordon was the drummer on "Wichita Lineman" (according to the session logs, Hal played percussion on that), and Hal Blaine didn't play *at all* on "The Happening" (that was recorded in Detroit with The Funk Brothers during the same session that yielded "Reflections", the drummer for that session was Pistol Allen), nor did he play on "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You", that was Herbie Lovelle and was recorded in New York City.
man he must have bummed out a lot of drummers that didn't get to play on the records of the bands they were in, i mean good for him, but why are drummers always treated that way, can't believe none of them were good enough to play on a record with their band !
1) Studio musicians were experts in cranking out complete songs in a few takes and a few hours. Most band musicians would take days and dozens of takes to get the same level of necessary quality. Different skill sets between studio and performing musicians. 2) Many of the band members were out on the road and didn't have time to be in the studio. 3) Hal was simply better than most any other drummer alive. If you want the best sound on a permanent recording you hire the best.
Sometimes the original drummer was not available, (Dennis Wilson); or it was the band's first recording and it had to be done perfectly (Mr Tamborine Man); or the band never had a drummer (Mamas and the Papas).
4:52 I don't think John Phillips even knew how to play guitar. The Mamas and Papas were one of those bands created by the govt to control the counter-culture of the 60s from Laurel Canyon. Lookout Mt was a military base with a full studio in it also in Laurel Canyon. Morrison was also one of them. His dad was high up in the military and he went from a clean cut kid seeing his dad off to Vietnam to perpetrate the Bay of Tonkin false flag and bring the USA into the war. Less than a year later ole Jimmy boy became the leader of a rock band, without ever playing or having interest in a band or instrument, and leading the counter war movement. Charley Manson came out of Laurel Canyon, the Birds, etc. It's called controlling the narrative from all sides and literally drive society where you want them to go. czcams.com/video/o2GjY8DN-7I/video.html
@@TheOriginalRick Sadly, it's true. I spent more than a decade piecing it together and confirming many different sources. It's not any different today except for being less secretive and more blatant. Even the big band era of the 30's and 40's that preceded this one is riddled with the same narrative.
Every drummer "of a certain age" remembers when he found out that Hal Blaine was several of his favorite drummers. Usually between 4 and 7. I think he was 5 of mine at that time.
Hal Blaine was a national treasure.
Hal Blaine is my hero! Several years ago, I managed to get an autographed photo from Hal... Got one from Carol Kaye too. These people made wonderful music!
Hal was one great versatile drummer that played with everyone.
I am overwhelmed with emotion as I listen to this. Tears are coming from my eyes. What is that?
Memories.
It brings a lump in my throat, every time I hear Hal Blaine and his Wrecking Crew, playing on all these hits that I grew up listening to. Brings a bigger lump to my throat, knowing that this spectacular group of musicians are mostly gone now. AMAZING Talent!!
Just imagine, in the 1960's on an hour of top 40 singles you'd hear on any radio station, Hal and the Wrecking Crew could be the actual group playing on ALL of them!
Best post so far. Hal and the Wrecking Crew were so good that many groups/singers of the time recorded with them.
I was listing to Sirius Sixties on 6 channel a few weeks ago and they played -- not on purpose I am sure -- five Wrecking Crew songs in a row. All different artists, and different pop styles, but yet, the same group of studio musicians on all five songs.
Hal Blaine, the icon drummer of our age.
You may not know the name, but you certainly know the work.
What a truly magnificent body of work! How fortunate I was to grow up listening to all these great hits in the sixties. This music was the tapestry of my life. I wish I could do it all over again!
Didnt realize that my favorite drummers was one guy .... Hal you're a legend 🙌
Neil Peart had a similar revelation.... He said something to the effect....That is was staggering to learn the Hal Blaine was six of his favorite drummers....
Just when I thought I knew all the songs Hal played, another comes along to blow me away! A great tribute to an even greater musician. 👏👏👏
Hal is a legend.
My favourite is his intro on A little less conversation. Amazing groove.
Count the writer, singers, producers, engineers and various musicians... Hal Blaine is the most prolific musician in the history of music and will never be surpassed.
Kudos to Hal Blaine! What an awesome contribution to American music treasures.
He's a phenomenon. All this hits got his unique heartbeat...😍
A most beautiful dedication. Wow! RIP Hal. Died but lives on, March 2019, who knew? Thank you for this post😮an amazing timeline of pop tunes, for us "Baby Boomers" here.
Fantastic tribute. Thanks for putting it together.
simply amazing...sounds like the sound track of my particular life....every Boomer on Earth knows this stuff...phew.
A drummer once commented his top 10 best drummers were one man,so many hits with the wrecking crew professional musicians
Hal Blaine, one word - Genius!
Fabulous compilation. I did a drum cover compilation of a few select tracks Hal played on. He was a big influence on my drumming without knowing until later he played on these hit songs.
My hero to. Crisp. Wrecking crew forever.
it's not fair one guy got to do so much. but he's so good, you can't possibly be mad at him. what a life, my goodness rip hal
R.i.p. ❤
The man the legend, Mr. Hal Blaine. Thank you for the music,know one could of done it better.!!!
Love that groove at the start, on a little less conversation. Superb.
Wow! And wow!
So many great people work in the background, but heaven will honour them!!!
And all this just one days sessions!✨
A mark of any "great" musician is how many different idioms and bands they perfectly play for over their career. Hal Blaine's reading ability, creativity, versatility, and chameleon ability to perfectly adapt to so many styles, makes him the greatest studio drummer in history.
That’s one hell of a resume’! Incredible.
Hal was from Hartford Ct. and was actually at the Barnum & Bailey circus fire July 6 1944....
there is only one Hal Blaine drummer extrondinar thank you sir for what you have given the world God richly bless you
and this is just a bit.................................
Awesome.
I love you Hal. Met him once. Nicest kick ass drummer.
Hal was an iconic drummer and member of the West Coast "Wrecking Crew" of session musicians. It's easier and faster to list the recording artists whose albums Hal _didn't_ -provide drums for during his career. Playing on Sinatra albums is _no_ surprise. If it got recorded in LA, Hal likely worked on it. And like any other good session player, he was protean. It was all about the _song._ His question was what kind of drumming a song needed, and that was what he played.
unbelievable how many songs he was the drummer on truly amazing
Great memories, and great drumming as well! Thankyou for sharing!
I'm sure Hal's own heart beat had the perfect groove.
Awesome, the versatility.
He is the man for sure on the drums !
I believe Frank Capp played drums on I Got You Babe and Jim Gordon played on Stone Soul Picnic.
Wow !!!
The greatest of the greatest ...
Great career.. it's really amazing.. and he seems like a nice guy..
from what I have seen, he really is a nice person with no EGO!!!!, that is really hard to find. !!!!
Thank you Ben for saving the best for last!
great quote from hal..i.m 10 of your favourite drummers
Greatness
The greatest!TY
RIP HAL
Hal Blaine's "protege' Jim Gordon eventually took session drumming to the next level. I'd like to hear one of these compilations covering all his hit songs. By the way, he was the drummer on Witchita Lineman, not Hal.
Hey Eddy! There's a number of songs on which the drumming was mistakenly attributed to Hal, but it was a different drummer. There are at least two songs in this video compilation that weren't even recorded in Los Angeles. One of them is The Supremes "The Happening", which was recorded in Detroit with The Funk Brothers, the drummer on that song was Richard 'Pistol' Allen. The other was The Monkees "A Little Bit Me, a Little Bit You", which was recorded in New York City using a set of prolific East Coast session musicians, the drummer on that song was Herbie Lovelle.
Staggering...... What a great life he had!
If there was no Hal... The music of the 60s would be completely different.
I had no idea. Beyond impressive.
INCREDIBLE
Pretty amazing career!
A real genius,it's amazing...
what a man don't come much better RIP
what didn't he do
Thanks Hal
RIP
Amazing.
Some of these are not Hal. Wichita Lineman is Jim Gordon!
According to The American Federation Of Musicians, Hal played percussion on Wichita Lineman, as well as playing percussion on "Can't Help Falling In Love" (the drummer on that was D. J. Fontana) "Yesterday Once More" (Karen Carpenter was the drummer on that), and Surf City (Earl Palmer on drums), and played the timbales on "I Get Around" and the tambourine on "Fun, Fun, Fun" (both have Dennis Wilson on drums). Furthermore, there are at least two songs in this compilation that weren't even recorded in Los Angeles. One of them is "The Happening" (which was recorded in Detroit with The Funk Brothers during the same session that yielded "Reflections", the drummer for that session was Pistol Allen) and the other one was "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You" (which was recorded in New York City with East Coast studio musicians, the drummer for that session was Herbie Lovelle), and I guess it can be hard for those unsung heroes to keep track of the sessions in which they participated.
The soundtrack of me growing up
RIP HB 🥁
Practice makes perfect.
Although Hal Blaine played on most of these songs, there are at least two songs in this video compilation that he had nothing to do with, as he did his recording sessions in Los Angeles, when these songs I'm about to mention were recorded somewhere else with a different set of musicians. One of them is The Supremes "The Happening", which was recorded in Detroit with The Funk Brothers (recorded during the same session as "Reflections", the drummer for the March 2nd 1967 recording session that yielded "Reflections" and "The Happening" was Richard [Pistol] Allen), and the other one is The Monkees "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You" (recorded in New York City, the Wikipedia article for the song says the drummer for that session was Herbie Lovelle), I guess it can be hard for some of the most popular studio musicians to keep track of what sessions they participated in.
2:28 Correction Frank Capp plays drums on this track, not Hal. Frank Also plays drums on The Beat Goes On
A true giant; so influential. A couple of further corrections though: It's Over will be Buddy Harman, Lonely Bull is Mel Taylor.
Hal's the man!!!
and his follow up (if possible???) was Jeffrey Porcaro....
Gotta love AFM Local 47.
WHAOUUU .......
I wonder if he played live with Frank Sinatra on "That's Life" Live at Carnegie Hall?
You failed to mention all the Partridge Family albums, incl #1 hit single “I THINK I LOVE YOU “ ❤️ The rest was great though. thank you very much!
I was going to put that in the comments, how ever you did it for me, THANKS!!!!
I think the crystals - then he kissed me and do ron ron ron was also missed
There’s a mistake, Hal did not play on I Got you babe, that was frank capp, a percussionist who played drums on one song and that was the one
Really? Says it’s Hal Blaine everywhere I look?
@@bigbaby9189 it was frank capp
@@mixdawg how do you know? Is there a book that mentions it or something?
@@bigbaby9189 sound explosion by Ken sharp has a picture of the amf contract listing Frank Capp on drums
@@mixdawg nice! Thanks I’m gonna get that.
That's Jim Gordon on Wichita Lineman, not Hal.
Wichita Lineman was Jim Gordon, not Hal . . .
Regal sticks 5A wood tip and a Ludwig 5 & 1/2 by 14 Chrome snare. Correct me if I am wrong.
I use the same.
Best drummer ever, you said it. Not even a discussion, not even anyone that comes close.
Yes we could have a long discussion, but I won't.
They say Eric Clapton is god, what does that make Hal Blain?.
Hal did NOT play on "Boots," despite his claim - it was Donald "Richie" Frost, though Hal played on all the other tracks for Nancy's "Boots" album.
He also didn't play on Petula Clark's "I Couldn't Live Without Your Love," but rather on "My Love."
Also, he didn't play DRUMS on Elvis' "Can't Help Falling in Love" - that was D.J. Fontana, though Hal was credited with percussion.
Hal Blaine also didn't play *drums* on "I Get Around", "Fun, Fun, Fun" and "Wichita Lineman". Dennis Wilson was the drummer on "I Get Around" (Hal Blaine played timbales with brushes) and "Fun, Fun, Fun" (Hal played tambourine on that), while Jim Gordon was the drummer on "Wichita Lineman" (according to the session logs, Hal played percussion on that), and Hal Blaine didn't play *at all* on "The Happening" (that was recorded in Detroit with The Funk Brothers during the same session that yielded "Reflections", the drummer for that session was Pistol Allen), nor did he play on "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You", that was Herbie Lovelle and was recorded in New York City.
man he must have bummed out a lot of drummers that didn't get to play on the records of the bands they were in, i mean good for him, but why are drummers always treated that way, can't believe none of them were good enough to play on a record with their band !
The drummer for the beach boys preferred his boat and girls than recording studios
1) Studio musicians were experts in cranking out complete songs in a few takes and a few hours. Most band musicians would take days and dozens of takes to get the same level of necessary quality. Different skill sets between studio and performing musicians. 2) Many of the band members were out on the road and didn't have time to be in the studio. 3) Hal was simply better than most any other drummer alive. If you want the best sound on a permanent recording you hire the best.
Studio time cost record Co. 💲
Sometimes the original drummer was not available, (Dennis Wilson); or it was the band's first recording and it had to be done perfectly (Mr Tamborine Man); or the band never had a drummer (Mamas and the Papas).
Session musician on time no ego,in the sixties lots of money and girls band members had other extracurricular activities
4:52 I don't think John Phillips even knew how to play guitar. The Mamas and Papas were one of those bands created by the govt to control the counter-culture of the 60s from Laurel Canyon. Lookout Mt was a military base with a full studio in it also in Laurel Canyon. Morrison was also one of them. His dad was high up in the military and he went from a clean cut kid seeing his dad off to Vietnam to perpetrate the Bay of Tonkin false flag and bring the USA into the war. Less than a year later ole Jimmy boy became the leader of a rock band, without ever playing or having interest in a band or instrument, and leading the counter war movement. Charley Manson came out of Laurel Canyon, the Birds, etc. It's called controlling the narrative from all sides and literally drive society where you want them to go. czcams.com/video/o2GjY8DN-7I/video.html
That must be some interesting drugs you took back in the 60s to still be affecting your brain so much 50+ years later.
@@TheOriginalRick Sadly, it's true. I spent more than a decade piecing it together and confirming many different sources. It's not any different today except for being less secretive and more blatant. Even the big band era of the 30's and 40's that preceded this one is riddled with the same narrative.
There’s no evidence that anything nefarious came out of Lookout Mtn. It was basically a film lab.
Took to the cleaners by divorce
Just a reminder to never get married.
@@muziklvr7776 it’s alright getting married just don’t get rich and famous
Too much in one sitting!
He played on 90% of the Carpenters albums, and they show only one song. Rip off. !!!
Wow!!