Hal Blaine, prolific 'Wrecking Crew' drummer who worked with Frank Sinatra and Elvis, dies at 90

[Crabby Appleton]

Source: LA Times

Drummer Hal Blaine, one of the most recorded musicians in pop music history, died Monday at age 90, his family revealed.
Blaine’s efforts can be heard on countless hits by Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, the Beach Boys, Simon & Garfunkel, Neil Diamond, the Byrds and others.

In a post to Blaine’s official Facebook page, his family referenced his “inspiration to countless friends, fans and musicians,” adding: “May he rest forever on 2 and 4,” referencing the accented beats that have powered hundreds — if not thousands — of hit recordings over the decades.

“I’m so sad, I don’t know what to say,” Beach Boys creative leader Brian Wilson said of the man he typically called first in many of his group’s recording sessions in the 1960s. “Hal Blaine was such a great musician and friend that I can’t put it into words. Hal taught me a lot, and he had so much to do with our success — he was the greatest drummer ever. We also laughed an awful lot. Hal, we love you and our memories will last forever.”


more at link

Read more: https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-et-ms-hal-blaine-obituary-drums-wrecking-crew-20190311-story.html

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Some recordings he played drums on:

A
A Hazy Shade of Winter
A Taste of Honey (Herb Alpert version)
A Little Less Conversation[1]
All I Have to Do Is Dream (Bobbie Gentry and Glen Campbell version)
Along Comes Mary
America
Andmoreagain
Annie's Song
Another Saturday Night
Any World (That I'm Welcome To) (Steely Dan)
Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In
At the Zoo

B
Baby I Need Your Loving (Johnny Rivers version)
Baby Talk (Jan and Dean song)
Back Home Again
Barbara Ann (Beach Boys version)
Batman Theme
Be My Baby
Be True to Your School
(The Best Part of) Breakin' Up
Bossa Nova Baby
The Boxer
Bridge over Troubled Water

C
California Dreamin'
California Girls
Calypso
Cameo (Dusty Springfield album)
Can't Help Falling in Love
Can't You Hear the Song?
Cecilia
Cherish (David Cassidy version)
A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector
Come Saturday Morning
Could It Be Forever
Cracklin' Rosie
Creeque Alley

D
Da Doo Ron Ron
Daddy Don't You Walk So Fast
Dance, Dance, Dance
Dead Man's Curve
Death of a Ladies' Man
Dedicated to the One I Love (The Mamas & the Papas version)
Didn't We?
Dizzy (Tommy Roe song)
Doesn't Somebody Want to Be Wanted
Drag City

E
El Condor Pasa, (Simon & Garfunkel version)
Elusive Butterfly
Evangeline (Emmylou Harris album)
Eve of Destruction
Everybody Loves Somebody (Dean Martin version)

F
Fakin' It
Fun, Fun, Fun[2]

G
Galveston
Go Where You Wanna Go
God Only Knows
Good Vibrations

H
Half-Breed
The Happening
He's a Rebel
Help Me, Rhonda
Holly Holy
Homeward Bound
How Does That Grab You?
Hungry (Paul Revere & the Raiders song)

I
I Am a Rock
I Am... I Said
I Couldn't Live Without Your Love
I Get Around
I Got You Babe
I Saw Her Again
I Think I Love You
If I Were a Carpenter (Bobby Darin version)
I'll Meet You Halfway
I'm Sorry (John Denver song)
Indian Reservation (The Lament of the Cherokee Reservation Indian)
It Never Rains in Southern California
It's Getting Better
It's Over (Roy Orbison song)

J
Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In) (The First Edition version)

K
Kicks

L
Let's Live for Today
Like a Sad Song
Like to Get to Know You
A Little Bit Me, a Little Bit You
Little Honda
The Little Old Lady from Pasadena
The Lonely Bull
Looking Through the Eyes of Love (The Partridge Family version)
Love Theme from Romeo and Juliet
Love Will Keep Us Together

M
MacArthur Park (Richard Harris version)
Make Your Own Kind of Music
Midnight Confessions
Monday, Monday
Mountain of Love (Johnny Rivers version)
Mr. Tambourine Man (The Byrds version)
Mrs. Robinson
My Love (Petula Clark song)
My Special Angel (The Vogues version)

N
Never My Love
New Shabbos Waltz
The Night Has a Thousand Eyes
No Matter What Shape (Your Stomach's In) (The T-Bones version)

O
One Less Bell to Answer
The Only Living Boy in New York
Out of Limits

P
Poor Side of Town (Johnny Rivers song)

R
Return to Sender
Rhythm of the Rain
Ringo
Rock-A-Hula Baby
The Rocky Horror Show (original Roxy cast recording)

S
San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)
Save Your Heart for Me
Secret Agent Man
Sloop John B
The Snake
So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright
Somethin' Stupid
Song Sung Blue
Songs of Our Fathers
Stoned Soul Picnic
Strangers in the Night
Sugar Town
Sunshower
Surf City

T
Thank God I'm a Country Boy
That's Life
Theme from Mahogany (Do You Know Where You're Going To)
Then He Kissed Me
These Boots Are Made for Walkin'
(They Long to Be) Close to You
This Diamond Ring
Three's Company (theme)
Top of the World (The Carpenters song)

U
Up, Up and Away

V
Ventura Highway

W
The Way We Were
Wedding Bell Blues
(Where Do I Begin?) Love Story (Andy Williams version)
Where the Boys Are (Connie Francis song)
Wichita Lineman
Windy
Woman, Woman
Workin' On a Groovy Thing
Wouldn't It Be Nice

Y
The Yard Went On Forever
Young Girl
You're the One (The Vogues version)

Z
Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah (Bob B. Soxx & the Blue Jeans version)

[emulatorloo]

1. A huge fan of the Wrecking Crew. Blaine was great

Thanks so much for the memorial post

[BHDem53]

2. Rest in peace, Mr. Blaine.

[GReedDiamond]

3. Hal was the greatest...

...I agree with Brain Wilson.

[JDC]

4. That is a serious list of songs. RIP.

[Brother Buzz]

6. That's just a partial list

He and fellow session drummer, Earl Palmer, who arguably recorded more then Blaine, have no clue as to how many songs they actually recorded because, as session musicians, they were rarely credited, or even mentioned on the liner notes.

There's a cool quote from a contemporary drummer that says something like, "My ten favorite drummers, growing up, turned out to be one man".

[Dr Hobbitstein]

5. One of the greats.

The Wrecking Crew were world class musicians, and they helped create so much great music.

[Iggo]

7. The Wrecking Crew.

Greatest band of all time.

I will fight you.

RIP Hal Blaine.

Make some noise for Brother Hal.

Drummers deserve noise.

[redstateblues]

8. If you haven't seen "The Wrecking Crew" it's a must

Love and Mercy are excellent too. It’s about Brian Wilson

[Brother Buzz]

10. Kent Hartman's book, with the same title, predated the film by a year and is an....

essential companion work for the grand film. The well indexed book is great for cross referencing, and answering all the, "Wait, wait, did I hear that right?" moments. I've watched the film, like, a half a dozen times, and I'm still learning new stuff.


The Wrecking Crew: The Inside Story of Rock and Roll's Best-Kept Secret (2013) - Kent Hartman



Here's Kent Hartman's 2007 American Heritage piece that got it all going:

https://www.americanheritage.com/wrecking-crew

[lagomorph777]

14. +1 Absolutely amazing film.

I also recommend "Standing in the Shadows of Motown" about the Funk Brothers.

[Brother Buzz]

15. I would recommend the film, Muscle Shoals, too...

to really round things out. Oh, and Sound City (2013), although I didn't get much out of it.

[lagomorph777]

17. Sound City is AWESOME.

But I'm an audio nerd, and the central "character" is a piece of audio equipment.

[Brother Buzz]

18. The cool analog mixer console was the only interesting thing

Truth be told, I'm so out of the loop, I knew nothing of the artists that recorded there.

[lagomorph777]

19. You must be very young. Those people are all music gods.

[Brother Buzz]

20. Or very old

I checked the list again and recognized a few names, but there is a world of difference between recognizing names and knowing the music.

For what it's worth, the artists I recognized and knew their music all cut a single albums there; they were not repeat customers.

[mr_lebowski]

9. What a freaking incredible list of songs ... WOW ... I knew who he was but had no idea

dude was THAT prolific, and drummed on THAT many classic friggin songs.

My pick for favorite ... as it must be ...

Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In) (The First Edition version)

[Dave Starsky]

11. Almost every single popular song produced in L.A. in the '60s...

Has Wrecking Crew people on it. They were the absolute God Kings and Queens of studio musicians.

I, too, look back fondly on the days when Kenny Rogers was a long-haired hippie!

[DeminPennswoods]

12. One of the members was on

Sirius XM's Siriusly Sinatra channel and explained how the "wrecking crew" got its name. It was because they were young and showed up to work in jeans, t-shirts instead of suits and ties. The older musicians said they were "wrecking" the dress code, for lack of a better term.

[OxQQme]

13. Another of The Wrecking Crew - Carol Kaye

Side by side with Hal on the 2 and 4.

She was the bass player on, probably, all of the Hal Blaine tunes listed above and more.
Plus sound tracks for TV series --Mash, Hogan's Heroes, Hawaii Five O, The Brady Bunch, Mission Impossible and more.

[Brother Buzz]

16. Hal Blaine hated, totally hated Carol Kaye.

One could make the argument Hal was something of a misogynist asshole at times. That, and Carol Kaye was a very close friend of Earl Palmer, arguable a better drummer, and ironically the man who got Blaine started in the recording business.