Hal Blaine Number One Song Poll!

Good thread. In this book by Neil Peart (who idolizes Blaine) I'm reading, he talks about how John Bonham was really embarrassed by some reader's poll in the 70's putting Karen Carpenter ahead of him in the poll for top drummers. Little did Bonzo (or the readers) really know it was Blaine doing the drumming.

ALBERT FINNET

(actually "aquarius" because it is spectacular)

"Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In" - 5th Dimension

totally fab

I feel like I can't vote for that because Idris Muhammad played on the original and I don't want to pit one against the other.

Was "Be My Baby" not a #1 hit? That's him, right? That's what I think of when I think "Hal Blaine." I'll go with "I Get Around."

Ha, it only made 2. Yeah, but you're right, if that were there it'd be hard not to vote for it. Instead I'm going with "Poor Side Of Town."

Someone should start a Gary Chester poll, although maybe not number ones.

hmmm who knew the 70's were this tough on Hal? All those songs blow!

I went with "The Happening". I always regret whatever I vote for though. Good poll!!

Or the same for Hal's rhythm section partner Joe Osborne.

Aaaah! Joe Osborn (no e)

OK, now back to this poll.

yeah, they kinda suck, but i dunno, all those 70s #1s Blaine was on would make for a pretty killer makeout mix. or maybe that's just me ... it's probably just me. i also think it's sweet that you could probably go to any thrift store in america and get all of those 70s records on LP for like $10.

Did Sounds of Silence not make #1? He's great on that one. Ride cymbal from heaven, if I remember right.

That was a #1 but was he on that? I thought it was done in New York. Google tells me it was Bobby Gregg.

For me the #1 thing Hal Blaine ever did was trick Charlie Watts with his automatic garage door opener.

I've been wrong before! i thought i remembered he did that.

I just confirmed that I am, in fact, wrong.

"You see that needle? Eggshells, baby, eggshells"

I didn't even know that was him on "love will keep us together", which just makes me like it more

you can scroll thru his top tens on his website:

http://halblaine.com/discog.html

can't believe taste of honey wasn't a number one. damned moptops! and i kinda can't believe that herb alpert got hal to play when his band was already made up of crusty session vets. nick ceroli was his regular drummer! maybe he was absent from class that day.

Hey, the 70s was the greatest decade in the history of human achievement! But I agree that the likes of "Song Sung Blue" and "The Way We Were", whatever else you think of them, certainly offer little in the way of "hot drum licks", or whatever you wanna call them. It's too bad "Da Doo Ron Ron" isn't here - those tom-tom fills are lethal. I suppose "He's A Rebel" and "Good Vibrations" come closest to matching that sound, but still...

I think Blaine was so consistently and casually professional that most everything he played was just right somehow, which means that it's more a matter of choosing the song rather than the Hal Blaine performance. I'm gonna postpone voting until I unearth "Indian Reservation" and give it a good listening to see if its Cherokee-beats make it stand out any. (Haven't listened to that song in years - or "Half-Breed" neither, for that matter.)

i'm actually more partial to don fardon's version of indian reservation. and i LOVE the fardon album that its on. don't know who played drums on that though.

Interview with Hal Blaine

"Cause I did do a lot of Ventures records."

are union records the only way to figure out what the hell happened back then? cuz these people will all be dead and nobody will know who the hell played on what. WHICH ventures records, ya know?

Ah, this is the interview I was looking for.

Scott, I think Hal Blaine used to ask the producers to give him a gold record if the record went gold and had a little personalized rubber stamp that he would use to put his seal on the arrangements so in a lot of cases he has concrete evidence, but obviously in other cases...

OK, I'm going to dig out The Big Beat for some more great examples of Hal Blaine, raconteur.

that second interview, especially, is so funny:

"SE: Have you ever heard that tape of Buddy Rich going off on his band?

HB: Buddy was a friend of mine. He was one of the toughest guys in the world! An ex-Marine, he would not stand for fuckin’ up! That’s all there was to it if you wanted to be on his band. But, one of my greatest compliments was when Buddy hired me to do his daughter Kathy’s album and one of the guy’s, Milt Holland, one of the percussionists. He kind of grew up with Buddy and they were very tight, and Milt asked Buddy, “How come you’re not playing on your kid’s album?” And Buddy replied, “I wanted the best!” Milt came to me and said “You know, Buddy will probably never tell you this, but he just said this to me, so I think you should know.” And then Through the years (laughs), Buddy used to tell this story . . . I got it from many people . . . Buddy used to tell this story that was screwing some broad in Australia one afternoon, and in the middle of screwing her, she looked up and said, “Do you know Hal Blaine?” (laughs) He said he almost shit! People have laughed over that for years, and years. Buddy was obviously a legend, an icon. He just had these masterful hands. He was unbelievable. "

"SE: The drums on the TV. version of the Batman theme sound huge!

HB: I was shooting my gun and hitting the big gong. I just had an idea, “Let’s get some gunshot’s goin.” So Emil Richards went into his bag of tricks and he pulled out a little starter pistol and it went ‘pop.’ It did nothing. So I reached into my briefcase and pulled out my thirty-eight, filled it full of blanks, and kept firing it at this great big gong. That was great, and they loved it. "

the Don Fardon version was entitled"(The Lament Of The Cherokee) Indian Reservation"

Pollsters pls remember him for Coventry! I like him and his stuff a lot.

or is that a different song? Anyone have the 45?

Hal Blaine
Strikes Again!!
(xpost)

That's what the rubber stamp said.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Welcome back, baby, to "I Get Around."

Of all the choices that's a pretty boring winner (drum-wise). The bass on that song is much nuttier (Carol Kaye on a Fender Jazz VI I believe)

In Hal Blaine's book "Mother And Child Reunion" is listed as one of his hits, but it's pretty clear that that's not him, that it's Winston Grennan. I think it says so right on the track credits on the LP.

But I guess he could have played percussion or something.

bummed i miss this one! "this diamond ring" and "dizzy" are both way up there among my all-time highs. not necessarily because of the drumming. but not necessarily not either.

That Tommy Roe stuff like "Dizzy" sure got sampled a lot, so by rights it should have gotten a vote or two.

Man, the guy was a legend. RIP:

https://www.facebook.com/HalBlaine/posts/2372154496162525

https://nancysinatra.com/blog/2019/03/hal-blaine/

This supercut is just ridiculous.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hp1FBfjH60g

Man

This guy.

I'm guessing the first time I became aware of his name was somehow connected to this--maybe reading up on the film afterwards.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0KMxLvsvLI

I was still new to ILX and didn't vote in this poll. I didn't realize he was involved in all those records. Some of them are among my favourite songs ever: "Wedding Bell Blues," "Dizzy," "Poor Side of Town," and "Mrs. Robinson," and there are another dozen listed above I like a lot.

Seems like more often than not Joe Osborn was on the track as well.

Damn, RIP.

I never really thought about his playing or consciously checked him out, but I'm sure I picked up so much by osmosis, especially early on. The Batman theme? These Boots? Etc etc etc etc

I’m so sad, I don’t know what to say. 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. Love, Brian pic.twitter.com/vLOX3RIKc6

— Brian Wilson (@BrianWilsonLive) March 11, 2019

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qa8rswFKEY

Turn on, Tune in, Drop out

Heard the Crystals' "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" and Hal is flat out amazing on it, right through the outro. One wonders if the Christmas album is the best display of his drumming across an entire LP.

I was listening to Clyde Stubble field on 'Soulful Christmas' and thinking about how maybe there's something about the Christmas album that gives permission to stretch out a little (either way he's killing on that).

Good point.

Hal Blaine
Strikes Again!!
(xpost)