“I’m so sad, I don’t know what to say. Hal taught me a lot, and he had so much to do with our success. He was the greatest drummer ever.”
~Brian Wilson / Beach Boys
It would be next to impossible to create a medley of all the hit songs Hal Blaine lent his immeasurable talent to. As part of the famed Wrecking Crew, Blaine – who died on March 11 at the age of 90 – played on 150 songs that reached the Top Ten – with 40 of them reaching #1.
In the medley below, there are 12 of those #1 hits, with three more that fell just short. As the saying goes, I have only touched the surface.
Play button is on the left … Volume slider is on the right
The Hal Blaine Medley
Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass (#7) – Ronettes (#2)
Dean Martin – Gary Lewis & The Playboys – Byrds
Sonny & Cher – Barry McGuire – Nancy Sinatra
Mamas & Papas – Beach Boys – Tommy Roe
5th Dimension – Richard Harris (#2)
Simon & Garfunkel – John Denver
what a wonderful group of songs “to scratch” the surface with ………. what an amazing man he was!! I couldn’t even begin to imagine the memories he had or the stories he could have told!!!
Penny, he was a very amazing man. I really could have added so many more songs.
Yes, we need a part two 🙂 <3
And you shall have it, Nancy, probably on Friday 🙂
Ray, the music we love with out knowing ‘the who’ involved.
Sharon, it is true we loved the songs and we did it without even thinking that so many of the bands we enjoyed had nothing to do with the recording of those songs.
People like Hal Blaine, Joe Osborn, Tommy Tedesco, Carol Kaye, Don Randi … well there are so many of them … did all that work and no one ever knew! Thanks to the “Wrecking Crew” documentary, they know now.