Hal Blaine.

Brian Wilson & Hal Blaine.

I was very sorry to hear last night that Hal Blaine has passed away aged 90. Many people haven’t heard of Hal Blaine but he was one of the great unsung heroes of popular music. He was probably the greatest session drummer of all time. I got to hear of him through the work he did with my favourite band the Beach Boys. Hal played the drums on the Pet Sounds album which is arguably the best album ever made by a group. He played on Good Vibrations which is my favourite pop song of all time. He played on lots of other Beach Boys classic recordings. The Beach Boys regular drummer Dennis Wilson didn’t mind at all about this, in fact he was pleased because it gave Dennis more time for his hobbies of chasing girls, driving cars, surfing and getting stoned. Dennis admired Hal so much that he even asked him to play drums on his solo album Pacific Ocean Blue.

It was Phil Spector who first noticed how great Hal was when he played on the Ronettes song He’s A Rebel. He became a member of Spector’s house band who became known as The Wrecking Crew. Other notable members of this outfit were bass player Carole Kaye, guitar player Glen Campbell and keyboards player Leon Russell. Hal is thought to have played on 6,000 songs including some of the most famous pop records of all time such as Mr Tambourine Man by The Byrds, Strangers In The Night by Frank Sinatra, Bridge Over Troubled Water by Simon & Garfunkel, Eve Of Destruction by Barry McGuire, Dizzy by Tommy Roe, Cracklin’ Rose by Neil Diamond to name but a few. Hal played on 40 number one hit singles in the USA.

Brian Wilson played tribute to his good friend last night when he said, “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.”

You can see a fabulous video below of Hal and Brian recording Good Vibrations together.