The Smiley Smile Message Board

Via Nancy Sinatra on Twitter: https://twitter.com/nancysinatra/status/1104092380318199809

“Please keep good thoughts for @HalBlaine who is in the fight of his life. He needs the Twitter Force to stand with him.
Hang in there, old buddy.”

Oh man, this is tough to hear. Hope Hal pulls through.

:(

Oh no  >:(

Not good

Good thoughts to Hal!

Wow...he just accepted my Facebook friend request the other day.

Damn.  Thanks for sharing.

My thoughts and prayers are with Hal today.

Poor Hal. Yes indeed, may he pull through, although it doesn't sound good. :(

Keeping him in my thoughts

Damn. Sending much love. Hal is the best.

Damn it. This year fucking sucks already.

everyone loves Hal Blaine

He's one of the greatest drummers of all time, in any genre.

From Mr. Blaine's official Facebook.....

"Hal Blaine - loving father of Michelle Blaine; grandfather of Anthony, Josh, Aaron, Whitney, Tempest, Ever and Lyryk; and inspiration to countless friends, fans and musicians - has passed on today, March 11th, 2019 at the age of 90. May he rest forever on 2 and 4. The family appreciates your outpouring of support and prayers that have been extended to Hal from around the world, and respectfully request privacy in this time of great mourning. No further details will be released at this time."

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

:( :( :(

RIP Mr Blaine.

RIP :(((

What a huge loss to both his family and the world of music. This is a tough one and he'll surly not be forgotten.  :'(

Massive movement in our world, gifted, gifted human.What a career!! Rest in Peace.

A damn great drummer, one of the best. A great guy and a great loss.  :(

Terribly sad news. Rest in peace, sir.

Thoughts and prayers to his family. Rest in peace.

Dammit. I thought the world of him

Sorry to hear this news. 

:'(

A legend, to say the least. 40... FORTY... #1 hit songs. Insane.

From Brian:
https://twitter.com/BrianWilsonLive/status/1105255062761283584

Amazing Drummer! He of course drummed on one of my favorite songs: Help Me, Rhonda. I love his humor during Brian's sessions too, he kept the guys in a good mood. I remember when I first heard about who Hal was. To me he was just a voice just like all of the others in the Crew, since I had never seen a picture or videos of him. Then I got the Smile 2004 Beautiful Dreamer DVD for my Birthday. That was the first time I seen Hal and all of the other musicians in person. Then as the years went by interviews with others had appeared on YouTube or Documentaries from Billy Strange to Leon Russell. I always enjoyed Hal, because he seemed like this huge presence in the Beach Boy's world; thanks to my introduction of the Crew from The Beach Boys An American Family on ABC. When I found out that he played on other stuff I had heard on the oldies station,  that blew me away too. As someone said on Facebook, the next Thunder Storm we have,will it be Dennis or Hal? Well, time for some Vegetable Arguments and Amusement Parks U.S.A.

RIP Hal,

So sad

A huge loss . . . We knew it was coming . . . But still, it's like, WHAT? . . . The end of an era . . . Such an integral part of the soundtrack of our lives.

As much the best as anyone.

Hi SmileySmile.net.
So sad about Hal Blaine, though he seems to have lived as full a life as one can want.

RIP

Could still rock out almost to the end. RIP Hal.

Hal and Ronnie. Jan 2017 ‘Be my Baby’

https://youtu.be/ly5kcghjzH4

https://youtu.be/v3pdLX8kg6Q

"Yer gonna get a tomata all over yer puss."

Very sad news, news which looks to have been overlooked here in the UK in the national media.

Just saw it on Norwegian news. Very sad, but a life lived long and to the full I'm sure!

Hal had this powerful presence on all the Pet Sounds and Smile tapes, definitely a leader of fantastic musicians and a big supporter of Brian at his creative peak. Gonna listen to Be My Baby now!

RIP Hal. You provided the beat for the 60s.

L.A. Times obit for Hal Blaine, with BB content:
https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-et-ms-hal-blaine-obituary-drums-wrecking-crew-20190311-story.html

Sad news. Rest in peace, Hal!



EDIT:


Learn to play drums with Hal:

Hal Blaine - Have Fun!!! Play Drums!!! (Album 1968)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXAkD1djxqo

Emdeeh, thanks for posting that obituary/article.  Hal Blaine is someone that, I think, everyone here would have loved to hang out with.  Seemed like such a great guy, always a pro, always able to keep people laughing, always the best drummer on earth.  He lived a long life, he will be missed.  May he rest in peace.  Thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends.

Does anyone know how he died? Was he sick?

Thanks for being the greatest drummer of all time Hal. RIP.

This comes from Al who just posted this on his Facebook account:


Hal Blaine was the sound of The Beach Boys and now a big part of that has left us. He was a great man and a great teacher who really knew his stuff. He was the leader of the Wrecking Crew who organized all the musicians, paperwork and charts. We were the idea guys and he was the professional who put it all together and harnessed so many of Brian Wilson's musical ideas and helped put them down on tape. In the studio, he was the conductor in charge of all the musicians and made sure everyone showed up! When we were recording Loop de Loop, Hal helped me immensely by organizing all the players and giving the song that big drum sound. I admired his stoic professionalism and nervous energy and he gave me confidence in his presence. He also said I was his favorite rhythm guitarist but I'm sure he was misquoted…lol. We couldn't have done it without you, Hal ❤️ RIP

Hal is immortal through building the 1960s studio sound...

That is such a great and heartfelt comment from Al. 

More from Al in Rolling Stone

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/hal-blaine-beach-boys-al-jardine-807270/

Sun Going Down On HB ...
There can be no memorial HALindrum without mentioning The WRECK(ing) CREW (almost palindromic in itself). OR "The CLIQUE" as Hal himself   called it - a totally UNreversible word (?)                                                                                                                (exBlained by Eric Harshbarger/PapaLapap:)                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

         >Hal: a renegade
Revered, HAL BLAINEd; re: W{RE}CK'~
C{RE}W as A W{RE}CK'~ C{RE}Wer
  "Denial-BLAH'd"?  -  er EVE~red!
        A *General*- Ah<

Al is amazing! :bw

Hal Blaine: The Lost Interview

The legendary drummer reflects on working with Elvis Presley, Dean Martin, the Ronettes and more in a previously unpublished conversation from 2017


https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/hal-blaine-interview-elvis-presley-dean-martin-807188/



This interview originally seemed to be about Hal's work with Elvis but then turned to other aspects. Just a couple of years ago, the Elvis people found the session tapes of the late 60s sessions of Elvis and the Wrecking Crew. Those sessions brought "A little less conversation". Anyway, here is a small excerpt of the ALLC sessions with Elvis calling out Hal after the latter messed up the intro.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_wNld8l9Qk


Other parts of these sessions are available on the official Presley collector's label Follow That Dream

Thanks for sharing this - it was wonderfully written.

Obviously the most influential drummer of all time. RIP.

Yup, I read he played drums on at least 40 number one hits. His work on Be My Baby alone is an enviable legacy.

Hell just him doing the intro for Be My Baby solidifies his legacy

Thanks to the always-solid Randy Lewis for a terrific obit on Hal, who was (as we all know) a giant in his field, and a man who was never at a loss for words, either. Thank goodness he'll live on forever on the many, many fantastic records he graced with his presence.

Well said. Hal would later perform that same drumbeat on Sinatra’s “Strangers In The Night”.

Hal was a Great Guy!  I have recorded him many times. He was the El Dorado of pop and rock drumming when all those great ol' hits were made. A joy to work with, he freely gave me tips on microphone placement I have used all my professional life. The US Navy used Hal's steady beat to set their clocks by. I know he could keep time like an atomic clock because I use to record him playing the drums at 30IPS (professional tape speed). In editing, I could mark his beats on the tape and compare one verse of take one to the same verse of take two -- and the beats were usually within a quarter-inch of each other. In other words if you took 15 feet of tape from each take and placed them side by side on the floor, the beats from take to take would line up almost perfect. At 30IPS quarter note beats are every few feet, so the tape is like a magnifying glass for timing. Anyway, Hal was thee guy for drumming thru most of the 60s and 70s and even into the 80s. 

For an overview of the period check out this movie trailer >>>http://www.magpictures.com/thewreckingcrew/ (http://www.magpictures.com/thewreckingcrew/) .

To maintain his busy schedule he maintained two completely separate crews with two matching sets of drums and percussion. He just drove from one session to the next while his two crews leap-frogged the equipment from one studio to the next. Hal would have sometimes four or five sessions per day, so at triple scale he was really pulling in the money. It was Hal Blaine that kept Brian grounded on many occasions!   RIP my friend.

~swd

 Thanks for sharing those recollections, Stephen. RIP Hal 

Thank you, Mr. Desper, for your beautiful and characteristically informative post about Mr. Blaine. He will be greatly missed.

Yesterday old Tubey pointed me at this incredible album by Mr. Blaine:

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

http://mutant-sounds.blogspot.com/2007/06/hal-blaine-psychedelic-percussion-lp.html

Mr. Desper or anyone else who knows: Can you please tell me the name of the tune that begins just after the Boys' preamble to "LDC", right at the start? It's so familiar but the name eludes me. It would be much appreciated.

I had to stop and collect my thoughts.
The staggering amount of records that are beloved to me that he played on, that I tap my feet to, just wow. Most important, most beloved to me out of all is ‘Wouldn’t It Be Nice’, my favorite song in the universe. Brought to life by Brian and Tony, Hal and the other session musicians, the other Beach Boys and the others in the studio that helped it along. It wouldn’t be the musical wonder it is without them. Hal was the heartbeat of my favorite song.

I’ll miss his insights and his humor. Thank you good sir. RIP.

"Out Of Limits" by The Marketts, which was the Wrecking Crew. A take-off on the Twilight Zone theme song that became a big hit. Great record.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUZa1bDY2JI (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUZa1bDY2JI)

2 Reply #57 - I've got that HB album. Fave track - "May".

For those who haven't seen it or read the liners, Hal's "Psychedelic Percussion" album, released early summer 1967...I scored this one years ago at a yard sale, still one of the coolest LP finds I've ever had, and it was late in the morning when I stumbled on this one. By rights it shouldn't have been there that late, but it was. Funny how I don't remember things from yesterday, but can remember exactly where and when I found this album. Still hoping to find an original vinyl of Hal's earlier "Drums! Drums! A Go Go" album, the one with his blue kit on the cover, but I refuse to pay "retail" and don't want a CD  :).

Take a look at the liner notes, there are some interesting items which I'll mention later.

And consider *this* was released the same year "Smile" was being worked on then scrapped, and "Smiley Smile" was released...

(https://i.imgur.com/20179Xg.jpg)

(https://i.imgur.com/oGg6la6.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/pJheKfn.jpg)

Thanks a lot, gf.  :)  Yes, a great record. The Marketts did some cool stuff. Love those horn calls!

And thanks for posting the album cover. The list of instruments Hal plays on it is mind-blowing. :o

Adding my heartfelt thanks for everything, Mr Blaine.  You had a great run on this earth--90 years' worth!  You won't be forgotten in any of our lifetimes.

I got a kick out of Mr Desper's account of Blaine's two crews following him around from session to session, and I am in awe of Blaine's sense of time as Desper described it.  I checked with a ruler just now, and a quarter of an inch is about half the width of my little finger.