Hal Blaine and the Wrecking Crew

Hal Blaine is one of my favorite drummers. He has laid the drum tracks on more hits than anybody. If you are a fan of 1960s rock and roll, you'll love this book.

If you are over fifty, and possibly even younger, there are a group of musicians you have heard more than any others, sometimes known as The Wrecking Crew. If you listen to music, especially music from the sixties, you will have heard Tommy Tedesco on guitar, Carole Kaye on Bass and Hal Blaine on drums many, many times over, accompanying a diverse group of singers and forming the backbone of most groups, by having played a major role in the creation of their recordings.The list of names is impressive, and if you are interested, you can spend hours searching the Internet and learning about these musicians. The important thing to remember, at least from my point of view, is that these musicians not only played on numerous hit records, they also created their own parts for most of these recordings. The Wrecking Crew were much more than performers, playing their assigned parts, they worked with the name artists and producers to actually mold the songs into a finished product, and no one was more skilled at this than Hal Blaine.From the rhythmic hooks on Phil Spector recordings to the tom-tom roll in The Carpenters Close To You, Hal Blaine was the consummate drummer and could take an average song to a new level because of his sense of how songs, especially hit songs, worked. In all fairness, one could say the very same thing about other members of The Wrecking Crew. Carole Kaye created many memorable bass lines which powered songs into being hits and Tommy Tedesco was a guitar virtuoso whom created many memorable guitar parts over the years which led the sound of guitar in popular music.Hal Blaine tells his part of the story and does so with dignity, grace and modesty. He speaks of other musicians in admiration and respectfully. He is a pro all the way. Having worked as a musician and having met innumerable musicians, I have observed that the true pros rarely speak badly of other musicians. Hal Blaine carries on that tradition nobly.Bless you, Hal. Bless you and the rest of The Wrecking Crew; you are part of my soul.

Hal Blaine and the Wrecking Crew by Hal Blaine with Mr. Bonzai was one of the most disappointing rock biographies I've ever read. When I finished the book I had a remorse feeling of sorrow for the author, wondering why he bothered. Blaine is a man worth reading about. He's a forerunner in the rock drum world, he's drummed for many of the commercially successful major league bands, such as the Beach Boys, as well as a host of the popular but not so incredible minor league bands, such as the Mamas and Papas and John Denver, Paul Revere and the Raiders. He's drummed for Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Phil Spector. He's given tips and lessons to such luminaries as Ringo Starr. Yet his book is as flat and uninteresting as a day old pancake. With so much to write about and so much to share, you'd think he would come up with a masterpiece, but he didn't.The stories he tells about the Mamas and Papas are flat. The most lengthy piece is on John Denver, which evokes a yawn just at the mentioning of his name. While Blaine may have very well liked John Denver and respected his music, most of us who understand rock and roll, know that John Denver was anything except exciting, and his songs were like a primer for a Dr. Seuss book. Yet, the bulk of the information in the book is centered around John Denver. Why? It's difficult to ascertain what he might have been thinking, but there was a crucial and negative experience during his time with Denver that must have caused Blaine a lot of emotional difficulty. Understandable, but pretty much a so what.What Blaine could have done was write more about the Wrecking Crew. He worked with some of the greats, such as Leon Russell and Tommy Tedesco. While he does mention both in the book and compliments them highly, he really doesn't tell any stories about them. He also worked with Brian Wilson. There had to have been a ton of Brian Wilson stories for us to hear. His discussion about life in the army was more interesting than his discussion about working with some of the more impactful studio musicians and top forty headliners of the day.Throughout the book I kept waiting and nothing super was happening. I became bored with it and quit reading it for several weeks. Then one day I decided I was going to finish it no matter how disappointing it was. I wanted to give the book two stars, but I opted for three, thinking that if for no other reason,he deserved at least three because of who he is.

Hal was one of the nicest guys in the business and if you knew him you can hear his voice reading this to you. It’s a book more about his life than the music business but that’s what’s great about it. It gives you insight on how a son of immigrants who grew up poor had a dream and through his talent, kind personality and hard work achieved it. Yet, Hal stayed humble his entire life. He was beloved by all who had the fortune of knowing him or working with him. He had his share of ups and downs in life. And this book illustrates how he kept persevering because of his love of music. For that it provides maybe a good life lesson for all of us. Never give up, keep a positive attitude, stay humble, be a kind person, work hard, show people you care about them and practice gratitude. That was Hal

As a series of reminiscences, it is fun. As a book, it is so badly written that I almost gave up. A ghost-writer would have put some shape to it, avoided the clunking cliches, and encouraged some in-depth comment on sessions. A decent proof-reader would also have been invaluable. This is not a book that really answers questions about Hal Blaine and the Wrecking Crew; it is more skimming stones than deep-sea diving.

Really enjoyed this book - Hal Blaine was a music icon and gives great insight into the LA music scene of the 1960's

This book is agreat read for music lovers. Great memories of golden times. Interesting to drummers and anyone who loved the 60s and 70s.

Although no longer the most recorded drummer in history (John Robinson holds that crown now) he is arguably one of the most important playing on some of the finest popular music ever recorded. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and read it in just a few days. If you love music buy this book as it covers a lot of ground.

brilliant