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Rating: 
Summary: Buy Earl Palmer's Book Instead Of This
Review: As a top session drummer since the late 1950's, Hal Baine has played on over 40 number one hit records. You would think he would have enough material from all that experience to write five books the size of this one. There are a few insights here. For example, Hal Blaine played on some of the Beach Boys' records, and he describes Brian Wilson's unusual piano style. Rather than play a bass line with his left hand and chords and melody with his right, like most piano players, Wilson played chords with both hands and the notes he played with his right hand were the harmony parts for the rest of the group to sing. More often the book disappoints. You would think that the studio band was called the "Wrecking Crew" because they were unbeatable musicians right? Well according to Blaine they were called the "Wrecking Crew" because they didn't wipe out the ash trays and left the recording studio untidy when they were finished for the day. The biggest problem with this book is what it leaves out. There just isn't as much new and interesting information here as there should be given the number of sessions Blaine played on. I suspect that the author is holding back. He seems like he doesn't want to disclose too much in his book because it might jeopardize future drumming gigs, so his loyalty is primarily to his past (and possible future) employers rather than to his readers. The book is pleasant and easy to read, but if you are interested in this subject I would suggest that you read Earl Palmer's book first. Palmer is also a drummer and a contemporary of Blaine's. While Blaine is bland and pleasant, Palmer is swaggering and arrogant, and decidedly more interesting.
Rating:
Summary: Buy Earl Palmer's Book Instead Of This
Review: As a top session drummer since the late 1950's, Hal Baine has played on over 40 number one hit records. You would think he would have enough material from all that experience to write five books the size of this one. There are a few insights here. For example, Hal Blaine played on some of the Beach Boys' records, and he describes Brian Wilson's unusual piano style. Rather than play a bass line with his left hand and chords and melody with his right, like most piano players, Wilson played chords with both hands and the notes he played with his right hand were the harmony parts for the rest of the group to sing. More often the book disappoints. You would think that the studio band was called the "Wrecking Crew" because they were unbeatable musicians right? Well according to Blaine they were called the "Wrecking Crew" because they didn't wipe out the ash trays and left the recording studio untidy when they were finished for the day. The biggest problem with this book is what it leaves out. There just isn't as much new and interesting information here as there should be given the number of sessions Blaine played on. I suspect that the author is holding back. He seems like he doesn't want to disclose too much in his book because it might jeopardize future drumming gigs, so his loyalty is primarily to his past (and possible future) employers rather than to his readers. The book is pleasant and easy to read, but if you are interested in this subject I would suggest that you read Earl Palmer's book first. Palmer is also a drummer and a contemporary of Blaine's. While Blaine is bland and pleasant, Palmer is swaggering and arrogant, and decidedly more interesting.
Rating:
Summary: Dull and superficial
Review: As much as I enjoy a lot of the music Hal Blaine has contributed to, I found little to enjoy about this book. Blaine offers nothing interesting or insightful about himself or the music business, just superficial outlines of his life and some of the people he worked with. He's curiously vague about the details of his own life (he either got his own birthdate wrong or consistently misstated his age by a year in the early part of the book, and he talks about women he married without even mentioning their names), and he seems to have little real knowledge of the performers he worked with (he repeats the erroneous claim that Mama Cass died from choking on food, for example, and a whole chapter about working with the Monkees actually covers a Mike Nesmith project that had nothing to do with the Monkees). He also played with some of the most popular pop/rock groups of the 1960s and 1970s (the Byrds, the Carpenters, Simon & Garfunkel), but none of them merits even a single mention in the book. If Blaine had an interesting story he wanted to tell, he should have found a better collaborator.
Rating:
Summary: Dull and superficial
Review: As much as I enjoy a lot of the music Hal Blaine has contributed to, I found little to enjoy about this book. Blaine offers nothing interesting or insightful about himself or the music business, just superficial outlines of his life and some of the people he worked with. He's curiously vague about the details of his own life (he either got his own birthdate wrong or consistently misstated his age by a year in the early part of the book, and he talks about women he married without even mentioning their names), and he seems to have little real knowledge of the performers he worked with (he repeats the erroneous claim that Mama Cass died from choking on food, for example, and a whole chapter about working with the Monkees actually covers a Mike Nesmith project that had nothing to do with the Monkees). He also played with some of the most popular pop/rock groups of the 1960s and 1970s (the Byrds, the Carpenters, Simon & Garfunkel), but none of them merits even a single mention in the book. If Blaine had an interesting story he wanted to tell, he should have found a better collaborator.
Rating: 
Summary: Music Industry Legend Remembers
Review: I originally purchased this book after finding out that Hal Blaine was the most recorded musician in musical history: I knew that there had to be something "magical" about his talents! The book did much to reveal at least a bit of that magic: a great sense of humour, a love for the craft, and an abiding respect for the musicians he played with. Now, I find it impossible to listen to music from the sixties and early seventies without saying to myself "Aha -- that's a Hal Blaine track". The Beach Boys, the Byrds, Neil Diamond, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra...even my all time favorite song, the Cascades "Rhythm of the Rain"...all have been graced by his exceptional drumming. This is an excellent book for anyone who is interested in the creative process -- musical or otherwise. Also included is a list of all the top-ten songs he was involved in: the list is four pages long (!) The only reason I give it four stars instead of five is that I wish it were longer <sigh>.
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful behind-the-scenes view of a great era in music
Review: I originally purchased this book after finding out that Hal Blaine was the most recorded musician in musical history: I knew that there had to be something "magical" about his talents! The book did much to reveal at least a bit of that magic: a great sense of humour, a love for the craft, and an abiding respect for the musicians he played with. Now, I find it impossible to listen to music from the sixties and early seventies without saying to myself "Aha -- that's a Hal Blaine track". The Beach Boys, the Byrds, Neil Diamond, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra...even my all time favorite song, the Cascades "Rhythm of the Rain"...all have been graced by his exceptional drumming. This is an excellent book for anyone who is interested in the creative process -- musical or otherwise. Also included is a list of all the top-ten songs he was involved in: the list is four pages long (!) The only reason I give it four stars instead of five is that I wish it were longer <sigh>.
Rating:
Summary: Music Industry Legend Remembers
Review: This is a great book if you are a fan of '60s music. Hal helped lay the foundation for much of it. He also heavily influenced many drummers who followed, including Keith Moon of the Who. He outlines his musical training, inspiration, and dues paying. He features amusing anecdotes about working with legends of the industry, including Phil Spector, Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys, and Sinatra. It makes you realize how much credit he, along with other members of studio musicians known as the "Wrecking Crew", deserve for shaping their artists' visions, as their improv and input helped make those records so great. A must-have, especially if you are a drummer or ever wished you could be one. They don't make 'em like Hal anymore.
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