The Bobby Graham Collection
Some session drummers build up a colossal body of work over many years of tireless slog, but English drummer Bobby Graham did so in the space of three or so years before going away to do his own thing. In that time he drummed on pop classics such as You Really Got Me, Downtown, We Gotta Get Out Of This Place, Gloria, The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore, Tossin’ And Turnin’, I Only Want To Be With You, Green Green Grass Of Home and loads more.
As part of the British equivalent of The Wrecking Crew — which also included the likes of Jimmy Page (yes, that one), Big Jim Sullivan, Vic Flick, Andy White — Graham played on 13 UK chart-toppers and 40 more Top 5 hits, all within a couple of years of one another. He claimed to have played on 15,000 tracks — many of those presumably in the genre that was his first love, jazz — and nobody has challenged that number. It is not without cause that the producer Shel Talmy described Graham as “the greatest drummer the UK has ever produced”.
His reputation, built up as part of producer Joe Meek’s set-up, was such that by 1962 Brian Epstein reportedly asked Graham to replace Pete Best in The Beatles, probably without John, Paul and George’s knowledge. The North Londoner, then just 22, turned Epstein down since he was a member of a group that was more famous than The Beatles, Joe Brown and The Bruvvers.
As a session drummer, Graham took over Mick Avery’s part when The Kinks recorded their double whammy of 1964 hits, You Really Got Me and All Day And All Of The Night. (Avery played the tambourine.) His drumming at the end of Them’s Gloria — Morrison was not happy about the presence of session musicians — was something quite new.
Graham might also have played on the Dave Clark Five’s Glad All Over, although Clark denied that. According to Graham, Clark didn’t want to produce and drum at the same time, and so roped in Graham, telling him to keep his drumming simple, so that Clark could reproduce it in concerts.
After 1966, Graham first worked in France, without great success, and then moved to the Netherlands, where he stayed until 1971. By then he had acquired a debilitating alcohol addiction. Having beaten that, he produced Christian music bands, then opened a North London record shop named The Trading Post, produced training videos and gigged in a jazz band. He died on 14 September 2009 of stomach cancer, aged 69.
As always, the mix is timed to fit on a standard CD-R and includes banged-together covers. PW in comments.
1. The Outlaws/Joe Meek – Crazy Drums (1961)
2. The Ivy League – Tossin’ and Turnin’ (1965)
3. Herman’s Hermits – Silhouettes (1965)
4. The Walker Brothers – The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore (1966)
5. Petula Clark – I Know A Place (1965)
6. Dusty Springfield – You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me (1966)
7. Françoise Hardy – Je n’attends plus personne (1966)
8. Lulu – Here Comes The Night (1964)
9. Them – Gloria (1964)
10. The Kinks – All Day And All Of The Night (1964)
11. Jimmy Page – She Just Satisfies (1965)
12. The First Gear – A Certain Girl (1964)
13. The Pretty Things – Don’t Bring Me Down (1964)
14. The Sneekers – Bald Headed Woman (1964)
15. The Animals – We Gotta Get Out Of This Place (1964)
16. Rod Stewart – Good Morning, Little Schoolgirl (1964)
17. Brian Poole & The Tremeloes – Candy Man (1964)
18. Joe Cocker – I’ll Cry Instead (1964)
19. Chad & Jeremy – Yesterday’s Gone (1963)
20. Marianne Faithfull – Come And Stay With Me (1965)
21. The Fortunes – Here It Comes Again (1965)
22. Dave Berry – The Crying Game(1964)
23. David & Jonathan – Lovers Of The World Unite (1966)
24. The John Barry Seven – Zulu Stamp (1964)
25. Antoinette – Jenny Let Him Go (1964)
26. Brenda Lee – What’d I Say (1964)
27. Adriene Poster – Shang A Doo Lang (1965)
28. The Bachelors – No Arms Can Ever Hold You (1964)
29. The Brook Brothers – Trouble Is My Middle Name (1963)
30. Billy Fury – In Summer (1963)
31. Bobby Graham – Zoom Widge And Wag (1965)
Previous session musicians’ collection:
The Bernard Purdie Collection Vol. 1
The Bernard Purdie Collection Vol. 2
The Ricky Lawson Collection Vol. 1
The Ricky Lawson Collection Vol. 2
The Jim Gordon Collection Vol. 1
The Jim Gordon Collection Vol. 2
The Hal Blaine Collection Vol. 1
The Hal Blaine Collection Vol. 2
The Bobby Keys Collection
PW = amdwhah
cant wait to hear this , thanks so much
All of your session musician collections are of drummers except one. I’m guessing that either you’re a drummer or wish you were. In any case, I’m lapping it up! Thanks for this; I can’t wait to dig into Bobby Graham’s history!
Ha, Dave, my drumming expertise extends only to bashing the steering wheel of my car with my hands to emulate the ways of a Hal Blaine. My idea was to go through the drummers first and then move on to other session instruments. Bobby Keys’ death and the subsequent mix I did to mark that interrupted the sequence.
Blimey! Many thanks for a tunefully nostalgic collection in which #27 caught my eye. Adrienne ended up changing her last name to Posta, didn’t she, and starred in 60’s movies like to “Sir With Love”. Good to give credit to the largely uncredited drummer boys!
Wow what an impressive folder of work.
Regards
Rhod
loving all these great drummer posts , I’ve been trying to track down some of the great hit record s buddy saltzman played on, but not doing great so far , so maybe your help is needed here , your the man
The difficulty in researching these collections is that often, record sleeves often didn’t credit the musicians used, never mind for which song. And, as noted with Bobby Graham, sometimes session musicians’ memories do not correspond with those of others.
Anyway, as far as I can ascertain, Saltzman played on (among the better known artists):
Janis Ian’s self-titled 1967 LP
The Raindrops’ self-titled 1963 LP
Cathy Young’s “A Spoonful of…” LP
John Davidson’s self-titled 1969 LP
Melanie’s “Gather Me” and “the Good Book” LPs
Jimmie Spheeris’ “Isle Of View” LP
Tim Hardin’s “Tim Hardin 1” (with Earl Palmer)
Harry Chapin’s “Short Stories” LP
plus:
Pretty Ballerina by The Left Banke
Stoned Soul Picnic by Laura Nyro
The King Of Names by Peter, Paul And Mary
The Dawn Of Correction by The Spokesmen
House Of Cards by Ian & Sylvia
thanks so much for checking up on that, I know that he played on most of the four seasons singles , that drum sound made all those records sound great, but there is not too much information out there on what he played on, maybe someone can supply a list of hit records he was drummer on.
Once AGAIN AMD….Many thanks for ALL the MUSIC you’ve invested in your blog!!! The vinyls you’ve included in your collections are truly appreciated….played that way, when we grew up….warm and safe!!
This one’s for YOU !!!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAsvjVx-Mg4
just gotta say these posts are really great, not only the music but also the great artwork , which I’m sure takes a lot of time and effort .. thanks again
How can you forget that Bobby Graham played on ALL of the major singles by the Dave Clark Five. Clark was just a businessman cashing in on the rock and roll craze, the band should have been called “The Bobby Graham Five.”
As I note in the cover notes:
Graham might also have played on the Dave Clark Five’s Glad All Over, although Clark denied that. According to Graham, Clark didn’t want to produce and drum at the same time, and so roped in Graham, telling him to keep his drumming simple, so that Clark could reproduce it in concerts.