Brian's vocal improvement between BW88 and In The Key of Disney

[b00ts]

Brian's "shouty" vocals were in full force on his 1988 self-titled album. This is one of the reasons that I prefer alternate versions of "Love and Mercy," such as the more nuanced studio performance from a few years back.

His vocals on the soundtrack album for  I Just Wasn't Made For These Times and the Paley Sessions continued the shouting trend.

Imagination had some more subtle vocals, such as "Cry" and "Lay Down Burden." Unfortunately,  Gettin' In Over My Head showed that when Brian is not engaged, he really phones in his performances. Both of these albums, especially GIOMH, have Brian slurring his way through parts of songs. He also ends some phrases with "sh" sounds instead of "s" sounds. Additionally, GIOMH is an aberration in Brian's solo career in that the backing vocal blocks are not executed with his usual amount of care, precision, and inventiveness.

Based on these two albums, I had reservatons about the studio recording of Brian Wilson Presents Smile. Happily, Brian ended up recording his best solo vocals yet.

With his backing band helping out, he pulled SMiLe off very convincingly. Even songs like "Wonderful" and "Cabinessence" worked well with his 'new' voice, although he was often still shouting instead of using his head voice/falsetto. Brian was slurring much less and showing fewer audible signs of tardive dyskenesia. I believe a de-esser was also used sometimes to make his "sh" sounds less noticeable.

BWPS was Brian's first breakthrough in vocal quality during his solo career. The long-overdue addition of his band as a vocal group in the studio added to the album's excellent quality. The sound of Brian in his 60s singing a completed, newly recorded version of SMiLe added greatly to the poignancy of the album.

That Lucky Old Sun showed a decent amount of improvement over BWPS. Less slurring, less shouting, more life and brightness in Brian's voice. When I first heard "Midnight's Another Day," I was seriously impressed not just with the composition (a worthy successor to "Til I Die" - who ever thought we'd get that?) but with his beautiful, evocative, soulful lead vocal.

TLOS also showed Brian learning how to use his expanded lower range to greater effect. "Morning Beat" has him rocking out like never before in his solo career, and yet this vocal is topped towards the end of the album with "Goin' Home." I was floored the first time I heard the album version - unlike the demo, he is growling like a mad dog! I would love to hear more vocals like this from Brian. He has never done anything like it before! On "California Role" and "Oxygen to the Brain," Brian uses his lower range effectively to sing jazzy shuffles. When he tried this on Gettin' In Over My Head only four years earlier, he was less successful.

Brian's second major leap in vocal quality came with Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin. Try to picture Brian singing "I Loves You Porgy," "The Like in I Love You," "It Ain't Necessarily So," or "Someone to Watch Over Me" in 1988, 1998, or even 2004. He wouldn't pull these songs off nearly as successfully. You may notice a pattern here - I was floored the first time I heard Brian's vocals on this album! As much as BWPS was a leap in vocal quality, BWRG makes me wish Brian could go back and redo his vocals for BWPS! If he could sing "Wonderful" like he did "Someone to Watch Over Me," I would gladly buy BWPS again on CD and vinyl.

Finally, In The Key of Disney. How does he keep improving with each album?? "Colors of the Wind" is amazing. I can't believe I am listening to Brian circa 2011 with minimal studio processing - his voice has gotten so much better, even showing improvement since BWRG one year earlier. Songs like "You've Got A Friend in Me" would have been shouted in 1988 or 1994 but are now sung with style and confidence - dare I say Panache?

Brian has once again learned how to sing with subtlety, and he is not lisping when he sings. Linnett rarely needs to use autotune on Brian's voice anymore, and there are more single-tracked vocals than ever.

My question is - what is the reason for Brian's improvement? Between BW88, Sweet Insanity, IJWMFTT, Paley Sessions, Imagination, and GIOMH, he went up and down. I would consider Imagination the most vocally consistent of all these albums, but he didn't show steady improvement over these years.

There were gems here and there, of course. Brian's cover recording of Carl's "Heaven" was one such song - Brian sang with then-uncharacteristic tenderness and showed a dynamic sorely lacking in much of his solo work.

Then, BWPS marked a breakthrough. Perhaps Brian exorcised enough demons through the successful completion of his "white whale" project, and has since been engaged enough with the material that he has been really trying. Perhaps all the touring and vocal coaching has helped.

Whatever the reason, Brian has finally learned how to utilize his voice most effectively. It has been a continual delight to hear his steady improvement and to marvel at the leaps and bounds he has made. It has also made ITKOD much more interesting and enjoyable to me - long gone are the days when a new release from Brian would have excellent compositions marred by substandard lead vocals.

[Wylson]

You missed out What I Really Want For Christmas, which I think is a really significant step in the right direction. I think there are a few factors, here in order of importance IMO:
- the band starts doing the bvox, Brian can concentrate on just doing 12 leads vocals rather than 120 vocals per album.
- hard work from Brian. I recall an interview around 5ish years ago and someone asked him "what have you got left to prove?". and he said "to prove that I'm a great singer I guess" or something along those lines. Since then he's often referenced vocal coaching, and the hard work he puts in.
- I think you have to view GIOMH  as a blip. BW88>OCA>Imagination is quite a steady trend I think. By all accounts GIOMH was a horrendous recording experience and Brian not at all engaged in the project.
- The years of touring must have helped his stamina and technique
- More sensitive mixing/production
- Might get criticised for this, but I've often wondered if there's been a change in Brian's medication

But even with those factors it is startling how much better his vocals are, including the jump even between Gershwin and Disney. How much better can he get?

[cablegeddon]

I disagree. I think his best vocal performance since the 70s is the title track Lucky old sun. Heartfelt and dynamic.

On Color of the wind I think he has tons of reverb (and maybe some processing?). I'm not impressed at all.

IMO his performance on Meet me in my dreams is better than on You've got a friend in me. He put more energy and heart(and vibrato) into MMIDT

[absinthe_boy]

My hunches, reading between the lines and interpreting the available information lead me to think along these lines...

Generally, Brian's mental state improved a lot once he was rid of Landy and with Melinda. Whatever else you might say about her, she provides stability for Brian and the unconditional love he needs. There has been a steady general trend towards Brian functioning better in all areas of his life in the last 15 or so years.

Brian has admitted to using a vocal coach in the run-up to SMiLE in 2004. The improvements seen between his previous work and SMiLE can be partially put down to that. Plus, following from the huge success of the SMiLE gigs he was riding the crest of a wave. He was engaged in the work, enthusiastic - which he wasn't for a lot of the songs on GIOMH.

The touring helps, he must have better lungs and stamina than in the mid 1990's. It also acts as practice and we all know that makes perfect. The Christmas record in 2005 showed more improvements. But the big leap was TLOS. Those vocals, I am given to understand, were recorded over quite a short period of time and yet for the most part they are excellent - albeit with a few odd processing moments in them.

As for Gershwin...once again Brian was enthusiastic about the work and spent a good amount of time perfecting his vocals rather than expecting them to be patched up in production. If you were fortunate enough to experience Brian and the band play the Gershwin set live you'd know that he is perfectly capable of pulling off 95% of it ln a live setting with (obviously) no recourse to overdubs or retakes.

I feel it is a combination of more involvement from Brian post-SMiLE...it was a monkey off his back...and from his band....some general improvements in his state of mind (which could be tweaks in medication but I have no knowledge of this)....and Brian generally since 2004 working on projects that he was enthusiastic about.

[runnersdialzero]

The Disney album is a slight step down, for me. Not criticizing, he sounds pretty good, but I was really floored by some of his vocals on That Lucky Old Sun and Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin. And while I'm very much a fan of his newer "style", I think a more "shouty", single tracked vocal on, say, "You've Got A Friend In Me" might've had a better effect. I have to wonder if he's even interested in doing such a vocal anymore, though, or if his minders would allow it, really.

That said, am I the only one who thinks his vocals sounds better 99% of the time these days when single-tracked, well compressed, fairly dry and right up front? Brian practically abused double-tracking and reverb in the 60s, but it sounded wonderful in those days. Nowadays, not so much. I was very happy to hear such a dry vocal sound for TLOS, which I think suits his modern voice a hundred times better than when they cake it in reverb and double it in an attempt to replicate what he did in the 60s.

I also wish they'd stop using autotune. It's subtle enough, true, but there's the occasional spot where things sound really watery/robotic/something. Pay for a few more studio hours and use manual pitch correction, which always has better results.

Overall though, yeah, I'm a bit surprised by the drastic improvements in his voice over the last decade. I never really though Brian sounded truly bad (although the IJWMFTT soundtrack edges pretty close), and while I think he sounds fine on Imagination, it's cool to hear him evolve and improve so much since then.

[The Heartical Don]

Nice thread, with some good insights.

On Brian's medication: IIRC (from various articles in print and on the web that I don't have access to), Brian is under the supervision of a good, regular psychiatrist (or was, until fairly recently), and takes a modest (or standard) dose of an antidepressant (IIRC Luvox, which probably is a trade name for fluvoxamine, a compound that increases freely available serotonin in the brain, which is a messenger molecule).

This seems probable, because, as far as I know, there is no real remedy against the 'voices' that plague him; I mean, perhaps a strong antipsychotic medicine could partially counteract these, but first, there could be serious side effects (and God knows Brian has already had his share of these in the Landy days); and second, I recall that when he was hugely overmedicated way back then, the voices were still there. Might be that the expert here has decided on the best available option, here, because there might not be an ideal one.

Fitting in with this is that he has a nice beer once in a while, which would probably not have been possible if he'd use stronger types of meds.

(Disclaimer: the above does not pretend to be absolutely true; as I wrote, it's based on reading a couple of articles here and there; additions are therefore welcome - also because I am occupied with this subject matter in another context).

[The Heartical Don]

The Disney album is a slight step down, for me. Not criticizing, he sounds pretty good, but I was really floored by some of his vocals on That Lucky Old Sun and Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin. And while I'm very much a fan of his newer "style", I think a more "shouty", single tracked vocal on, say, "You've Got A Friend In Me" might've had a better effect. I have to wonder if he's even interested in doing such a vocal anymore, though, or if his minders would allow it, really.

That said, am I the only one who thinks his vocals sounds better 99% of the time these days when single-tracked, well compressed, fairly dry and right up front? Brian practically abused double-tracking and reverb in the 60s, but it sounded wonderful in those days. Nowadays, not so much. I was very happy to hear such a dry vocal sound for TLOS, which I think suits his modern voice a hundred times better than when they cake it in reverb and double it in an attempt to replicate what he did in the 60s.

I also wish they'd stop using autotune. It's subtle enough, true, but there's the occasional spot where things sound really watery/robotic/something. Pay for a few more studio hours and use manual pitch correction, which always has better results.

Overall though, yeah, I'm a bit surprised by the drastic improvements in his voice over the last decade. I never really though Brian sounded truly bad (although the IJWMFTT soundtrack edges pretty close), and while I think he sounds fine on Imagination, it's cool to hear him evolve and improve so much since then.

I for one am not for striving for the absolute perfect pitch either. Just listen carefully to the vocs only stuff on the Pet Sounds Sessions... Brian himself used to let small imperfections stand, and I dare place a safe bet that that contributes to the authenticity of that album. We need natural sounds, we don't need sterile music.

[Austin]

That said, am I the only one who thinks his vocals sounds better 99% of the time these days when single-tracked, well compressed, fairly dry and right up front? Brian practically abused double-tracking and reverb in the 60s, but it sounded wonderful in those days. Nowadays, not so much. I was very happy to hear such a dry vocal sound for TLOS, which I think suits his modern voice a hundred times better than when they cake it in reverb and double it in an attempt to replicate what he did in the 60s.

I think one reason he doesn't sound great double-tracked nowadays is because his voice is just much thicker. In the 60's a lot more processing worked well since his tone was very pure. Double-tracking, etc. complimented that tone well, but nowadays it just makes him sound too overloaded.

Also, I don't know how much Auto-Tune is ever on Brian's vocals, but I wouldn't be quick to blame it for that occasional robotic sound. The only references most people have are from a) consumer-grade pitch-shifting tools or b) modern pop, where the effect is intentionally noticeable. But in a professional studio dealing with super-high-quality multitracks and $600+ plugins, you'd have to push it pretty hard, on a note that was really botched, before it starts to sound synthetic. I'd venture to bet that most performances fans attribute to being marred by Auto-Tune are, in fact, marred by just not-good performance.

[Ron]

Boots, great topic, and with the addition of the Christmas Album (which like the others I think was a step in the right way and a great album in it's own right vocally).... with the addition of that, I agree with pretty much 100% of what you said.  It seems each album is slightly better vocally even though Brian's slightly older.  Also the comments about him singing with subtlety are dead on.  

I attribute it to 1. a good vocal coach who I believe he's still working with, and 2. he's likely just more generally happy than he's been in a while.  

There's the possibility that Brian's meds are changed over the years, or changed daily maybe depending on how he feels that day.  I don't know and won't pretend to.  

The shouty vocals to me sounded like he was drugged and jacked up on anti-depressants.  When I was younger, I knew a couple kids who took anti depressants and they always seemed jacked up to me the same way Brian used to during the Landy years.  What comes with it, it seems, is a fake happiness.  They just grin a lot and overdo things.  

Again I know nothing about medication so perhaps they did change the specific type he's taken over the years and tweaked it a lot.  

Really though, back in the early 80's before he was being medicated, he still didn't have the ability that I'm aware of to not shout vocals, so who knows.  




Re: Autotune.  Can't autotune live vocals.  Surprisingly, Brian consistantly sings all this stuff pretty damn good in a live setting. 

[runnersdialzero]

Re: Autotune.  Can't autotune live vocals.  Surprisingly, Brian consistantly sings all this stuff pretty damn good in a live setting. 

Never said he needed it - that was kind of the point of what I had said, that he does well enough without it. A tiny bit of manual pitch correction on a spot or two is all he'd likely need, providing it was a good performance, of course.

[b00ts]

Boots, great topic, and with the addition of the Christmas Album (which like the others I think was a step in the right way and a great album in it's own right vocally).... with the addition of that, I agree with pretty much 100% of what you said.  It seems each album is slightly better vocally even though Brian's slightly older.  Also the comments about him singing with subtlety are dead on.  

I attribute it to 1. a good vocal coach who I believe he's still working with, and 2. he's likely just more generally happy than he's been in a while.  

There's the possibility that Brian's meds are changed over the years, or changed daily maybe depending on how he feels that day.  I don't know and won't pretend to.  

The shouty vocals to me sounded like he was drugged and jacked up on anti-depressants.  When I was younger, I knew a couple kids who took anti depressants and they always seemed jacked up to me the same way Brian used to during the Landy years.  What comes with it, it seems, is a fake happiness.  They just grin a lot and overdo things.  

Again I know nothing about medication so perhaps they did change the specific type he's taken over the years and tweaked it a lot.  

Really though, back in the early 80's before he was being medicated, he still didn't have the ability that I'm aware of to not shout vocals, so who knows.  




Re: Autotune.  Can't autotune live vocals.  Surprisingly, Brian consistantly sings all this stuff pretty damn good in a live setting. 

Thanks Ron, glad you enjoy the post/thread. It was kicking around in my brain for a while. To everyone who mentioned it - good call about WIRWFC as well. It was definitely another step in the right vocal direction.

I for one cannot wait for Brian's next album of original material. TLOS was excellent. Is there any chance that we'll get "Pleasure Island" or was that just a momentary flight of fancy on Brian's part?

[RONDEMON]

I really love some of the Sweet Insanity vocals.
"Someone to Love" speaks out.
Lots of dynamics and great harmonies.
Of course he still has that shouty/shrill voice but it's good for the "rockers."

[Wirestone]

I love this topic. Here are some of my thoughts -- I've posted a great deal on this subject through the years.

-- The question actually isn't: "Why does Brian sound so much better now?" If someone didn't know his history and then listened to Gershwin or ITKoD, they would simply think he had aged normally from his hitmaking days in the Beach Boys. Sure, he doesn't sound exactly the same, but that general smooth, detached sound remains. The real question, then, is "Why did he sound so terrible for 30-odd years?"

-- I think you have to look at the 80s and the 90s carefully. I have long felt there was some kind of event in the early 80s, during that horrible pre-Landy period, that actually damaged Brian's brain. While his tone had been awful for a long time, he still knew how to phrase. But just listen to something like "Stevie" -- which still has sweetness in it -- and compare it to BB85, which is the first full-on "shouty" album. Something happened to BW. Everyone denies a stroke, but I still kind of believe it.

-- Perhaps Brian also wanted to sing differently. There is some evidence that he wanted to sing like the lead vocalist in the Modern Folk Quartet -- and if you listen to that group's take on "This Could Be the Night," you definitely hear an influence on the BW88 vocals.

-- I think you look at BB85, BW88 and Sweet Insanity, you can see an upward progression in vocal quality. Parts of SI are actually deeply impressive. But then Landy leaves and Brian craters again. He gets really fat. He starts smoking a lot. And that's why you have the big dip in tonal quality during the Paley Sessions and OCA.

-- OCA is an incredible document of Brian's voice, by the way. It was recorded over a lengthy period -- two or three years? -- most of them post-Landy and pre-Melinda marriage. And Brian sounds like several different people over the course of the record! He has never sounded odder. There's some of the SI power and range, but also some bizarre phrasing and disastrous tone. And he didn't even finish it -- backing vocalists were called in to finish his backing vocals on several songs!

-- Imagination was a real vision of the future. He worked on the vocals there harder than anything until BWPS, I would say. And you can tell. He really works on the phrasing and sweetness of tone, and it pays off. Joe Thomas does use quite a bit of reverb, though, which covers its share of flaws.

-- GIOMH is, as lots of people noted, an aberration. And indeed, you see a steady upward rise from BWPS to the Christmas record to TLOS.

-- But the change to the Gershwin record is really extraordinary. And I think that Brian finally learned to sing differently. Finally. He doesn't push out of his range that often anymore. He stays close to the pitch of everyday speech -- a trick used by latter-day Paul Simon, too. And he sings softly. Put those things together, and he can sound pretty remarkable.

-- At a certain level, this recent change is also a mirage. It's not that Brian's voice has improved in the sense that he can now sing his old falsetto parts impeccably, or his songs in all their original keys. It's that he's finally learned to sing with the voice he does have, and use it for the effects that it can produce, rather than trying to force it out of its natural space.

As I said, fascinating and fun!

[runnersdialzero]

-- The question actually isn't: "Why does Brian sound so much better now?" If someone didn't know his history and then listened to Gershwin or ITKoD, they would simply think he had aged normally from his hitmaking days in the Beach Boys. Sure, he doesn't sound exactly the same, but that general smooth, detached sound remains. The real question, then, is "Why did he sound so terrible for 30-odd years?"

Don't know about that. I try my damnedest sometimes, when listening more analytically, trying to find hints of Brian's old voice in his new voice and vice versa. I just don't hear even the slightest bit of it, strangely. Other folks age, but you can still hear that guy from the 50s, 60s, 70s in there, if only a little. This was true of Carl and Dennis and is also true of Mike, Bruce, and Al.

I guess that's just my ear's interpretation, though. Still, I doubt I'm alone there.

As for your other point about something happening to Brian in the early 80s, it's an interesting thought. I'll agree there - I can very much hear his current voice on BB85, but nothing prior. Anything before that album, he still sounded like Brian, albeit a Brian with a very different sound from 74 and after. His phrasing on 15 Big Ones and Love You are especially consistent with his late 60s/early 70s voice.

[Wirestone]

I just don't hear even the slightest bit of it, strangely.

It struck me most on the Gershwin album, I think. That and Midnight's Another Day. But this is obviously incredibly subjective.

[adam78]

Re: Autotune.  Can't autotune live vocals.  Surprisingly, Brian consistantly sings all this stuff pretty damn good in a live setting. 

Just a quick point on this. There are a number of ways you can auto tune a vocal live on the fly these days.

[b00ts]

I love this topic. Here are some of my thoughts -- I've posted a great deal on this subject through the years.

-- The question actually isn't: "Why does Brian sound so much better now?" If someone didn't know his history and then listened to Gershwin or ITKoD, they would simply think he had aged normally from his hitmaking days in the Beach Boys. Sure, he doesn't sound exactly the same, but that general smooth, detached sound remains. The real question, then, is "Why did he sound so terrible for 30-odd years?"

-- I think you have to look at the 80s and the 90s carefully. I have long felt there was some kind of event in the early 80s, during that horrible pre-Landy period, that actually damaged Brian's brain. While his tone had been awful for a long time, he still knew how to phrase. But just listen to something like "Stevie" -- which still has sweetness in it -- and compare it to BB85, which is the first full-on "shouty" album. Something happened to BW. Everyone denies a stroke, but I still kind of believe it.

-- Perhaps Brian also wanted to sing differently. There is some evidence that he wanted to sing like the lead vocalist in the Modern Folk Quartet -- and if you listen to that group's take on "This Could Be the Night," you definitely hear an influence on the BW88 vocals.

-- I think you look at BB85, BW88 and Sweet Insanity, you can see an upward progression in vocal quality. Parts of SI are actually deeply impressive. But then Landy leaves and Brian craters again. He gets really fat. He starts smoking a lot. And that's why you have the big dip in tonal quality during the Paley Sessions and OCA.

-- OCA is an incredible document of Brian's voice, by the way. It was recorded over a lengthy period -- two or three years? -- most of them post-Landy and pre-Melinda marriage. And Brian sounds like several different people over the course of the record! He has never sounded odder. There's some of the SI power and range, but also some bizarre phrasing and disastrous tone. And he didn't even finish it -- backing vocalists were called in to finish his backing vocals on several songs!

(SNIP SNIP SNIP)

-- At a certain level, this recent change is also a mirage. It's not that Brian's voice has improved in the sense that he can now sing his old falsetto parts impeccably, or his songs in all their original keys. It's that he's finally learned to sing with the voice he does have, and use it for the effects that it can produce, rather than trying to force it out of its natural space.

As I said, fascinating and fun!

Yes, exactly. Brian has learned to sing with his 'new' voice and to utilize it to its best potential. At times, it evokes his voice from the 60s because he has finally become somewhat comfortable in his own skin, and has learned to sing with subtlety.

I don't know how someone could not hear the change, even between TLOS and ITKOD. If Brian went back and re-did his 2004 SMiLe vocals, songs like "Wonderful" would be much better off. This isn't to say that BWPS has duff vocals like GIOMH does - Brian clearly put a lot of effort into the BWPS vocals, and anything less would have marred an otherwise sublime piece of work.

Essentially, redoing SMiLe from the ground up at the age of 60+ years old with modern technology was an extremely audacious move. The original album seemingly depended largely on the voices of The Beach Boys and Brian circa the mid 1960s. Perhaps even more importantly, SMiLe has always been inextricably linked to the recording techniques of the era.

With insanely talented and well-versed people like Mark Linett, Darian Shahanaja, et. al. working with him, Brian was able to essentially pull off what was previously thought to be impossible. With everyone else bringing their "A" game, he stepped up and delivered in spades. Imagine if somebody told you, after the release of Imagination in 1998, that the album after the next one would be a finished version of SMiLe, completely re-recorded from scratch, and that he would perform it as a live piece, touring all over the world for a couple of years.

Incidentally, I agree that there was an improvement between BW88 and Sweet Insanity. It is interesting that Brian "starting from zero," so to speak, had a big effect on the quality of his vocals. It speaks volumes to the fact that Brian needs a good support network of people who understand his mind and his music. I am not a Brianista by any means, but with all the negativity and niggling towards Brian's organization (some of it justified), it is easy to forget just how far he has come with their assistance, motivation, and support.

Now that I think about it, the first appearance of his 'Mad Dog' growling rock and roll voice was probably on Sweet Insanity. It was not to be heard again until "Goin' Home" on TLOS. I hope we hear it again soon!

[b00ts]

Re: Autotune.  Can't autotune live vocals.  Surprisingly, Brian consistantly sings all this stuff pretty damn good in a live setting. 

Just a quick point on this. There are a number of ways you can auto tune a vocal live on the fly these days.

Yes, I have seen racks of auto tune modules backstage at shows (usually shows I wouldn't want to attend). It has nearly always been obvious to me when used live or in the studio, even when used in a subtle manner such as on BWPS.

Sometimes, a singer (like Stevie Wonder) has such good control and pitch that he almost sounds auto tuned - even Stevie's 70's albums have this quality. Stevie knows how to sing with soul, though.

Unfortunately, the rampant, unwarranted use of Autotune in post production, even when people can sing well and hit the notes, has resulted in singers largely adopting the style of auto tune in their singing, making pitch the most important thing in their performance and sacrificing nuance and feeling.

It really bothers me because I record block harmonies and sometimes people assume that I use a 'harmonizer' or pitch correction, and it is one technique I never, ever employ (I like the sound of a natural, non-computerized human voice, although vocoders are cool).

[Roger Ryan]

I just don't hear even the slightest bit of it, strangely.

It struck me most on the Gershwin album, I think. That and Midnight's Another Day. But this is obviously incredibly subjective.

One thing that colors this whole issue is that I think Brian held onto his adolescent voice much longer than other performers. For many vocalists, we're actually hearing the adult voice on their earliest recorded material, so it may not be as dramatic a change as they age. Brian, on the other hand, was captured in all his adolescent glory throughout the 60s. Carl was as well...and you can hear how his tone changes as he enters adulthood (of course, there was a ton of smoking going on there). There is no question that Brian damaged his voice during the 70s, but I wonder how much different he would sound today had he taken care of that voice? I suspect it would not be as different as we might think.

[runnersdialzero]

There is no question that Brian damaged his voice during the 70s, but I wonder how much different he would sound today had he taken care of that voice? I suspect it would not be as different as we might think.

Eh, don't agree. He doesn't sound a thing like he used to. Still sounds good, but in an entirely different way. I really feel his voice would be drastically different nowadays had things not happened in the way they did.

[Aegir]

Just take a look at the falsetto live replacements (Adrian Baker, Jeff Foskett, Matt Jardine), they all sound pretty much the same today as they did in their 20s/30s.

[Wylson]

Or Al, or Bruce, or Carl who all sound(ed) like an exact older version of themselves.

[Ron]

I just don't hear even the slightest bit of it, strangely.

It struck me most on the Gershwin album, I think. That and Midnight's Another Day. But this is obviously incredibly subjective.

I hear echoes of him all the time, but you can hear it in some of the older solo stuff too.  If you listen to Live @ the Roxy, when the band breaks into "Don't Worry Baby", although it's a couple keys lower, Brian sounds remarkably similar to the original record.  Not in the notes or the falsetto, but just the old-school Brian Wilson tone.  His voice had a kind of hollow sound to it, it's hard to describe but you can definately hear it pop up on many of his songs he's done over the years that makes you think "Hey! He's still in there somewhere!"

[Ron]

Re: Autotune.  Can't autotune live vocals.  Surprisingly, Brian consistantly sings all this stuff pretty damn good in a live setting.  

Just a quick point on this. There are a number of ways you can auto tune a vocal live on the fly these days.

Alright sir.  

Re: Autotune.  Isn't autotuning live voals.  Surpsingly, Brian consistantly sings all this stuff pretty darn good in a live setting.

[SMiLE Brian]

Or Al, or Bruce, or Carl who all sound(ed) like an exact older version of themselves.

Old Brian with an older version of his original voice would sound interesting...