Brooth ruined "God Only Nose"

[bonnevillemariner]

Always liked Bruce in the vocal blend, though I don't care for his songwriting.

GOK with Bruce is perfect.

Never liked OSD or his stupid "Myke and Brooth" talk.  Good riddance.

[TimmyC]

"ruined" may be a bit melodramatic, but hear me out.  I'm sure a number of us would like to regard "God Only Knows" as perfection, but the flaw--and it grates my ears--is Bruce's vocal part near the end: he sounds off-pitch, nasally, and doesn't blend with Brian & Carl.  

Am I alone here?  Does anyone else feel this way?

It doesn't ruin it for me (far from it), but I can't help but hear Bruce's voice and think "that's not The Beach Boys," as ridiculous as that sounds, since he's been in the band for almost 50 years. The rest of the guys can sound alike. Mike can sound like Dennis, who can sound like Brian, who can sound like Carl or Al. Bruce just sounds like, well, Bruce.

I actually prefer Bruce's leads more than his backups. That way I can just say, "this is a Bruce song" rather than, "Oh, that's Bruce on a Beach Boys song."

I'm also a weirdo who's not a big fan of half of Smile, Friends and Smiley Smile. So, feel free to dismiss my opinion.

Well, the guy who wrote Barry Manilow's biggest hit says Friends is wimpy, so feel free to dislike some of it.

I don't mind Bruce one way or the other. He's harmless. But you're right, he really does stick out from the rest.
 And not in a cool way like Blondie did, either.

To me, I'm not ever sure Bruce wasn't created in a lab! The Beach Boys needed a new Beach Boy, so they all donated blood and some team of Capitol Records scientists put Bruce together via the other Beach Boys DNA..... He's second only to Ron Wood as the most perfect replacement guy in music history.

100% agreed. Except I'd add Kenney Jones to the list. Kidding.

[Gregg]

Bruce added a very important yet sometimes subtle element to the background vocal blend. He would usually sing the very highest part, sometimes really, really way up there. Bruce had, and still has from what I heard on the 50th tour last year and the new album, the ability to sing this super high, pure falsetto. And Brian knew how to very cleverly take advantage of it with his background vocal arrangements. It added a certain fullness and upper-end sheen to the blend. You can really hear it more clearly on some of the vocals only mixes.

I'm not a big a fan of his lead vocals, but heck, how many singers would fare well against the likes of Carl Wilson or Brian in his prime? But I think too often Bruce's role gets shrugged off as superfulous or insignificant, when I think his voice was often very integral to that full, magical BB blend that we all love so much.

[Niko]

Bruce added a very important yet sometimes subtle element to the background vocal blend. He would usually sing the very highest part, sometimes really, really way up there. Bruce had, and still has from what I heard on the 50th tour last year and the new album, the ability to sing this super high, pure falsetto. And Brian knew how to very cleverly take advantage of it with his background vocal arrangements. It added a certain fullness and upper-end sheen to the blend. You can really hear it more clearly on some of the vocals only mixes.

I'm not a big a fan of his lead vocals, but heck, how many singers would fare well against the likes of Carl Wilson or Brian in his prime? But I think too often Bruce's role gets shrugged off as superfulous or insignificant, when I think his voice was often very integral to that full, magical BB blend that we all love so much.

His falsetto is still very strong, though you don't see him flex it, unless it's the end of Fun Fun Fun. It would be interesting to know just how strong his falsetto actually is.
His voice isn't too strong in the natural register anymore however. It's like he can't get enough air out while he's singing, though he can still hit all the notes.

[Micha]

Micha, you seem to be wallowing in the details of OSD's banning(s) and savoring it.

That is an accurate observation. Yes, I'm really curious what events led to his bannings. Even though personally I'm glad he's gone I can't remember him insulting other board posters so harshly that it would justify a ban, maybe those postings were deleted.

Of course I sincerely respect the opinions of everybody who enjoyed the less childish postings from him.

Sorry for the late answer, somehow I had overlooked this thread for a while.