cigarette smoking in the beach boys

[The Heartical Don]

I like Brian's zillion-tracked voice on Orange Crate Art. And I enjoy that album quite a lot too, when I'm in the right mood.

Same here. On OCA his voice is way better than on, say, 15BO or LY. It is flat, and a bit thin (hence the multitracking) but he holds his tunes well and gets to the high notes. My thoughts: the material perhaps asks for a different singer, and I think everyone who heard VDP sing this material ('Live At The Ash Grove', and the couple of live shows I was happy to attend) knows that it's perfect for... VDP himself. My bet: VDP intended most of the songs for himself, but donated them to Brian out of a long friendship.

[James Hughes-Clarke]

IMO, Brian's voice hit rock-bottom around the time he recorded the 'Orange Crate Art' album for VDP.  It's very unfortunate that he apparently resumed smoking during that immediate post-Landy period.

Really?  I thought his vocals on Orange Crate Art were excellent. 

[juggler]

Really?  I thought his vocals on Orange Crate Art were excellent. 

To each his own, but I guess we have different standards of excellence.  To me, Brian's vocals on tracks like "Movies Is Magic" are among the worst he ever recorded.  I remember someone at the time saying that Brian was starting to sound like Buddy Hackett (i.e., raspy, slurred speech delivered out the side of his mouth).    And, sadly, it was true.   IMO, Brian's voice has improved substantially since those days.

[James Hughes-Clarke]

Really?  I thought his vocals on Orange Crate Art were excellent. 

To each his own, but I guess we have different standards of excellence.  To me, Brian's vocals on tracks like "Movies Is Magic" are among the worst he ever recorded.  I remember someone at the time saying that Brian was starting to sound like Buddy Hackett (i.e., raspy, slurred speech delivered out the side of his mouth).    And, sadly, it was true.   IMO, Brian's voice has improved substantially since those days.

Yes Juggler, our standards of excellence appear somewhat polarised.  IMO his vocals on Orange Crate Art strike the right balance between inspired, spirited, vulnerable and tuneful. With a sprinkling of the old BW falsetto on top. To be honest I can't hear a vast difference between his Orange Crate Art vocals and anything on 'Getting in Over My Head' or 'Lucky Old Sun'. All that changes is the quality of the material, which seems to dictate Brian's level of enthusiam, and therefore quality of vocal performance. He's clearly enjoying himself on Orange Crate Art, and IN GENERAL his vocals on 'Lucky Old Sun' are superior to GIOMH, but there's still inconsistency.  For example, I think he could have done a much better vocal take on Midnight's Another Day - which reveals that (oddly) he seems to be losing more of his lower register these days.

To me, most of his vocals on 15 Big Ones and Love You were distressingly bad, especially when set in contrast to how he still sounded just a few years prior to that.  Perhaps I'm TOO grateful that he was able to come back from that, and produce some sublime vocals, such as on (the bizarrely underrated) BW88 and (yes) Orange Crate Art.

[Autotune]

OCA is interesting in that Brian's voice sounds old, cracky and forced, and YET quite athletic! He's singing these intricate tunes and harmonies, hitting the highest notes he's sung since then. He sounds pretty confident also.

Regarding "Hold back time", that's Brian + Danny Hutton. And reportedly, a rough take was used for the album instead of the correct one.

[mikeyj]

My bet: VDP intended most of the songs for himself, but donated them to Brian out of a long friendship.

Or, as someone once put it, he was just using Brian's name in order to help increase record sales.

[The Heartical Don]

My bet: VDP intended most of the songs for himself, but donated them to Brian out of a long friendship.

Or, as someone once put it, he was just using Brian's name in order to help increase record sales.

...which I don't believe. If there's one person whose generosity and kindness is beyond doubt for me, it is VDP (based on personal contact and e-mails).

[shelter]

...which I don't believe. If there's one person whose generosity and kindness is beyond doubt for me, it is VDP (based on personal contact and e-mails).

I believe that. And after all, VDP does have some reasons to be grateful to BW.

[Dr. Tim]

According to the Carlin book, all of you are correct.  It was an act of friendship for VDP to offer the vocal chores to Brian, and also a smart marketing move, making it look like the "Smile" team was up to a new work even though the songs were all Van Dyke's.  And Brian, even with all the damage done, had much better vocal chops than Van Dyke, whose voice is reedy and weak (see "Song Cycle").   Van Dyke would never have been able to produce harmony vocals with the facility which Brian could do in his sleep.  Recall Van Dyke's answer to Brian when Brian asked why he was even in the studio to begin with:  "Because I can't stand the sound of my own voice!"

[sofonanm]

on the subject of cigarettes...

i've never been a smoker of tobacco but tonight i had an American Spirit cigarette,
it was pretty good compared to other brands i've tried...nice tasting tobacco,
great mellow buzz, and 'smooth' smoke on the throat, but it has absolutely stunk up my room!

what a pervasive, ugly stench it leaves! yucky!

my body is so sensitive these days, i feel everything so strongly, so i can feel so much noise in this organism from just one cigarette.

i really don't enjoy having anything in my system that causes a significant change these days...
the most daring i get is TEA which i take with ritualistic seriousness

my new, beautiful yixing clay mug has become my 'piece' with just as much emotional attachment
and tea is sobering

this this this, a thousand times THIS

if only the Beach Boys preferred tea...

[MBE]

Back in my Cigarette days I think I tried one of those. It was pretty good but now I can't stand smoke. I quit more or less in 2001 and the last time I bummed one in 2004 it made me really sick. Tea would have been much better for the boys I agree lol! So does Al Jardine I'm sure.

[sofonanm]

Back in my Cigarette days I think I tried one of those. It was pretty good but now I can't stand smoke. I quit more or less in 2001 and the last time I bummed one in 2004 it made me really sick. Tea would have been much better for the boys I agree lol! So does Al Jardine I'm sure.

I dunno about that, MBE - tea stains the teeth! 

[Rob Dean]

I will tell you a story - Back in the tale end of 1980 i answered an advert in BB Stomp by Eddy Fieiken (cant remember how to spell his name) who had shot some Home Movie Vid of the BB's in Den Haag in the Netherlands (transpires to been their last gig there) and he was requesting that a number of us clubbed together to get the footage transferred to video tape (and each contributor getting a copy) which in those days was quite a technical and expensive process.
I still remember with great glee getting the said copy on Betamax (remember thoses??) tape , but was somewhat suprised to see Mike seeming to hold a cigarette after H & V in his mouth for a few seconds.
I have just found the footage on You Tube , and YES though not conclusive it certainly looks like it OR just maybe Mike had visited one of those famous Amsterdam Cafe's in the afternoon.

[Alex]

Back in my Cigarette days I think I tried one of those. It was pretty good but now I can't stand smoke. I quit more or less in 2001 and the last time I bummed one in 2004 it made me really sick. Tea would have been much better for the boys I agree lol! So does Al Jardine I'm sure.

Are you sure tea would've been that great for the boys...after all, it was tea that caused the Rutles to lose their minds!

[smile-holland]

I will tell you a story - Back in the tale end of 1980 i answered an advert in BB Stomp by Eddy Fieiken (cant remember how to spell his name) who had shot some Home Movie Vid of the BB's in Den Haag in the Netherlands (transpires to been their last gig there) and he was requesting that a number of us clubbed together to get the footage transferred to video tape (and each contributor getting a copy) which in those days was quite a technical and expensive process.
I still remember with great glee getting the said copy on Betamax (remember thoses??) tape , but was somewhat suprised to see Mike seeming to hold a cigarette after H & V in his mouth for a few seconds.
I have just found the footage on You Tube , and YES though not conclusive it certainly looks like it OR just maybe Mike had visited one of those famous Amsterdam Cafe's in the afternoon.

... ah, you mean Eddy Feiken. The former chief of the Dutch Beach Boys Information Center (late 80ies). Bought quite some tapes from him a long time ago, and this footage was on one of them (and now guess who's the guy showing that Den Haag-footage on YouTube    ). Never knew he made that footage himself. So thanks for sharing that info with us. And I never noticed a cig at all. Going to check that out...

[Eddy Feiken]

Rob Dean,
My name was almost written correctly. It is Eddy Feiken.

[smile-holland]

Hello Eddy. Welcome om this board!

[Andrew G. Doe]

Rob Dean,
My name was almost written correctly. It is Eddy Feiken.

Eddy, my man ! Long time no see - remember when John Porteous & I emptied your fridge that Easter weekend in 1980 ? 

[mtaber]

Eddy... did you used to subscribe to my horrible newsletters?

[The Heartical Don]

Eddy... did you used to subscribe to my horrible newsletters?

I subscribed to Eddy's horrible newsletters  and he once offered me to take over the editorship (and the fanbase...). I declined, being a very shy young student. (even if Eddy doesn't recall any of this... it's true!)

[Andrew G. Doe]

Eddy... did you used to subscribe to my horrible newsletters?

Marty, back then we all did. Mainly because it was better than nothing. Just.

Seriously, late 70s/early 80s I subscribed to Marty's Friends of The Beach Boys, Eddy's Dutch BBFC, Don Cunningham's Add Some Music, David Leaf's Pet Sounds and the legendary Susumu Ogata's Japanese BBFC. And if you're wondering why I didn't subscribe to the UK's Beach Boys Stomp... well, hell, I wrote most of the damn thing. 

[donald]

IMO, Brian's voice hit rock-bottom around the time he recorded the 'Orange Crate Art' album for VDP.  It's very unfortunate that he apparently resumed smoking during that immediate post-Landy period.

Really?  I thought his vocals on Orange Crate Art were excellent. 

I like oca on occasion but Brian actually DOES sound like Mickey Mouse with a cold on the title cut.  I like his non falsetto voice on that album.

[Steve Mayo]

Eddy... did you used to subscribe to my horrible newsletters?

 and the legendary Susumu Ogata's Japanese BBFC.

man, i remember him. when i bought larry froebe's collection, larry had letters from him plus all these recordings on vinyl that he did. they were a hoot to listen to! 

[Mr. Cohen]

I don't think VDP had Brian sing on OCA as a favor to Brian. There was a TV interview about OCA, and Brian said that VDP brought him in to sing one song, and then after that, asked Brian to sing on all of the songs. Brian summarized his reaction as being something like this: "What?!?! I thought this was supposed to be your album!" I think VDP was just enjoying his time back with Brian, and, of course, he was always very insecure about his own voice. It was just fun to record with Brian, and I'm guessing Brian enjoyed the experience as well.

[Andrew G. Doe]

I don't think VDP had Brian sing on OCA as a favor to Brian. There was a TV interview about OCA, and Brian said that VDP brought him in to sing one song, and then after that, asked Brian to sing on all of the songs. Brian summarized his reaction as being something like this: "What?!?! I thought this was supposed to be your album!" I think VDP was just enjoying his time back with Brian, and, of course, he was always very insecure about his own voice. It was just fun to record with Brian, and I'm guessing Brian enjoyed the experience as well.

As I recall, Brian sat down to sing, then asked VDP why he was singing. "Because I can't stand the sound of my own voice". Brian pondered for a moment, then said "makes sense, let's go".