The Definitive Vocal Credits Thread...

[Andrew G. Doe]

Yup. Alan takes a line or two in the choruses.

[southbay]

chorus 1= Carl
chorus 2= Al
chrorus3= sounds like a Carl/Al combo

[adamghost]

chorus 1= Carl
chorus 2= Al
chrorus3= sounds like a Carl/Al combo

The mix is such a murky mess, I think the entire vocal should be credited to a Yamaha SPX-90.

[John]

Alan is definitely on IN MY CAR.

We still need to get Rock 'n' Roll To The Rescue sorted out, I think.

And judging by that Happy Endings link, the credit is Little Richard, Carl and Mike. What a bloody awful song though.  That might well be their recorded nadir (although, as I've said, I've never heard SiP). It's a long way from Tutti Frutti and God Only Knows, right there.

Thanks so far.

[Andrew G. Doe]

My take on "In My Car":

[Brian]When I'm behind the wheel
Horses of gas and steel
The highway is my home
In fiberglass and chrome

Fantasy car shiny Corvette
Let's take a ride you can't forget
Come on pretty lady ride with me

[Carl]
In my car
I'm captain of my destiny
In my car
Pretty babe come cruise with me
Come for a drive
And we'll arrive
Feelin' alive

[Brian]I'm master of my fate
When I accelerate
My new Vette is my throne
When on the road we roam we roam we roam roam

Cruisin' like we're in a dream
Feelin' like we're still sixteen
Being a part of the great American scene

[Alan]In my car
I'm captain of my destiny
In my car
Pretty babe come cruise with me
Come for a drive
And we'll arrive
Feelin' alive

[Brian]
Cruise cruise cruise with me baby
Now move move up in the stratosphere
Zoom zoom zoom with me darlin' now
We're still cruisin' after all these
Cruisin' after all these years

Wind blowing in my hair
I feel like a millionaire
Radio is blasting strong
We're breaking out in song

Blazing trails both near and far
Park my car behind a star
Life is full of possibilities

[Carl & Alan]
In my car
I'm captain of my destiny
In my car
Oh pretty babe come cruise with me
Come for a drive
And we'll arrive
Feelin' alive

In my car
I'm captain of my destiny
In my car
Oh pretty babe come cruise with me

[mikeyj]

What a bloody awful song though.  That might well be their recorded nadir (although, as I've said, I've never heard SiP).

Wait till you hear "Summer of Love". Stroke of genius right there

[Andrew G. Doe]

"Happy Endings":

verse 1 - Mr. Penniman

verse 2 - Carl/Mike/Carl

chorus - Carl [counter: Alan]/LR/Carl [Alan]/LR

verse 3 - Mr. Penniman

chorus - Carl [counter: Alan]/LR/Carl [Alan]/LR

verse 4 - Carl/Mike/Mr. Penniman.

tag - Carl

[Andrew G. Doe]

"Somewhere Near Japan":

[Mike]Late last night I got an S. O. S.
The fairy tale girl's in deep in distress
She says I don't know where I am
But it's near Japan

[Carl]My engine's all burned out
My crew has all [Omnes]bailed out
[Bruce]I don't know where I am
[Mike]But it's somewhere near Japan

[Mike]And she said
[Omnes]Rescue me
[Mike]I'm somewhere in the
[Omnes]China Sea
[Mike]I think I'm sinkin' fast
[Carl]This call is probably my last
I'm throwin' out a life line
And I'm doin' it for old time's sake
Though I know you're gonna break my heart
One more time

[Mike]Late last night I got an S. O. S.
The fairy tale girl's in deep in distress
She says I don't know where I am
But it's near Japan

[Carl]My engine's all burned out
My crew has all [Omnes]bailed out
[Bruce]I don't know where I am
[Mike]But it's somewhere near Japan

[Mike]And she said
[Omnes]Thank you dear
[Mike]I think she sounded
[Omnes]Quite sincere
[Mike]And when she turned to go
[Carl]She said I crave adventure don't you know

[Alan]And now she's driftin' on some Chinese junk
Her world is spinning and her hope has sunk
So I close my eyes
And I'm somewhere near Japan
The spinning stopped and the world stood still
I broke her fall and I always will
Strung out in no man's land
Somewhere near Japan
[Omnes]Rescue me

[CosmicDancer]

A while back someone posted their opinion that Terry Melcher was actually the "Carl" voice in Somewhere in Japan (I'm throwin' out a life line....) as well as a lot of the Carl parts on SiP.  I can't say that I believe(d) it, but does anyone have any info?  It sounds way to much like Carl to be Melcher doing an impersonation.

[Andrew G. Doe]

"Make it Big":

Make it big
So big

[Carl]You can make it big
You can make it bigger than life
See your name spelled right
Up on the bright lights
Bright lights

Have a little faith in yourself
[Mike]In everything that you do
[Carl]I know youre gonna make it big if you want to
If you really want to
You can make it big

Bright lights

Have a little faith in yourself
[Mike]In everything that you do darlin
[Carl]I know youre goin make it big if you want to
If you really want to

[Mike]Baby youre a superstar
Lookin like youre goin far
[Alan]Do what you want
Why dont you do what you wanna

[Mike]You could be my little movie queen
Up there on the silver screen
[Alan]Do what you want
Go on and do what you wanna

[Mike]Catch a plane to hollywood
And right away youre best buddys
With johnny b. goode
And he say
[Alan]Baby welcome to the neighborhood
Now you can do what you want
Do what you wanna

[Carl]You can make it big
You can make it bigger than life
See your named spelled right
Up on the bright lights

Bright lights

Have a little faith in yourself
[Mike]In everything that you do
[Carl]I know youre goin to make it big
If you want to
If you really want to
You can make it big

Bright lights

Have a little faith in yourself
[Mike]In everything that you do
[Carl]I know youre goin to make it big
If you want to
If you really want to
You can make it big
So big
Make it big
[Mike & Brian]Oh I know you can make it
Everybody you can make it
Yes I know we can make it big
Darlin you can make it
I know youre gonna make it
Oo baby you can make it big

[Andrew G. Doe]

A while back someone posted their opinion that Terry Melcher was actually the "Carl" voice in Somewhere in Japan (I'm throwin' out a life line....) as well as a lot of the Carl parts on SiP.  I can't say that I believe(d) it, but does anyone have any info?  It sounds way to much like Carl to be Melcher doing an impersonation.

Terry may have voiced the demos and done some bvs, but he didn't have the smoothness and warmth of tone that Carl possessed.

Could be Alan, though...

[mikeyj]

A while back someone posted their opinion that Terry Melcher was actually the "Carl" voice in Somewhere in Japan (I'm throwin' out a life line....) as well as a lot of the Carl parts on SiP.

Are you talking about the Still Cruisin' album or Summer In Paradise? I'm confused

[shelter]

What a bloody awful song though.  That might well be their recorded nadir (although, as I've said, I've never heard SiP).

Certainly one of their very worst, yeah.

[CosmicDancer]

A while back someone posted their opinion that Terry Melcher was actually the "Carl" voice in Somewhere in Japan (I'm throwin' out a life line....) as well as a lot of the Carl parts on SiP.

Are you talking about the Still Cruisin' album or Summer In Paradise? I'm confused

Both.  Well, not necessarily the whole of Still Cruisin', just Somewhere Near Japan.  Like I said, I don't believe it at all, but I remember someone on here mentioning it.  I was just looking for definitive info from those in the know.

[southbay]

A while back someone posted their opinion that Terry Melcher was actually the "Carl" voice in Somewhere in Japan (I'm throwin' out a life line....) as well as a lot of the Carl parts on SiP.  I can't say that I believe(d) it, but does anyone have any info?  It sounds way to much like Carl to be Melcher doing an impersonation.

That is Carl on Japan.  No Melcher on the US SIP.  However, he clearly takes Carl's "ooh I got it bad" on the Euro SIP Island Fever, which ruins the entire song by itself.  This change is odd since Carl IS on the Euro version of this song in other places...
And by the way, although I still disagree with Mr. Doe on RRTTR, he has nailed (as usual) the credits for Somewhere Near Japan, Make It Big, Happy Endings AND In My Car.

[adamghost]

Just reading the lyrics to these songs make me break out in a sweat.  I'm happy to go along with whatever anyone says about who sang them so I don't have to listen to them.

"Happy Endings" is one of the few cases I can think of where Carl turns in an utterly tasteless vocal.  Talk about overemoting.  I wonder if he was subconsciously trying to wreck the song.  The video for it looks like one of those weird dreams you have after eating Taco Bell at 1 a.m.  Seriously.

"Rock 'n' Roll To The Rescue" may be the last Beach Boys track I really like, though I thought the "Hot Fun" single was at least an inspired choice of a cover (although when we did the gig with Jardine, he saw it on our set list and was aghast:  "You're not doing our verison, are you?"  "No."  "Thank God.")

To me, "Kokomo" ended the Beach Boys artistically, because ML from that point on kept cynically trying to make lightning strike twice.  RNRTR, which preceded it by only two years, showed Love-Melcher could come up with an interesting idea when they weren't trying so hard.  After "Kokomo"?  Ugh.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Listen to the percadella mix - it's much more obvious there. FWIW I thought it was Brian too until I heard that.

IMHO,
The first time it's Brian, second time maybe both, 3rd time is definitely Al. Honestly, Al's vocals on that part sound like some form of pitch correction was used. Obviously, Pro Tools and its autotune feature were a couple of years away, but  Al's vocals on that one particular part sound rather unnatural.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Just reading the lyrics to these songs make me break out in a sweat.  I'm happy to go along with whatever anyone says about who sang them so I don't have to listen to them.

"Happy Endings" is one of the few cases I can think of where Carl turns in an utterly tasteless vocal.  Talk about overemoting.  I wonder if he was subconsciously trying to wreck the song.  The video for it looks like one of those weird dreams you have after eating Taco Bell at 1 a.m.  Seriously.

"Rock 'n' Roll To The Rescue" may be the last Beach Boys track I really like, though I thought the "Hot Fun" single was at least an inspired choice of a cover (although when we did the gig with Jardine, he saw it on our set list and was aghast:  "You're not doing our verison, are you?"  "No."  "Thank God.")

To me, "Kokomo" ended the Beach Boys artistically, because ML from that point on kept cynically trying to make lightning strike twice.  RNRTR, which preceded it by only two years, showed Love-Melcher could come up with an interesting idea when they weren't trying so hard.  After "Kokomo"?  Ugh.

Gotta disagree, in that IMHO "Strange things Happen" is a great song.

[SloopJohnB]

And by the way, although I still disagree with Mr. Doe on RRTTR, he has nailed (as usual) the credits for Somewhere Near Japan, Make It Big, Happy Endings AND In My Car.

Ditto. And frankly, about RRTTR, I declare myself incompetent. Sometimes it sounds like Al and Mike, sometimes like Brian alone, sometimes like Al and Brian, sometimes like Al alone. It's just too much of a pitch-corrected mess. Perhaps Andrew is right after all! 

[southbay]

Just reading the lyrics to these songs make me break out in a sweat.  I'm happy to go along with whatever anyone says about who sang them so I don't have to listen to them.

"Happy Endings" is one of the few cases I can think of where Carl turns in an utterly tasteless vocal.  Talk about overemoting.  I wonder if he was subconsciously trying to wreck the song.  The video for it looks like one of those weird dreams you have after eating Taco Bell at 1 a.m.  Seriously.

"Rock 'n' Roll To The Rescue" may be the last Beach Boys track I really like, though I thought the "Hot Fun" single was at least an inspired choice of a cover (although when we did the gig with Jardine, he saw it on our set list and was aghast:  "You're not doing our verison, are you?"  "No."  "Thank God.")

To me, "Kokomo" ended the Beach Boys artistically, because ML from that point on kept cynically trying to make lightning strike twice.  RNRTR, which preceded it by only two years, showed Love-Melcher could come up with an interesting idea when they weren't trying so hard.  After "Kokomo"?  Ugh.

Gotta disagree, in that IMHO "Strange things Happen" is a great song.

Agreed re Strange Things.  Also, Somewhere Near Japan had it's moments (and take note that on each occasion Love ditched the Kokomo formula. As noted by many, straying from that formula was indeed VERY RARE post 88).

[MBE]

 From the post Dennis era I like only a handful of songs. Getcha Back, California Dreamin (which was partly done back in 1982), RRTTR, Somewhere Near Japan, and maybe Crocodile Rock.

 On SIP the title cut, Hot Fun, and Strange Things could have been good if the production was better. Actually the title cut needed some lyrical rewriting excising the part where they mention songs titles and themselves. Hot Fun was a good choice to cover, but the production let's it down and the video is really cheesy and almost ruined it for me. The first time I heard it was on the radio and I actually thought it was very good then but it doesn't hold up.

You're Still A Mystery and Soul Serchin were the best things they did post 83 and they were not issued of course.

[Jonas]

You're Still A Mystery and Soul Serchin were the best things they did post 83 and they were not issued of course.

Agreed! I listened to Mystery 47 times the other night...in a row! 

damn whiskey.

[adamghost]

I like the '90s Paley stuff a lot...probably all in all my favorite post-LIGHT ALBUM material from any of the band...but of course, it wasn't released.

[adamghost]

<<The first time it's Brian, second time maybe both, 3rd time is definitely Al. Honestly, Al's vocals on that part sound like some form of pitch correction was used.>>

I've already weighed in on this, so I'll drop it after this, but again:  3rd time, on the words "I said," there's a lisp that is quintessentially '80s Brian.  Can't ever remember Al lisping anything at any time, the 3rd time vocal does sound better but to me, not like a different person sang it. 

That said, I still maintain the entire song was sung by Maurice Gibb....

[John]

So it's Brian?

Is there a link anywhere so I an hear it? I tried Youtube but couldn't seem to find it...