Rare song -- Brian playing "Susie Cincinnati" and "Little Child" in Holland!

[MarcellaHasDirtyFeet]

This is the incorrect speed, right?

[Jay]

I've come to believe that it's actually both Brian and Al trading lines on Daddy Dear. I think perhaps it's a case where they were both sitting around a piano, and one was teaching the song to the other, and said person started singing once they became familiar with the words and melody.

[buddhahat]

This is undoubtedly Brian. Go and listen to the '75 In The Back Of My Mind demo, then this, then tell me whether you still think it's Al!

I don't hear any trading of lines personally. The only other person I hear on the tape is Bruce reacting to Brian demoing this.

Wow. That is SO Brian Wilson. Did we find out if it's an original?

Do you mean the first song? It's 'Little Bird - Daddy Dear' apparently composed in the 30s by Cab Calloway:

https://youtu.be/b85EPad0yPw

I wonder if Brian heard this version from the Lawrence Welk show:

https://youtu.be/-R2QKmuqkZU

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

I've come to believe that it's actually both Brian and Al trading lines on Daddy Dear. I think perhaps it's a case where they were both sitting around a piano, and one was teaching the song to the other, and said person started singing once they became familiar with the words and melody.

Same here. You hear  a second voice kind of singing along part of the way through.

[rab2591]

Thanks for the links Buddhahat!

Absolutely beautiful song...No wonder Brian was tinkering with it! I'd love for this community to assemble a list of songs that Brian was interested in throughout the years. A playlist for both Spotify and Apple Music (and Youtube) would be great. It would probably help our understanding for his evolution of musical ideas throughout the years (especially the time between Smiley Smile and Love You).

[buddhahat]

Thanks for the links Buddhahat! Absolutely beautiful song...No wonder Brian was tinkering with it!

You're welcome! It is a beautiful song and I would have loved to hear how Brian might've produced this, at any point in his career.

I'd love for this community to assemble a list of songs that Brian was interested in throughout the years. A playlist for both Spotify and Apple Music (and Youtube) would be great. It would probably help our understanding for his evolution of musical ideas throughout the years (especially the time between Smiley Smile and Love You).

Good idea - get on it!

[tpesky]

If the demo was in Holland, it can't be Bruce he was never there. Likely Brian and Al.

[SMiLE Brian]

Put this on the damn bedroom tapes!

[buddhahat]

If the demo was in Holland, it can't be Bruce he was never there. Likely Brian and Al.

Fair point. That "mmm" at 1.50 sure sounds like Bruce to me though.

I've listened again and I'm struggling to hear any trading or doubling of lines. Somebody else occasionally whistles but that's the only secondary input I can hear.

Put this on the damn bedroom tapes!

Amen!

[Bellagio 1975]

It is Brian. 

[monkeytree5]

Wow there are hardcore BB fans than think this is Alan rather than Brian?
It sounds exactly like Brian, and like Shortenin' Bread, who other than Brian would be obsessed with an inconsequential obscure tune such as Daddy Dear in the early 70s?

[tpesky]

As well as obsessed with a B side his friend wrote 4 years earlier?

[HeyJude]

Wow there are hardcore BB fans than think this is Alan rather than Brian?
It sounds exactly like Brian, and like Shortenin' Bread, who other than Brian would be obsessed with an inconsequential obscure tune such as Daddy Dear in the early 70s?

Is there any evidence Brian was "obsessed" with a song of which we have one single sketchy home recording?

Al wasn't exactly going mainstream by riffing on stuff like "Raspberries, Strawberries" by the Kingston Trio in that same era.

Whether this tape is Brian or Al, or both, the songs selected and performed on the tape don't scream "Brian" to me at all. If anything, it's hard to argue that Brian doing "Susie Cincinnati" makes at least a *tiny bit* less sense than Al doing it.

[Rocky]

Well gang, we now have a HQ version out on the new box set. I was always Team Brian, but I’ll be darned if I haven’t changed my stance. The talking is unmistakably Al to me. I don’t have a physical copy of the set, is there any info given in the liner notes?

[bossaroo]

here's the info given for both songs 

Holland home recording - previously unreleased
lead vocal: Brian
recorded Summer 1972 at Brian Wilson's home in Laren Netherlands

[18thofMay]

It's Brian 100%. No debate

[HeyJude]

There are one or two spoken lines during that tape where Brian does sound remarkably like Al. I think all of the singing has always been easily believable as Brian. I think a bit of the speaking is what has thrown a lot of people off (in addition to a bit of Al-esque verbiage, and the weird choice of one singing one of Al's songs), to the point of various theories (such as both of them being on the tape and somehow both speaking at the same volume on the tape without talking over each other at all).

My big takeaway from this has always been that, rather than being some sort of pedantic, cranky debate, it's actually a good reminder of how much Al and Brian could sound like each other during the first 10-15 years of their career. Especially remarkable considering they're not related.

I think all of these guys, either just weirdly coincidentally, or because they picked up bits of singing style from each other, could almost all sound like various other members at times. Mike and Al could sound similar in the right circumstances, and even Mike and Brian now and then, especially circa '67.

[Rocky]

There are one or two spoken lines during that tape where Brian does sound remarkably like Al. I think all of the singing has always been easily believable as Brian. I think a bit of the speaking is what has thrown a lot of people off (in addition to a bit of Al-esque verbiage, and the weird choice of one singing one of Al's songs), to the point of various theories (such as both of them being on the tape and somehow both speaking at the same volume on the tape without talking over each other at all).

My big takeaway from this has always been that, rather than being some sort of pedantic, cranky debate, it's actually a good reminder of how much Al and Brian could sound like each other during the first 10-15 years of their career. Especially remarkable considering they're not related.

I think all of these guys, either just weirdly coincidentally, or because they picked up bits of singing style from each other, could almost all sound like various other members at times. Mike and Al could sound similar in the right circumstances, and even Mike and Brian now and then, especially circa '67.

Well said, I had an earth shattering realization a few years ago when I realized several vocals on the ‘Friends’ album were by Al that I had always attributed to Brian.