The Smiley Smile Message Board

Is it Brian channeling his old self, albeit temporarily, or is it Jeffrey Foskett channeling Brian? I've heard both. Any official word? What do you hear?

I guess it's Brian on a good day.

Adrian Baker?

Good question.  I always assumed it was Brian, but now you have me thinking.

I certainly hear Brian in: 'I Need Her, But You Need Him', but I doubt very much if the falsetto is him too. My bet is on some stand-in, hence Baker.

Definitely not Baker - he was long gone by this time. I know Jeff has said it's him, but there's a certain Brianesque tone about it. To these ears, anyway. My best guess is it's Jeff shading Brian.

I can hear Brian singing a lower part of the vocal arrangement. His voice clearly is all over the song.

Hi, there was a quote from Terry Melcher in one of McParlands Books, he said something like he's proud of Getcha Back  because it was the last time Brian sang falsetto on a record.

Cheers, but that strikes me as odd - as far as I know, Brian had shed his bad habits by then for years... if that were true, he could easily still have filled whole albums with that falsetto.

This is from the Good Vibrations box liner notes:

"So the group, prodded by CBS, began work with then-hot (Culture Club) producer Steve Levine. The result, a 1985 release simply titled The Beach Boys, was an album that suffered from not-strong enough songwriting and overprogrammed production. Included on the box from that disk is “Getcha Back” (Billboard #26), a Mike Love/Terry Melcher collaboration. With a nice group intro and Brian singing up top where he belongs, it feels like a Beach Boys record."

Doesn't make it true, but that's what it says.

 

If you listen to "Getcha Back" with headphones on, the falsetto sounds very much like Brian. Not 1965 Brian, but older Brian.

For the longest time I didn't believe it was Brian, but the closer I listened, I became convinced.  It's certainly processed, but Brian seemingly did channel his old voice on that one.

Liner notes to one of the Brother 2fers say Brian didn't make the Dutch trip.  ;D

(sigh) there's so much evil in the world, eh Andrew? :(

To my ears it sounds like Jeff Foskett shadowing Brian.  I hear Brian in there somewhere, but the prominent voice sounds more like Fosky to me.   I hear BW quite a bit in the other background vocals and of course the "I'll leave her, and you'll leave him" bit on the fade.

On the other hand, BW was still doing falsettos into the late 80s, witness "Heavenly Bodies" from the Usher sessions

One of the great mysteries of the universe....

To me, the falsetto on "Getcha Back" sounds like the older, cleaned-up-by-Landy Brian, which is why I've never questioned it being Brian.

Anyone who questions the idea of Brian being able to do falsetto should check out the solo performance he gave of Surfer Girl back in 1991 at somebody's party.  It used to be on youtube, but I'm having trouble finding it now.  Brian sings his original falsetto part, and sings it well.

For that matter, check out "she says that she needs me" on Imagination from 13 years later. In optimal studio conditions, Brian could still do a decent falsetto. That said, "Getcha Back" is unique for how darned high it is -- and how peculiar BW sounds (if indeed it's Brian).

Brian can still sing more than acceptable falsetto. When he wants to.

I'm almost certain Jeff is doing it on this live version...and you can hear the difference between it and the studio (which I believe in my heart is Brian)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6E0lRlXq3tc

He nails it on "Live Let Live" from TLOS. Granted, he'll probably never do it half as good on stage again, but it's there on wax.

This came up a while back.  I thought I had read it was Foskett and I had become convinced it was.  I still think so.

But someone here , supposdly an authority, absoultely insisted it was Brian.

 I also read they programmed the drums to have a Dennis sound.  So I assumed they were going all out for an authentic old school BB sound on that single, whatever it took.  And it sort of worked.

Does Jeff Foskett have a credit on this album?  I've always read that it was Brian singing the high part. 

Jeff's BB vocal credits, from his own website:

The Beach Boys (1980-90)
kokomo
still cruisin
island girl
make it big
wipe out
in my car
somewhere near japan
rock and roll to the rescue
california dreamin'
problem child
lady lynda / lady liberty
chasin' the sky
east meets west
happy endings (w/little richard)
getcha back
good vibrations (Sunkist TV Commercial Version)

Thought I read somewhere that BW and JF are the only BBs on the track....

Personally, I lean towards just BW...

The falsetto on "Getcha Back" is Brian.  Not saying Jeff isn't in the mix too, but the main falsetto part is Brian.  I've been told Terry should've received a producer's credit for "coaching" Brian into nailing it.  But it's Brian for sure. 

Jeff's on "She Believes In Love Again", and to me it sounds like he's on the intro to "It's Gettin' Late".

I don't know if anyone here saw BW at the Hollywood Bowl on the Pet Sounds tour in 2000, but I remember he brought out the falsetto big time on "Don't Talk".  When he got to the line of "and listen to my heartbeat", he sustained the note for at least as long as 1966 Brian on the actual album.  It was amazing....I got chills.  Apparently a lot of people in the audience did too because half the Hollywood Bowl crowd jumped to their feet and started applauding in the middle of the song!  At one time I owned the bootleg of that performance (light years better than the Pet Sounds Live album) and my memory was confirmed by that part of the CD.

I also saw BW open for Paul Simon at the Greek Theater in June, 2001.  The significance of that show was that Paul McCartney showed up with Heather Mills in the middle of "God Only Knows".  This was actually rather interesting because as soon as McCartney sat down, Brian "upped his game".  After  a very impressive Heroes and Villains, he sang Surf's Up in the original falsetto and without much help from Jeffrey Foskett.  It was very cool in a way, because you could see the 1960's rivalry between him and the Beatles was still there.  Too bad most of the Paul Simon crowd really didn't understand the significance of what they were seeing.

Very cool remembrances.. thank you

Yeah, that's what I think. I also thought technology might've helped a little.

While I like the falsetto a lot, it doesn't sound like it was one of the hardest ones Brian's ever done; it's not like one of the early/mid 60's ones.

No it definitely wasn't like one of his early falsetto parts, but it was definitely more than anybody who destroyed his voice should have been capable of.  It really is quite remarkable that Brian was able to rehabilitate his voice like that, given how awful it was not too long before.

It's Brian. He has talked about it. And he said he did it for his old friend Terry Melcher.

Jeff sang it on the July 4th concerts that year, and it sounds different. Different timber. Jeff is much stronger.

I don't know what some of you guys are talking about but a) it doesn't sound at all like a classic BW falsetto b) it doesn't sound like JF in classic BW style c) it may be JF shadowing BW - but to my ears it sounds and has always sounded like 80's Brian attempting a high falsetto.

Also I remember seeing on youtube a video of Brian at some private party in the early 90's singing Surfer Girl - - falsetto and all - - just by himself. So its not like Brian's voice had an expiration date and once it was past that he could no longer do it anymore.

Speaking of Brian's falsetto on the BB85 album, he sang in semi-falsetto (or whatever) on "I'm So Lonely".

No one ever said it sounds exactly like how he used to, but I do think it's a lot closer in tone to how he used to sound than anything 15BO to present day. Despite the song not being great (I do enjoy it for what it is, though), I got chills when I first heard it and thought that part was Brian.

I'm certainly not saying his falsetto these days sucks or that he's incapable, either. But consider how badly this guy damaged his voice over time, it was incredible that he was able to get that sound in 1985.

I remember reading somewhere that it was indeed Brian, and out of respect for Terry Melcher he busted his ass to get that vocal right.  So the difference in quality may just be a question of time, effort and interest for that particular track.

It sounds to me like the falsetto on Getcha Back is looped, as if he nailed it once, and they kept repeating it for the duration of the song.

Bingo. My thoughts.

I had never noticed it before, but I think you are absolutely right.

Exactly. If it had been Jeff, it would have sounded better.

Oh I'd bet my bottom dollar on that.  With the technology available, there was no sense in making him do a part that repeated over and over multiple times.  It's done all the time.

I saw a show on that same tour:  Wilson/Simon.  I thought the same thing!  Everybody was talking and halfway "enjoying" that "beach boy guy"
but just totally oblivious to the fact they were seeing Mozart or Gershwin.  Paul Simon's okay...not my cup of tee...but seriously not in the same league...and I suspect history to play out that way.

But this was well before BWPS...so to hear Heroes and Surf's Up...BLEW ME AWAY.  People must have been confused watching me!  "What's that guy's problem...and what Beach Boy song is this?"   :lol

I was blown away!!!  Hearing those tracks live, and with all the muscle of big live band --- was amazing.

You would suspect wrong.  Paul Simon is easily one of the best songwriters of all time.  And dare I say it, but unlike Brian Wilson, Paul Simon has been *consistently* good throughout his career (with the small exception of that The Capeman disaster). 

Yup. History will prove Brian Wilson, Lennon/McCartney, Bob Dylan, and Paul Simon as the greats of that era.

...and Heinz.

I did stay for the rest of the show.  The Paul Simon portion really wasn't that great.  All he seemed to play were mostly things from "Capeman", a couple of songs from "Rhythm of the Saints" (which I wasn't familiar with at the time) and 1-2 songs from "Graceland".   Mostly it just seemed like every song was another opportunity for Paul Simon to show off how "multicultural" he was by bringing out one world music backing group and set of instruments after another.  Frankly, I would have enjoyed seeing him just sit on a stool with an acoustic guitar and playing stuff from the 1960's and 1970's.    However, if I remember correctly, he played one song from the Simon&Garfunkel era and it wasn't very memorable.  Ironically, at the end of the show, Paul McCartney came on stage with a guitar and did a solo performance of "I've Just Seen A Face".  That brought down the house, and was better than the entire Paul Simon show before it.

But honestly, and this is just my view.

Paul never really reached the heights of something like Pet Sounds or SMilLE

"You would suspect wrong.  Paul Simon is easily one of the best songwriters of all time.  And dare I say it, but unlike Brian Wilson, Paul Simon has been *consistently* good throughout his career (with the small exception of that The Capeman disaster). " And You're the One.  Everything else, I love.  Much as I think BW has had an infinitely greater influence on pop/rock, I think Simon's always likely to get the praise, his songs and lyrics being rather more obvioulsy in the American songbook tradition and his leanings towards jazz certainly don't hurt! Hey, I prefer BW's stuff, but I do like Simon.

The Getcha Back falsetto has always sounded like Brian to me.  The fact that it is heavily reverbed and not very upfront were indications to me, when I first heard the song, that Brain could still do it, but that a fair amount of processing was needed to give it a more listenable as well as classic sound.

And, I'll also add that Getcha Back has been, since it's release 24 years ago (with the single being released in May, followed by the LP in June, and the CD in August), one of my favorite BB songs.

Yeah, I wasn't trying to knock anyone for not liking Paul Simon.  As to who was more influential, that's all apples and oranges.  They BOTH were significant as American songwriters and they will be remembered for that.  And yeah, You're The One did kinda suck.  But his most recent studio album Surprise was excellent.

Kind of like how the chorus of "Good Vibrations" was nailed once and was repeated for the duration of the song?

Either way, it's Mike's most annoying vocal track.

Is this the Surfer Girl video referenced above?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JE6xnns1lpw

My perception seems to differ from many people's regarding this falsetto part.  It sounds like a typical 1976-1995 shrill coke-cigs-cheeseburgers Brian falsetto (15 Big Ones through Wilson-Paley) to me-- but triple-tracked.  I don't hear any of the "one last time like the old days" quality that some people are hearing, nor do I hear any digital processing hoo-ha beyond reverb and compression.  To me his falsetto sounds ten times better than that (and no less on-key-- the accuracy of the pitch of that falsetto is all over the place) on most of GIOMH, and even on BW '88. 

I think the highest falsetto note on the track is a fourth-line-on-treble-clef-actual sounding-pitch D (the song starts off in the key of A, and shifts up to B-flat, IIRC), which as you'll see, is at or only one whole-step above the range that Brian uses in concert and on recording nowadays.  Not only that, but he sang at least a whole step higher on record perhaps ten years after the BB '85 album.

Everything above a second-line G is falsetto for Brian, at least these last few decades, and all pitches referred to herein are above that G.  The highest he ever sang in the 60's was F (Surf's Up demo, among probably many examples) or G, other than a whooped REALLY high B-flat on Forever at the end.

I think BW '88 and Sweet Insanity may have both gone as high as top-line F above that aforementioned D in the Getcha Back BV's-- not sure.  For sure, his highest falsetto on OCA (recorded 1993-1995) go up to a top-space E  (same top note as Let Him Run Wild, original version).  As far as the Wilson/Paley sessions (pitch-corrected version)-- probably an E in BV's-- not sure.   

After that-- highest on Imagination (1998): third-space C.  Highest on BW on Tour DVD-- D-flat (C-sharp) (demonstrating the falsetto of Desert Drive in rehearsal to Jeff).  Highest on GIOMH (BV's [backing vocals] for The Waltz) and Xmas (Joy to the World): C.  Highest on Xmas mp3 "The Xmas Song" (08?)-- C in (pitch-corrected-to-hell-and-back) BV's.  Highest on SMiLE-- B? (But it sounds like Brian singing both parts on the ascending and descending BV scales for the "Over and over the crow flies" part to me, and that goes up to 4th-line D.)

Highest live since touring: C one of the early songs (I forget which) added in perhaps '08-09 (car song? -- the lead vocals were a duet with Foskett.)   Pet Sounds Live took him to a strong Ab in falsetto (Don't Talk), a long shouted A in Sloop John B (harmonizing above Jeff, who is singing the melody on that refrain-- remember how rough that was on whichever TV talk-show he sang it on in 2001-ish-- the appearance where he kind-of-forcibly grinned into the camera for the whole song) and a brief shouted B-flat (I Know There's an Answer).  Highest live in 2010-- at least B-flat, maybe a quick thin-sounding C.

TLOS demos-- C, I think.  TLOS proper: at least B-flat (pretty wordless part at about the three-fifths point of Midnight's Another Day).

Overall, his backing vocals on practically every song on every single album through the TLOS demos (06 or 07) have a falsetto part on top of his blocked harmonies.  (SMiLE and WIRWFC used the band with Jeff on top, but still included a few chord-topping Brian falsettos from time to time.)

It's amazing that these days not only does he enunciate (new teeth) and sing with feeling and involvement with the lyrics like he hasn't done in about 35 years, but his tardive dyskenesia (sp.?) appears to be about two-thirds gone, compared to 1994 (IJWMFTT film).  He's singing higher live now than he did five years ago-- he tops out both live and recently-recorded at a high C for BV's, and maybe a B-flat for lead vocals), and he almost never falls into that "I just ate 37 saltines without drinking a drop of water, and now I'm live on stage, singing falsetto where I should be singing chest voice but I can't because of debilitating anxiety!  Damn saltines!" sort of falsetto any longer.  Those high c's are generally more smooth-sounding than they were 10 or 15 years ago, though perhaps not as strong and unwavering in pitch and intensity.  For the past few years he's been able to knock out an occasional phrase or two with that sweet 1965 Blue-Xmas sound, for example The First Nowell, Wind Chimes, and Forever My Surfer Girl.  Not to mention the fact that I can almost hear Brian's beard growing back in Live Let Live (TLOS version only). 

I have a gut feeling this man is still singing high F's in the shower, and he's gonna let one more of them rip before he hits 80, and we're all going to crap our pants.  So far, the last 11 years of Brian's life have been about making us self-defecate every once in a while over some new song he pulls out of his hat (like the entire SMiLE album), or seeing  him sound and appear inexplicably better in some way, from year to year.

And now he's finishing Gershwin songs.  Jeez Louise.  And the project's "engaged him at a very high level" (or some slight semantic variant, according to a post from AGD).  Jeez Double Louise, with two moon pies for good measure.  However, I do fear the Disney songs album may end up having a bit of that WIRWFC cheese-burger-song vibe to the arrangements, but time will tell.

Yeah, I have perfect pitch!  >:D   Back into my hole.

What an awesome post.

I'm surprised that there's any question on whether Brian is singing falsetto on Getcha back... it's obviously him, because nobody else sounds that crazy! I mean he sounds like he's got the tin foil hat on.  Same thing with Wipeout.  If Jeff sang all of it, it'd sound better, lol. 

That's debatable.

Bill: Great post... I feel almost exactly like you, but don't have perfect pitch or the theory to back it up like you do.

One question: Do you know what the high note is Brian hits at the crazy part of "Good Vibrations" ?  The "Look" part near the end.  To me, that note sounds as high or higher than Surf's up. 

Better as in 'cleaner, thicker' definately.  I of course love Brian's voice over Jeff's, even with the insane sound to it. 

wat? That vocal isn't triple tracked or even double tracked - just one voice, there, and to me, it sounds great.


Hrm. To each his own - his falsetto has certainly sounded good on many occasions since "Getcha Back", but I really think that particular vocal is closer to Brian's older falsetto than anything 75-85. Again, no one here said, "It sounds like Brian from 1964!", people have just said it's closer to that than the falsetto he'd been using on the few records before "Getcha Back".

I really feel the quality of that particular falsetto part is much, much better than anything 75-85 or anything since, as well.

Rest of your post was pretty interesting, tho. Noice observations.

I believe that's a G.

Hmmm.  If the Surf's up note is an F, then I guess that leaves his highest note on his biggest hit.  He certainly had an incredible voice, something to be in awe over.  I always thought though that his best vocals were on the kind of lesser stuff, like Girls on the Beach and the songs around that time.  He had such a pure sound, really nice and thick. 

His '60s voice is to my ears the best pop music voice of all time. Obviously it's a personal taste thing, but I absolutely love his tone and flexibility in those years. Some people I know don't care for how he'd scoop to notes, or his whine. I love it entirely.

Brian? Scooping? The few instances I can think of where he did it, he did it well - lots of vocalists do it very, very poorly and it really ruins recordings.

What was the highest note of Mike, Al, Carl, Dennis and Bruce?

Brian was really good and strong at that greatest hits tour last year.  Surprised me....put out like crazy..strained on a couple notes here and there...very good and very authentic.....a couple of coughs, and right back to it.   Best I've seen him live and in person.......and that is more than a few times.

So hes still got it for a guy kickin 70.

My brother saw him live just two weeks ago, having seen him in '99, '01 and '04, and said he sounded best this most recent time.

I totally agree with everything you say except for the scooping bit because I don't know what that means - can anyone fill me in?

Don't think this quote has showed up yet here:

Levine: "Those high bits on 'Getcha Back' took ages to do, and I must say that Terry Melcher gets credit for virtually forcing Brian to get those.  Brian was very reluctant to do them because they were such classic Beach Boys things". (from MIX Magazine in '85).

I'm not a trained musician, but I believe scooping is starting to sing the the note one harmonic third below the correct pitch, and then quickly riding it up to perfect pitch of the proper note -- typically in notes of a half measure or longer in 4/4 time.  I'm glad someone else pointed it out, because I've always thought Brian did that with his crooning falsetto.  An example would be the first line of "Blue Christmas":

"I'll have a blue, Christmas, without you" (with "blue" and the first syllable of "Christmas" being "scooped")

It's not an unpleasant effect at all, when the start of the scoop is in perfect pitch at the lower harmonic, and the note ends in perfect pitch.  Brian does some of that on the new Gershwin tracks.

You musicians out there, correct me if I'm wrong!   :)

Lee

So I'd say I'm a pretty knowlegable fan, but what would you guys say are the top Brian falsetto's post '74-mid 80's and then post "Getcha Back". In the first case I'd probably say "You've Lost that Loving Feeling". And in the post "Getcha Back" category, I really don't know, was there some on "Melt Away"? "Daddy's Little Girl" was horrendous. What else did he do falsetto on lately?

He hits some nice falsetto notes on the BWPS "Surf's Up" and "Live Let Live" from TLOS.

Edit -- Also "The First Noel" from the Christmas album. The "Imagination" album is probably the last time he did anything extended in falsetto -- both "She Said that She Needs Me" and "Cry" are pretty awesome.

I don't know if it's quite falsetto per se, but in "Let It Shine" he hits some good highs before the first chorus ["The cover of an endless dream..." bit]. For whatever that's worth, anyway.

I just had to add my two cents here.

If you compare Brian's singing on "Caroline No" his whining part to the "Getcha Back" vocal in question, you can hear an older Brian.

Its definitely Brian on "Getcha Back" & "Wipeout".

Also, remember, Brian would double his and the rest of the Beach Boys voices for a thicker vocal which he started to do on the song "Surfin USA".

 -Beekeeper

All excellent examples...his falsetto really sounded great on Imagination I thought, all throughout the album.  "Cry" gave me chills when he hit those high notes against the close harmonies.  It's a somewhat cheesy song, but I though his high voice on "Dream Angel" was great too...in the outro, his falsetto almost sounds like it used to, in a very "Getcha Back" kind of way. 

I really dig this version. wonder who's doing the falsetto

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsseCCmknfE&feature=fvsr

Well, to each his own... but that song sent me to sleep. Dragsville.

With all the hardcore fans here, I'm a little surprised this thread has lasted so long regarding the question concerning who sang the falsetto part in "Getcha Back". Maybe it took C-man's post above recounting MIX Magazine's interview with Producer Steve Levine  in '85 to kind of put the issue to rest.

As soon as I bought the single and heard it for the first time, I remember that I immediately knew it was Brian singing the falsetto. At the time, I knew Foskett was in the touring band, but didn't even think that he might be contributing vocals to the studio recordings. I remember thinking how cool it was for Brian to be singing in his old falsetto voice and how the song benefited greatly from it. You can tell it's him with the same high nasal tonal quality as the old days and I remember thinking, yeah, he can still do it!!! It wasn't replicated very often after that on a Beach Boys record. Even on the '88 solo album it sounded forced.

Before that his old high voice showed signs of life on Love You, but the one I still can't figure out to this day is "Matchpoint Of Our Love". Nobody seems to have a definitive answer as to why his voice is so clear on that song, and why he hasn't really been able to replicate it since. Was he 'forced' to get that high vocal sound like he was for "Getcha Back"?
  

It always sounded like Brian to me, but he's obviously straining - he's nearly screaming the high note when the keychange happens.

that's what i assumed "scooping" was too.  i like how it sounds tbh.  if i have it right anyway, is brian "scooping" on the bridge for surfer girl here?  I love that sound. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ea79xiOR-RY

...and in a strange way that's exactly what I love about that song. It's one of those later songs of theirs that actually DON'T sound like they didn't care.

I don't believe he really sounds like he nearly screaming in that one part. I've had time to think about it, and my wonder is why were nearly all of his vocals on BW88 "yelled"? I mean, yeah he sang like that back in the day too, on stuff like "You're So Good to Me" and "Heroes & Villains", etc. But BW88, it just doesnt fit on every song, some it does. But stuff like "Love and Mercy" and "Melt Away" may have benefitted from a little more finesse.

Btw, has Brian ever spoken about the drastic change in his between Holland and 15 Big Ones? I wonder was his reasoning/explanation was for it.

I believe he said he wanted to sound more "manly."

As for BW 88, he said some 10 years later he was aware that some people thought he was "sabotaging" his voice on the album, but that he was trying his best. I'm guessing he was stressed and didn't feel comfortable around a lot of the folks brought in to help make the album. Just compare how he sounds in the Usher sessions of a year or so before -- sure the tracks sound like crud, but Brian sounds reasonably relaxed.

Killer lead singer, arrangement and production-who is this? :woot

The lead singer is Mark McGrath, from the band Sugar Ray...I really liked his lead too, and I generally don't like his voice.  I don't know anything else about this, but I really dug the falsetto and arrangement!

On Melt Away and Love & Mercy, Brian sounds like he's singing at the Super Bowl or something and trying to scream over everybody.  I always attributed that to the image I have of him at the time; a man with serious mental issues, being fed copious amounts of anti psychotic medication by a man who was a bigger lunatic than he was.  I know all that's probably bullshit, but that's how I've always imaged that time period for him. 

I've always assumed that the Matchpoint vocal was recorded ealier - early 70s? It sounds like his voice is beginning to deteriorate. The rest of MIU Brian pretty much sounds like a younger version of his current singing voice.

Regarding Brian's last falsetto - I think that the middle 8 of Saturday Morning In The Saturday is the last sustained falsetto, although it's not that good, and from same album 'How Could We Still Be Dancing' which is a lot better.

It definitely sounds like Brian to me. It's possible that Jeff is helping him out but it does not sound like Jeff's tone to me.

Also, if Jeff were singing the part, I don't see why he would attempt to sound like 80s Brian when he can so easily resemble a 60s Brian (especially in those days).

Once the key change hits at the end, it's really easy for me to deduct that it's Brian doing the part. Sounds like Brian really went to town on that part of the song, too. He's doing two or three other parts simultaneously via overdubbing.

I assumed that Alan was secretly doubling with Brian on the lead of "Matchpoint", hence the clarity. I also agree that it was probably recorded a little earlier than the other material.

No, "Matchpoint" was tracked in the fall of '77, with the others.  Brian sounds a lot there like he sometimes did in interviews from the era...the ones where he sounded more, shall we say, clear headed.

Indeed. For some odd reason, during MIU, his voice sounded much clearing than before. Some of this can be attributed to a bigger use of the falsetto in lead vocals, but still...

As for the falsetto on "Getcha Back", that's definitely Brian. I can hear the very same voice in the instrumental break of "Love and Mercy". And that's probably the closest Brian's voice managed to get to his young, classic voice.

I don't rightfully know what caused the vocal shift from his late seventies/early eighties voice to the mid-late 80's voice. I know he used the same style of singing in Orange Crate Art. Which was recorded in 1995, I think. His voice shifted again before Imagination, though. And that's basically the voice he's been using since, with its ups and downs.

I e-mailed the producer Steve Levine a couple of years ago and received this reply from his Press Officer:
 
"Hi Darren,
 
I have spoken to Steve and he says Wiki is correct. Hope this helps.
 
Sue Sillitoe"
 
That means we can believe it is Brian doing that falsetto.

Wow! that's cool. Thanks

I think Steve Levine would not embarrass Brian Wilson.  If you listen to Brian sing the very end of Getcha Back, you hear the very real and ragged singing voice of Brian Wilson at that time.  There is no way the guy that sang that part of the song sang the falsetto. 

I believe I read he was trying to sound like Billy Joel who was big at the time

More fuel for the fire since this thread started. Claims to be an early mix.

https://youtu.be/xrwCCHY1ibI

Except that he did...whether or not that's BW singing the falsetto on the YouTube-posted demo version, it's him on the final record.  The identify of the falsetto singer on the demo, I think, is debatable -it sounds more like Adrian there than either Jeff or Brian IMO - but that could possibly be down to a difference in tape speed, if it was sourced from a slightly sped up tape (I haven't A/B'd it with the record or CD, so I couldn't say).  Regardless, it's Brian on the final mix. How am I so certain? Well, for one, as Billy C. says upthread, it's the same voice heard on other BW vocals from the era - notably, some of the falsettos on his first solo album. Slightly whiny, slightly pitchy, but freakin' high nonetheless. Regardless of how his normal range tenor "lead" voice sounded at the time, the man could still hit those high notes, clearly not as effortlessly as in his prime, but nonetheless, he hit them. Secondly, it was stated at the time that Levine had to practically drag that performance out of Brian, and that in the end, Brian did it basically out of respect for Terry Melcher, who apparently begged him to do it; if Brian didn't actually do it, and they were all just saying he did, I doubt they'd make THAT story up...rather, they'd make it sound like not only did Brian do it, but he WANTED to do it. Thirdly, as I've stated previously, I've seen all the track sheet notations, and there are multiple Brian vocal tracks notated, including many labeled "hi" - any one (or two, or three) of which could contain those falsetto parts, yet none labeled "Jeff" or "Adrian". Trust me, it's Brian...

Brian is definitely present throughout the mix. You can hear him in the "waaah ooooh" parts and when the backing vocals sing the "Getcha Back". At 1:00 onwards it's distinctly Brian singing the ascending vocal. That distinct sound cannot be replicated by anybody else.

I can't hear other recognisable voices on this recording though. Seems legit to me! The falsetto is Adrian Baker?

Yep that is indeed Brian singing Falsetto. Steve Levine mentions the Getcha Back story in 50 Sides of The Beach Boys. Great book I recommend to Fans!

I still don't understand why there is a controversy over the falsetto. It's so obviously Brian.

For sure Brian sings the falsetto on the released version.

As far as this YouTube post claiming to be "The Beach Boys - Getcha Back (Rare Early Studio Demo)," I don't hear any Beach Boys vocals or Foskett anywhere in this mix. Definitely could be Adrian Baker.

So maybe I'm wrong, but I'm willing to say this is not a Beach Boys recording at all, but more likely an Adrian Baker recording with additional vocals from one Michael Love.

I love how when they performed this song for the 50th anniversary, literally no one (well except maybe Bruce) was singing the same part they did on the studio recording.  For the live version, Al was singing Brian's lower part, Jeff was singing Brian's higher part, Brian was singing Carl's part and David was singing Mike's part.  Wild!

Good observation - however, Mike sang his original bass part in 2012 as well.

That's an incredibly cool observation.

Is there any other song in the band's catalog that, when played live, as many parts were swapped and sung by other BBs official members live when compared to studio?  (not counting Brian's band or M&B, where the majority of singers are non BBs official members).

yea and marks sang the lead right, i saw that!!!

How 'bout Bruce? EDIT: nevermind, I see your remark now about how maybe he stayed true to his part.