The Smiley Smile Message Board

We all know Al and Brian's normal singing voices were very similar (as evidenced in, for example, I Know There's An Answer, in which I only recently realised it was Al and Mike singing lead, as opposed to Brian and Mike) and Al covered Brian's bits on stages, but did he ever sing falsetto on record? Apart from a few falsettos from Bruce and in later years Carl, it was mainly all Brian, but did Al do any? Was it in his range?

In concert, in the 1970's, Al and Carl use to switch off the falsetto parts. Don't know if Al really sang falsetto, but he sang Brian's high parts and they sounded fine. "Don't Worry Baby" was a good example of when they would switch off doing the lead vocal. Sometimes they'd sing the high parts in unison, but most of the time they shared the leads of the songs with high parts. "You Still Believe In Me" was another example of Al singing Brian's high part live in the 70's.

It was uncanny how at times Brian and Al sounded alike on some of the recordings. "Breakaway" and "Back Home" 1970 are good examples of this.

Doesn't Al do the Barbara Ann falsetto on the Kenbworth recording?

"It's been such a long day so you better hurry home..."

"Loop de Loop," too, right?  Isn't part of the original recording Al doing a Brian imitation?

Also every live God Only Knows.

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When was that?

On Good Vibrations Tour / It's Ok TV special he sings the falsetto on the outro chorus of California  Girls

Other than "All This Is That," are there any songs with Carl doing falsetto?



I think they all do lead on that one, don't they?

Before anyone asks, Mike does a bit of Falsetto on All I Wanna Do

Surf's Up (1971) and live

I remember seeing a film clip on The Midnight Special in 1977 or 1978; it was the segment with Carl Wilson being interviewed by Wolfman Jack, and they showed a short clip of the band performing "Susie Cincinnati" with Al singing a high falsetto part on the tag.

Caroline No and Don't Worry Baby live.   Carl & Al shared the high part on Fun, Fun, Fun, especially the tag.  Also I Get Around.

In the late bridge section of I Can Hear Music, you clearly hear him in falsetto (though buried) singing 'music, music'

Also in the outro of Come Go With Me you hear Carl sing falsetto faintly in the distance.

Falsetto is also used in Where I Belong


surprised how little Carl falsetto there is despite him being good at it...I was surprised that I had to recall faints snippets in order to find some.

Al sang a majority of the high parts from 1965-1980.  See In Concert or Knebworth.

It's not a Beach Boys' recording, but Carl pops up on Spring's "Forever" and sings some very high "na na's". He does the same on SIP's "Forever". I'm not sure if that reaches the level of falsetto...

You sure that's not Al doing the fade falsetto on "Come Go With Me"? And Al sang the "California Girls" falsetto live for a long time (witness the '76 "It's OK" special).

Hot Fun in the Summertime

It's Brian doing falsetto on Where I Belong, I think. Other examples of Carl doing falsetto are Good Timin' and Hot Fun in the Summertime

I beg to differ.  You're forgetting Glen Campbell (briefly) in '65 and then Bruce sang high parts from '65 to '72.  Al and Carl from '72 to '80, then Adrian Baker briefly then Foskett took over.

He fooled Davide Leaf a couple of times on the liner notes for the Capitol two-fers. Leaf had Brian singing all but the obvious Mike lines on "I Know There's an Answer" and had Brian singing the verses on Be Here in the Morning."

He goes up into Falsetto all over his live versions of "Wouldn't it be Nice" doesn't he?  He used to fucking KILL that song live in the 70's. 

The falsetto on "Hot Fun" is Adrian Baker. Maybe Carl reaches falsetto on a word or two, I can't remember.

They opened with that and Al sang it - yep.

"Ooh she's so fine, what a turn on" from All Dressed Up For School
The lead in Surfer Girl, e.g. New Years Rockin' Eve 1974, Knebworth 1980, etc.

Craig Slowinski also lists Al singing falsetto parts in the follwoing:

"I'm So Young" (Today version): http://www.tiptopwebsite.com/custommusic2/craigslowinskicom.pdf#page=1 (http://www.tiptopwebsite.com/custommusic2/craigslowinskicom.pdf#page=1) (page 28)
"I'm So Young" (alternate take): ESQ, Issue 86, Vol. 22. No. 3, p. 13
"You're So Good To Me": ESQ, Issue 84, Vol. 22, No. 1, p. 32

Al's sung Surfer Girl a lot - 70's, 80's......

Upon listening to it again, you're right.  For some reason I had in my head that there was an instance where Carl's lines went very high, but it seems only the second sections that are falsetto.  Then again, Summer in Paradise doesn't get heavy rotation. :-D

I think the OPs question was about whether he sang it on record... He says he knows he did it live.

It is surprising he didn't do more of it. But I've always found Al's strongest range is his mid range - seems to be where his voice resonates.

Please correct if wrong, but my understanding is that -vocally- Bruce did not replace Brian's parts consistently. Al sang a lot of the highest parts even with Bruce around. I assume Alan had replaced Brian's parts consistently when he re-joined in 1963 (although I have not heard any show from that era sans Brian, with Al and David).

Regarding Hot Fun... Isn't it Carl the one to end phrase "everything is cool"?

Carl does the duet falsetto with Brian in the outro of Til I Die!

I haven't heard any early shows either, but I think you may be right about that, Leonard.

You guys will correct me (and rightfully so) if I'm wrong, but I believe falsetto is actually one of the easiest parts for many guys to sing.  I can do a passable falsetto, and I'm a natural baritone.  Of course, Brian's falsetto in the early years was special and better than just about anyone else I've ever heard.  Maybe Frankie Valley (sp?) came close?

and maybe Barry Gibb and Lou Christie, but Brian was the master best sounding (to my ear) falsetto ever instilled in a bloke..

RickB

Ah, yes, that Brother Gibb.  Those guys WERE amazing and Barry's falsetto was truly Brian Wilsonesque.  Christie did have a couple of great hit records (Lightning Striking Again was a personal favorite), but I, personally, don't have him on the same level as Brian or Barry.

The thing that gets me about Brian's is just how smooth a transition he could make from his falsetto to his regular register.  I can't think of many singers who could pull off Don't Worry Baby or Wouldn't It Be Nice with such a natural blend of the two.

Yes on the first understanding, no on the second. :)

I'd bet money that it is Carl on that line, mainly because it starts off with "and everything is..." in Carl's normal range.

Agree. What sense would it make to have Baker sing the (unnecessary, ad-lib sounding) last note of Carl's phrase. Besides, it is not like Carl could not hit it. In the live version I've seen, Carl sings the whole line but doesn't end it up high. But perhaps it's been confirmed that Baker sings that and all this talk is futile.

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mmmmm........ yeah, the second part of Carl's line and everything is cool....... cooo - hoooolllll.......... has gotta be Baker.....

no doubt in my mind....

RickB

These would be obvious studio choices for me as well.

In concert...I think this is a pretty good example of his live falsetto range when he was young.


Papa Oom Mow Mow -- Michigan State 1966:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aq5QJJ8nuao&index=6&list=PL6qtJ4lUEQ0IxgvbHf3gaEG0fFgMT6YDW

Brian is in a class by himself, in my opinion.   Most guys (mine included) falsettos sound thin... the reason for that is, when you sing falsetto what you're physically doing is only using half of your vocal chords, this allows them to vibrate faster, which makes a much higher pitched sound... but it's not as strong as your full voice, or your head (singing) voice.  

Brian somehow still had a nice, full, falsetto, though, that was comparable to his full voice.  If you listen to Frankie Valli, of course he's got a fantastic voice, but his false is thin like most people's.  The Gibb brothers were the same, think of the thin way the vocals are in "Stayin' Alive" or whatever.  Then think about Brian singing "I Get Around".... or the crazy gymnastic part in "Surf's Up".  NOBODY sang falsetto that full.

Brian also had a really smooth transition between his chest voice, head voice, and falsetto, often going from falsetto to head, and then back up to falsetto in the same phrase, with no pause or break discernable.  Try it yourself; sing a note in your head voice, and then try to turn it into a falsetto note without breaking it.  Then try going out of falsetto, back down into your head voice.  

You can hear a great example of that in "Don't Worry Baby"... Nearly the whole song, he's singing back and forth, some notes are in head voice, but some syllables and words he stretches up into falsetto, and then back down into head voice.  ... and of course, on the famous run in "You Still Believe In Me", he starts in head voice, goes up into falsetto, then walks down into head voice again, and finally ends up in his chest voice.  F-A-N-T-A-S-T-I-C singer.


I do agree with you though, that normally falsetto is one of the easiest parts to sing, I would say that Al and Carl had the two hardest parts to sing in the group, consistently.

Nothing can top vintage 60s era Brian falsetto.. what an amazing sound.

Also I mentioned this before in another thread that I think a huge part of the group's commercial decline from 69 onwards was that the magical Brian falsetto had disappeared from their new material!

I mean who else could sing like that? Nobody.

I had never thought about that (the disappearance of Brian's falsetto as a possible reason for the band's commercial decline), but I believe you may be onto something.  It doesn't take a genius to figure out that those beautiful falsetto parts were at least part of the reason those early Beach Boys songs became mega-hits.  The Brian falsettos and the wonderful harmonies are what made the band's sound unique – and great.  It somewhat boggles the mind to think that the Boys may have continued to crank out Top 10 records if Brian would have only kept writing and singing those falsetto parts.

Al sings falsetto when doing Runaway which was released on MiC. Not sure if that was ever a concert staple.

According to this board, it was. Even though I never read Ian & Jon's concert book, other folks said it covers everything wrt BBs shows, so it's easy to say "Runaway" performance is there too.

I think it's Al who sang the falsetto on "You Still believe In Me"-1973, in unison with Carl.

Al sang lead on "Be Here In The Morning".  That's pretty falsetto if you ask me.  I thought Al handling Brian's high parts was also hit or miss.  His upper range just never had the warmth Brian could deliver.  And because they had to shift the vocal positions around because of this, the harmonies never really sounded good until later in the 80's and 90's when Jeff and Matt handled the high parts.

Absolutely agreed.  At the very least, it's why I prefer the 60's stuff to everything thereafter.

I'm not sure what qualifies a "staple" - but, as far as I know - it was played quite regularly in the early to mid 80s. Maybe even earlier(/later). I've always enjoyed Jardine's voice on one of my all-time favourite songs. :)

To the best of my knowledge, "Runaway" had been a steady concert number during the 60s (beginning with 1963, if I recall), as well as Al sang it along with his Family & Friends band. Interestingly, at 1 point the decision was made to present the song as their new single, but it was eventually out of the question (sadly).
Del Shannon is one of my favorite singers, his classic version never can be topped. Even by Al.

!!

 :hug

The Al lead from Michigan State 1966 is a great example of how live Al could sing like Brian when he wanted to.  I've always admired his range and ability to change his voice to fit the part.

I really like his version of runaway but I didn't think he came close to Brian on Papa oom mow mow. I am not sure any one can touch Brian in his highest register because it is so strong.

<<Al sings falsetto when doing Runaway which was released on MiC. Not sure if that was ever a concert staple.>>

It was in 1982... every show, as I recall.  Maybe 1983, too.  It was a new arrangement, different than the 1965 version, with backing vocals and a great - I mean - great organ solo from Mike Meros.  As everyone, I am sure, knows, this was submitted to CBS as a single follow-up to Come Go With Me, in spite of being a live track  McCartney had a big hit with a live version of Coming Up in 1980, and ditto the Eagles with Seven Bridges Road, so it wasn't unheard of.  I always thought this would be a hit but, as I understand it, CBS balked at the thought of another cover song released as a single.  Ironically, for me, the live version from Jamaica 1982 sounds far better than the intended single mix.

Runaway was pretty decent, now that you mention it. Brian's dancing at the Kingdome was the best part, closely followed by the organ solo.

Carl gets falsetto on the original version of Wind Chimes, though part of me thinks Brian is doubling him. either way it's absolutely sublime.

It's not that he never sang high - he did - it just wasn't his preferred mode and he rarely did the "Brian"-type parts live or in studio for that matter.  "Good Timin'" is a notable exception (and Carl sang maybe 40% of the BV's on that album so it makes sense).

It's likely that being the lead guitarist and (besides Bruce) being the guy in the band most likely to lose his voice, he'd save the top for when he was really needed.  He took the very top note on "Sloop John B" live IIRC, which is an absolute bitch to sing -- there are four F5s in there.  He probably was the only one that could nail it -- it makes sense he wouldn't want to have to do that live too many times in a show.

Adam, care to point out an example of a live version of SJB with Carl doing the high F? I always hear him doing a strong middle part during the chorus. Not that I'm denying he could hit that note (Surf's Up). But so could Bruce (he still sings the Fun fun fun tag).

You know what?  I just checked, and you're absolutely right.  I have a definite memory of Carl reaching for a top note on "Sloop," but I can't find it (except one performance where the mix is so tight I can't prove it).  It may have been on IN CONCERT in '73, which I don't seem to have on my iTunes.  He's definitely NOT singing the top note on the clip from '76 I checked on youtube.  So if he did do it, he didn't do it for very long.  If my memory isn't faulty it may have just been an interim part shuffle after Bruce left the band or something.  At any rate, it would have been the "shore" note and not the F5 in the background harmonies, which I'm chagrined to note they don't seem to have sung (so why do I have to sing this hernia-inducing note in Beach Boys tribute bands?!?).  

Another thought on Carl doing the Brian role -- he does it quite a few other times on the LIGHT ALBUM, doing the Brian falsetto counterpoint role as well on "Here Comes The Night" and "Baby Blue."  And man, he sounded terrific doing it.  But I believe that album was the only time Carl did that himself instead of allowing somebody else to be "falsetto guy".  Am I wrong about that too?  I can't think of another example off the top of my head -- not where Carl sang high per se, but where he did the "oo woo" thing that Brian or Bruce tended to do, if that makes any sense.

Just listened to the In Concert version and I'd be willing to bet--well, approximately nothing whatsoever--that Carl isn't on that highest note either in the "shore" or the other backgrounds. But these guys' voices drive me crazy, as anyone can sound like at least one other person at any given time, so it requires following parts over time, not just spot-listening. But then if you factor in whatever overdubbing is done after the fact, it makes it harder yet and puts you back at the first problem (of people sounding alike).

So in closing, I have offered nothing of use. You're welcome.

I've thought the "shore" note on In Concert was Al, but lately many of my thought-Al's have turned out to be Billy H.

COMMENT:
You've got to be kidding!?!   Of course Alan sang in falsetto -- better than any counter-tenor of the 18th century. ~swd

Well, neither have I.  I'm only playing something back in my head.  I can't refer to the CD to know if I'm hallucinating it or not.

Can you point out some pertinent examples?

I think Carl does "Brian" ln Hot Fun in the Summertime. But, alas, most fans seem to think it's Baker.

Right, I was being self-deprecating. I did listen to the song on CD to check, and was useless. That was my point/joke. Possibly not very successful...

Ofc, it wasn't. Admit it, no one came close to sounding like Del in the group, 'cept for Al. No Al, no "Runaway". So that's your best part you talked about.

But see, I can self deprecate too!  No one gets it when I do it, either...

Damnit!