The Smiley Smile Message Board

I think so.  During the 70s, I think that's unquestionable.  Brian's a close second, with a few incredibly fascinating nutters -- but generally, always genuine.  Mike nailed a couple too -- and Carl quite a few.  But Dennis was just on.  He destroyed the mic whenever he was on it.

But in the 60s he was fantastic too.  He was used very intelligently, as they say in the movie business -- for a  "close up."  But he stepped up to the plate.  And especially as the group lost it's grip -- basically Brian -- Denny was right there.

I always wished they used him more!

I too wish Dennis sang more, but Carl...honestly, it's hard for me to imagine what a voice more beautiful than Carl Wilson's might sound like.  His voice was unreal. 

I love Dennis Wilsona and I respect your passion for his voice, but in my opinion, no he wasn't the strongest vocalist in the band.  He was a GREAT singer, but he was in a band chock full of great singers.  Brian and Carl were both superior to him, although Dennis had a genuine and honest voice that was fantastic. 

Um, no.

We all know that everybody's going to say Brian and Carl were better than him vocally.  Is there anybody prepared to admit that Al was better than him vocally as well?  I'll bet there is. 

I mean, I'm no vocal expert, but it really depends on what you mean by "strongest." In terms of range or pitch, for instance, I wouldn't rank Dennis anywhere near Carl, Al, or Brian at his peak. But I think there is something to be said for his delivery, especially in the early 70's. His leads on Sunflower, for example, are very expressive, and pretty diverse at that. I can't think of any other singer on that album who covers a range from exuberant (Slip On Through) to silly (Got To Know The Woman) to sensitive (Forever) quite like he does.

1 Carl
2 Brian
3 Dennis
4 mike
5 Al

My opinion.

Dennis beats Brian 1974-current.

Brian (pre 1975)
Dennis (pre 1974)
Carl through 1983 (not counting his more stoned vocals from 76-78)
Blondie (through circa 1990)
Mike (through 1975)
Al (through 1980)
Dave (through the sixties and seventies)
Ricky (through circa 1995)
Bruce (pre 1983)

Dennis had a very cool voice. Not the most pure, but to me the most interesting next to Brian's. That it wasn't used a lot probably makes me want to hear it more. The fact that Brian in good voice played maybe 20 shows from 1965-73 also makes me really treasure his young sound as well. I think Dennis' music after 1973 or 74 became more interesting then anyone's but vocally I like but don't love his later voice.

OK, how about this:  you could make a case for Dennis being the band's strongest ROCK vocalist.  There's evidence that both Carl and Brian envied his gruff tone and tried to coarsen their delivery from the mid '70s on.

I don't think Dennis was a consistent enough singer vocally to be called "strongest."  I do think he was really underrated though.  He had a really unique thing going on.  I remember being on the road playing Dennis' stuff for Stew (later a Tony Award winner) and his instant reaction was "so where was the manager that was there to tell this guy to go out on his own and make a million bucks."  Stew was a very savvy guy and no Beach Boys shipper.  That was his gut about Dennis.  So there ya go.

Its very questionable, infact I'm questioning it right now. He was good, but the strongest? Nay, and better than Brian? You're high.

Not since 12/28/83, he doesn't.

Al was better technically, but I prefer to listen to Dennis's voice than Al's. It had more character and emotion. So I rank Dennis third, below Carl and Brian, but above Al. I guess I'd put Mike last if we're just talking about those five guys. They were all good singers, though.

I don't think there was a best singer, personally. They all had great voices, in their way. Technically, young Brian and Carl tie for me. As far as personality Dennis and Mike I think had the most. Dennis was the most soulful.

I think each beach boy had their strengths. If you are looking for versatility I have always believed Mike was the best, followed by Carl. Dennis and Al had really great Rock voices. All in all Brian has always had the most fascinating voice for me. Any era, any style.

Yeah, I'd have to agree Denny nailed it during the seventies, but I'd go with Bri and Mike earlier, at least during the heyday. Never have and likely never will understand people's love of Carl's voice. To me he always sounds kinda mealy-mouthed, like maybe he's chewing a hamburger while singing. Carl started to sound better in the eighties to these ears, but maybe that's just compared to Denny, Bri, and Mike who all kinda lost it around then (though Mike is sounding better these days).

You put Al on the bottom, are you serious? Al has always sounded great and still does; Carl was always the strongest vocalist always. Brian and Dennis were good through the mid 70s, Bruce has always sounded decent, and Mike well.... Age has definitely phased him but he still pretty much has the same nasally voice for the most part. 

strongest lead vocalist:

1. Carl
2. Blondie
3. Brian
4. Mike
5. Al
6. Dennis

Love Dennis' vocals, but I think Brian in his prime was the best vocalist of the Beach Bys in any era. Carl comes second. Carl could've been such a fantastic, fantastic singer if he would've taken some singing-lessons. There are some weaknesses in his singing that he could have overcome with someone showing him the right techniques. And although many here probably will disagree but I think technically his singing was the best in later years which is not to say thre aren't any stellar performances before of course.....
Dennis was a very good vocalist imo but he didn't work on it enough and unfortunately his voice at some point began to get worse.


I think Mike is giving not enough credit as a singer. Just listen to "California girls" (acapella). Blows my mind how great his singing is on that one. And also on a lot of the early Rocksongs like "Shut down" and "Surfin' USA" (not to mention his great bass vocals). Although I love the sound of the double tracking, in some cases it overshadows Mike's leads imo like on mentioned "Surfin' USA". Unfortunately his voice got so undescribably nasal in the late 70s that I can't stand listening to it at times.

Al has a very strong voice for rocksongs in is range (and he is very versatile which is very overlooked). His falsetto is very thin which is not good for the time after Brian retreated from touring.

Bruce is a very good singer too. But for some reason I can't say too much about his singing. His falsetto is better than Al's I believe but also not as strong as Brian's.

Blondie is a great, great singer. His voice has a certain warmth that made it perfect for the Beach Boys' blend. Listen to "Don't worry baby" and "Good vibrations" on "In concert" for example. Sadly he left the group.

Ricky has also nice vocals but there's not enough to judge him imo.

Can't say nothing about David.


All in all, the Beach Boys were great singer even individually. But one wonders what could've been if they would have taken care of their voices and even get some lessons.

The Beach Boys were all such great vocalists its very hard to pick a "best". For me Carl and Brian at varied periods were the two best. Brian '63 to '66. Carl '66 to '75. One thing the three Wilsons shared is the ability to bring an indescribable humanity into their vocals, the thing that makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up. Brian, Carl and Dennis all have it. The other BB's were great, great, great, but they don't have that thing. Its a spiritual quality that IMO no one but the Wilsons have. And if you were able to measure that thing, (which I am having trouble describing, but if you know what I mean, then you know what I mean)...if you could measure it, I'd say Dennis might have had the purest amount of IT. He did not sing with the range and precision of his brothers, no doubt about it. But he is underrated. So many fairly knowledgable BB's fans think of Dennis as the one whose voice is the least present in their songs, and this is false. But for some reason his voice blends to the degree that its hard to pick out. But its almost always there on the classic stuff. And it adds so much, because when its not there the BB's sound becomes less human, less spiritual. A good example is "Kiss Me Baby". Its so easy to pick the other voices out,. You might say is Dennis even in there? But LISTEN carefully to the chorus. The "kiss me baby, love to hold you" part, which is such a key part. On those lines its Dennis harmonizing with Brian. You've heard it a million times and probably all you heard was Brian on top. but underneath him, holding down a huge and difficult part of the song is Dennis, giving it that thing that makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up. There's dozens of Beach Boys songs where Dennis is the guy doing that, and few people even realize it. He's not the "best" vocalist in the group, but he might be the most unique, and the most essential to a certain quality that makes BB's harmonies so moving.

I have always likened Dennis' voice to Tom Waits. Either you get it or you don't. For those who do "get it" it is rich and soulful. I would say, per Dennis, I prefer his 1975+ voice because he seemed to sing with ever ounce of love and feeling he could muster up, and it really comes through in the recordings.

Carl blew them all out of the water and I consider them to all be good to great vocalists.

YES. This is what I was trying to say. It's why I rate Dennis above Al.

I like what Jon said a lot.

I did want to chime in here and say I also think Al is a pretty underrated singer.  I agree that he doesn't have the quality that Jon spoke of, but he does have his own thing and it's pretty strong.

What's interesting to me about the Beach Boys is that, by the early 70s, in my opinion, if any of them had any kind of music-reading ability, any of them coould have become session singers.  Unlike most rock vocal groups, they started so young singing tight, extended harmonies, and learned tricky parts with ease.  They knew the human voice very well, I'm sure, again with a modicum of formal training, any of them could have arranged choral pieces as well as any pro arranger.  They really were pretty consummate.  Versatile, too.  They could be distinct, or blend in and sound totally bland, as far as timbre goes.  Everything you'd look for in a pro jingle-singing gig.

My personal opinion, which is based strictly on who I most like to listen to, is pretty close to MBE's above.

Brian is my all-time favorite vocalist period, especially his "sweet" voice through the late 60s.  I love his voice so much that just hearing it in the mix say on the Deirdre chorus really kills me.  I cannot stand his singing post-1988, however.

Denny to me is a close second.  I never get tired of hearing him sing.  He just had such a special quality to his voice -- it was great in the early days, and though it changed, it stayed great through the late 70s.

I actually am not as big a fan of Carl as most.  Honestly, I would prefer to have given most of Carl's 1960s leads to either Brian or Dennis.  Carl's voice, especially when singing lead on someone else's song, just lacks a bit of soul for me.  My favorite Carl vocals are on his songs -- I Can Hear Music, Long Promised Road, Feel Flows, Trader.  But if it's a Brian- or Denny-composed song, I would have preferred Brian or Denny just sing it and not give it to Carl.  I love it when Brian's voice takes over the fade to GOK.  I love it that Carl let Denny sing Angel Come Home.  I prefer Denny's vocal of Only with You to Carl's.  Still and all, I rate Carl third.

I think Al is the best non-Wilson vocalist.  Help Me Rhonda was practically his first lead ever, and boy did he nail it.  He always sounds so clear, so on key, and like a nice person I would want to know.

I would put Blondie next, for Hold on Dear Brother, Leaving This Town, and Sail on Sailor (all incredible songs and vocals), plus what he added to other songs during his tenure.

Then Mike.  He did have some great vocals over the years and I love his bass as part of the blend, but this is a tough competition and too often his nose does "sound like it's on the critical list."

Ricky comes next for me, don't think he's a great singer -- liked his vocal on Here She Comes, but he seems to have been somewhat limited on vocals.

Bruce is the only Beach Boy whose voice I actively dislike.  It is okay in great moderation, like the fades of California Girls and GOK, but it's just too wimpy for me to stand.  I think his singing really detracts from Disney Girls -- if you listen to that song and close your eyes, you could believe it was Michael Jackson singing.

Don't have enough info on David Marks to rate him.

Dennis is the only one who could have had a career outside the Beach Boys based on his sound as a _solo_ singer.

Brian and Mike need the harmonies. Carl is brilliant but sometimes skirts blandness. Al has a limited emotional range. Dennis could put the entire content of the song across with a single vocal track, which is perhaps one reason he has the best solo album(s) of the group.

Word!

I tell ya, whenever I listen to Bambu I get these very vivid flashes in my head of Dennis playing "Schoolgirl" or "Constant Companion" on Midnight Special or Dick Clark: sitting at the piano backed by a huge band and killin it, and Dennis posters being on every "schoolgirl's" bedroom walls. These flashes are so vivid, I actually believe in some alternate universe Dennis is a huge huge solo star!!!!

Ahem, yes I am a lifelong musician who's dabbled in drugs!

Dennis had something none of the other Beach Boys really had. He had serious personality that came across vividly in his singing. He could blow as many notes as possible and this still came through loud and clear. Yes, Carl was a better singer (my favorite ever) but was the type to vanish into the vocal/song. His voice was pure magic for communicating the song and serving the entire situation. Dennis was a rock star, plain and simple. His voice just killed it and you knew you were listening to SOMEONE Beach Boy or not.

Mike also had serious personality in his vocals, but it was of such a laid back nature (which I love) and didn't draw you in like Dennis. Mike had serious cool which made the surf and car stuff kill big time. This same cool could also translate into a wonderful calm which blessed such songs as "Meant For You" and "All I Wanna Do" big time. I absolutely love Mike as a singer. Him and Dennis were more alike than not vocally as in they were the two personalities vocally that jumped out at you. Like, when those guys sing about girls and cars, they seem to know what they're talking about and it works like magic. Even Dennis in the vocal harmony on that stuff seems to mean it in a big way.

Brian and Carl were absolutely awesome and we all know this.

Al might have the best voice actually technically. The man can hold a note like no one's business even to this day.

But I think, in a way, Dennis WAS the strongest vocalist, but in a way that's outside of The Beach Boys. Dennis had that thing that makes the best frontmen and the best rock stars. He coulda/shoulda been huge on his own.

I couldn't have said it better.

My opinion. I only really liked the original beach boys. Bruce was ok.

I really love Denny's vocals--so soulful.

That said, one could make an "Endless Bummer" sequel boot comprised of nothing but scary live versions of "You Are So Beautiful".

Jon, you articulated my feelings perfectly.  As great as the other guys were as singers, I'll take a Wilson vocal over them any day. 

From a technical perspective, I'd say Brian has to be considered the best of the bunch, given the immense versatility and range he had during his early to mid-60's peak.  He didn't quite have the soul or personality that Dennis' voice had, but he was damn close.  The fact that he could sing all their parts and make it sound like authentic Beach Boys still blows me away.

Carl had a better "rock" voice than Brian, and was a little more soulful.  He pulled off vocals that I don't think Brian or Dennis could have, and vice versa.   

I don't quite understand the Tom Waits/Dennis comparison (hearing Waits made me want to chop off my ears, an experience I don't plan on repeating), but as others have said, he sang with more feeling than anyone in the group, and was able to do it in a way that didn't sound forced or put on.  That's not easy to do, and although all the Wilson brothers had the ability, Dennis was able to put himself out there in a way that just moves you.  Plus as Jon said, he was much more important to the harmony sound than most people realize.  He was the almost-untraceable glue that held the blend together so seamlessly.

I don't want to sell Al or Mike short at all - Al had (and still has) a great range and could mimic Brian's amazing voice quite well back in the 60's.  And Mike's bass parts were just ridiculous.  As great as he was as a lead vocalist, his bass singing was where he did his best work.

I think Dennis had the talent and the charisma.  He just didn't have the ambition.  You have to be a little bit of an asshole to be a successful solo star, or else have really good management being an asshole for you.  There's a reason why Mike Love, despite being the least talented in many ways, was the last guy left standing in the Beach Boys.  He had that little bit of asshole you need to push through and come out on top.  Dennis, bless him, didn't have that.  He had his opening in '77 and backed off.  He wanted too much to be a part of the band and didn't want to rock the boat and take on that kind of responsibility.  Can't say as I blame him, though I think it was probably a mistake.  Had a different support system been in place, maybe it would have been different, but even so, it's hard to see how Dennis' fate would have gone down any other way.

does anyone mind if I post in pink?

Yes, all the Wilson's including Mike Love's vocals are excellent and very unique.  I would agree that Brian's sound, tone, technique -- in general, his vocals -- were the best overall during his 61-67 prime.

But...once Brian was sidelined, Denny's voice really rises to the top.  First time I heard that, I thought:  "where has that been?"  It wasn't "better" -- but it was the way out.

So by "strongest vocalists" I think I mean that quite literally.  I think that's why his solo career seems the most lost to us, or me.  I especially like when Carl shows up on Bambu.  That's how it should have been.  Them two would have been just fine.  Mike's type of ego got in the way of his sincerity on occasion.  But when Mike was on, there's no other vocalist I'd want on those passages.


There is something I really like in Brian's late 70's and...maybe early 80's vocals though.  It's weird a lot...but...Brian is always fascinating.


EDIT:  No more pink!    ;)

C,B,A,D,M(almost a tie C & B)

Mike in last!!! How shocking  :p

But I'm with you post Holland regarding Mike. That nasal thing just got soooooo bad!

 :thumbsup

Yes, I do. I use the brick theme on this mb, which has a yellow background (much easier on aging eyes than the standard theme). Needless to say, pink isn't legible.

As for the topic at hand, Carl wins my vote for overall best vocalist in the BBs. But this is a group chock full of great vocalists, so I'm not ranking them otherwise -- love 'em all. To cite a couple, tho: Denny, imho, is the most emotional singer of the lot. And since he seems to be getting 'short' shrift here, Mr. Jardine deserves props for the warmth and versatility of his vocals.

I think strongest is presenting the biggest discussion issue...when I think STRONG voice I think who commands a lead the best and takes over.  Carl is first, then Brian till the early 70's it's close between Dennis and Al I would give Dennis the edge through about 74 and then Al because his voice is so clear, then Mike, then Bruce. Mike's voice while unique and perfect for certain songs is really quite thin (I would consider that a contrast to strong) and limited.

Technical Voice is different, has to do with hitting notes and pitches. I would say Carl, Al, Brian, Bruce, Mike, Dennis

Soulful: Carl and Dennis are pretty darn close then Brian, Mike, Al, Bruce.

Range: It's tough: Brian, Al, Carl, Bruce, Dennis,( pre 74), Mike

Personal preference: Carl, Al, Brian, Mike, Dennis, Bruce

Mike is just Mike. He simply DOES Mike, IS Mike. He's never tried to be the world's greatest singer, but he does the best Mike Love he can always. He also knows his place in the Beach Boys harmony blend and when he's in that zone he's amazing. On leads, he's just Mike. He has a unique voice that IS the Beach Boys in many respects.

  Steamboat..think he had fries with that hamburg

"Strongest vocalist" can mean a lot of different things, of course. And in terms of simple gymnastic ability, you've got to rank Dennis pretty far down the list. That said, as plenty of you have said, he could be a very endearing and convincing performer, which means quite a lot in pop music (or all music, even). I think Dennis was also a wonderful blender in the harmony context. Anyone who has ever sung in groups knows there are singers who are great as leads but don't blend well; Dennis was not that at all, his voice not only finding its parts but really filling out the sound. There is subtlety and nuance to that skill. However, Dennis tends to be among my least favorite singers in the group--with the caveats that a) it is a group of singers I like a lot, including him, and b) the specific material in question always shades my selections.

I think I agree that they all were "strongest" by some measure and their various strengths were used to best advantage.

Sort of like a cricket side, you have your spin bowlers, your fast bowlers, your batsmen, etc, etc--you don't expect a Shane Warne to get a century.  Nor do you expect Dennis to sing a cherubic, floated high harmony.

A very good point, Brian took Dennis, who was perhaps not the strongest vocalist in pitch and accuracy and used his voice as a key part to what makes the BB harmony so beautiful, chilling and gives it the bollocks. And it my opinion, it was that experience that gave Dennis the experience to become such a superb lead vocalist from I'd say 1969-1977, probably his best vocal era. Not that his vocals on "Do You Wanna Dance" or the "Girls on the Beach" middle eight aren't superb, but his lead vocals on the Sunflower stuff, "Sound of Free," POB, "Cuddle Up" and a lot else have an intensity, passion and beauty that were second only to BW in his prime. Carl had the best technical voice by miles, but only when he was completely dialed in did he put in the passion his other brothers did in their prime. All of this is my ears talking.

Brian - strength: Great range, and pitch perfect, best falsetto in pop music, best in ballad's, strong  in some up beat numbers
         - weakness: Lacks emotion, especially after 1968 or so, with a few exceptions

Dennis - strength: Raw and emotional, great performing singer, can do hard rock and ballad's
            - weakness: Not the prettiest voice, especially after 1974 or so, could go flat at times

Carl - strength: Greatest all around voice, great on ballad's and sound's beautiful even in the up beat rockers, he made a horrible song sound good.
       - weakness: All though he showed he could sing up beat 'r&b' type songs, he wasn't as strong on hard rock songs

Mike - strength: unique and catchy rock lead voice, and a nice ballad voice, great bass voice
        - weakness: Often lacks emotion, nasal lead got annoying by the late 70s.

Al - strength: Strong pitch perfect voice, great for soft folk songs
    - weakness: lacks emotion, somewhat annoying on up beat leads

Bruce - strength: Very strong for slow songs, great pitch
          - weakness: A bit loungey for pop/rock music

Blondie - strength: Great rock, lots of soul, great emotion
             - weakness: Not always pitch perfect

Ricky - strength: I really like him on Here She Comes
         - weakness: Haven't heard enough of him to really say
         

I would go along with this except to say towards the end, when Carl got huskier, he became a really GREAT soul-rock singer.  His "Sail On Sailor" from the '90s is spine-tingling.  It's sort of moot, though, because he didn't record much in that era.

I was looking at the above thing about who had the biggest range.  I was thinking that Carl ought to outrank Al in that department, but on reflection, Al could almost certainly sing lower than Carl, and that counts.  So I think saying Al had more range than Carl is probably about right.

That said, what's the highest note anyone ever hit on a BBs record?  I believe it might be the high harmony to "domino" at 1:15 on the BBs version of "Surf's Up."  I don't have a guitar handy to check the note, but it's north of my own range, which puts it up around G5.  Of course, it might be sped up, but I don't hear that it is.  That one's Carl (or...listening again...is it Bruce ??)...anyone got a higher one?

OK, I got curious and checked...that note is A5.  Son of a bitch, that's a high note.

The more I think about it, I'm thinking that note is Bruce and not Carl...someone out there probably knows for sure, based on something Desper said or something.  Anyway, thoughts on this and other tortuous high notes in BBs land?

Two that strangle me are the "top of the WORLD..." on "Catch A Wave" and Bruce's last "na na na na" at the end of "Good Vibrations."  I don't know what the notes are, but they're pretty frickin' high.  Some of the block harmonies around the SUNFLOWER era top out pretty high, though they may be sped up....

You could make the argument that Bruce had the greatest overall range based on his earlier work.  "Shut 'em DOWN" on "Hey Little Cobra" sounds pretty silly with Bruce singing baritone, but he hit the notes fine (apparently with his head in a bucket!).  And I don't recall if there was any studio trickery involved on this particular track, but his insane "The Hamptons" is one of many ridiculously high vocal turns from the Bruce & Terry/Rip Chords era.

How could anyone argue against Brian having the biggest range? His high harmonies, plus he could sing bass like Mike on some songs.

I don't know what an A5 is. I believe the high note on Surf's Up is an F. Unless there is a harmony above it that I missed.

Yep, the highest note of the melody is an F (on "domino") and A5 is a third above it.  Really damn high.  By way of comparison, that high "na na na" part in Good Vibrations gets up to a G, just below the A5 in Surf's Up.

Was just gonna post that same thing: difference of melody v harmonies. There is an A5 (i.e a major third above the F) at 1:12. Harmony part above the melody. Really, really high.

Any higher ones?  I remember "Catch A Wave" because I was doing a BBs tribute gig and for fun I tried out Brian's parts to see if I could do them in case the other guy needed to sub something out.  That one and the end of "California Girls" ("could be...") were the ones that defeated me.  But they weren't as high as G5 I don't think, I'm figuring they're up around a high F or something.  But the syllables make them a bitch to sing, at least the way I sing up there.  it'd probably be easier for someone who had a different technique for their top notes.  I remember "Little Deuce Coupe" was kind of a bitch too, but doable if you got enough breath under ya.  But my impression is in the later years with Bruce in the band some of those block harmonies with six parts got REAL high, though I can't think of one right now.

At the end of "Forever (vocals only)" Brian hits a slightly flat Bb5. But wait, it's Bruce at the na na na na's in "GV"? Isn't it Brian?

Another high Brian is "Papa Oom Mow Mow". "Catch A Wave", I believe, is "just" a D.

I also found it interesting to read that Bruce is the guy going those high parts at the end of Good Vibrations...interesting stuff :)

I never noticed the A5 above the F in Surfs Up. I will have to listen to that again.

Interesting, I never heard that was Bruce on GV. I suppose that everyone that wrote about the song assumed it was Brian. What source revealed it to be Bruce?

I think it's just simple logic - Bruce went with Brian in the harmony, because he's the only one (until Carl got a bit older) who could hit those notes. I think it's Bruce & Brian doubling on the high harmonies there - I can hear him in there slightly.

There's 'Friends' as well - the bit at the end of the verses, which i think is also 'just' a D hit by Brian. But it's a bloody stratospheric D.

How bout the repeated "Jai Guru Dev" at the end of "All This Is That"? that's Carl right? And a high ass note. Maybe not as high as the end of Surf's Up, but still pretty impressive.

On the 1 beat it is a C#. The pickup note in the repeated iterations is a D.

Good to know!

I'm an OK singer. Just OK, but my vocal warm-up method has always been to sing either Surf's Up and/or the end of All This Is That, both of which I can pull off pretty damn well. But I tell ya, some days, for whatever reason, I simply can't hit those notes in Jai Guru Dev or the "domino" in Surf's up! I can't imagine being Carl and having to nail it night after night live!

No way the end of Good Vibrations is Bruce - I could possibly buy Bruce doubling Brian, but not Bruce alone. 

On another note: on "All I Wanna Do" (Sunflower) regarding the line in the bridge "when I sit and close my eyes, a gentle thought comes in my mind".... The second half of that line goes up higher in basically a falsetto. Is this Mike? If so, it's very out of character for his singing style. I'd be very impressed if it's him.

I can hit a C just below the F in Surfs Up in full operatic voice. But I can't go much higher than the F in falsetto. Maybe a G.

Sorry for the eye strain.  No more pink.  But...how do you change themes?  I see the colors in the top left...I'm using Firefox, by the way.

Oh yeah.  Jai Guru Dev.  That vocal tag (by Carl, I believe as well) is one of my favorites.  One of those "i need to hear this...so please shut the flunk up for a second" vocal-moments.  Yes.   :thud

Sounds like Mike to me - one of my favorite vocals of his, in fact.

 :lol

So to modify that:  Denny's the strongest vocalist when high?  Maybe he is.  You may have something there. 

Yeah, other than his making fun of Brian on that comedy track, that's the only Mike Love falsetto performance that I'm aware of.  Can anyone think of any others?

RE:  "Good Vibrations" Bruce v. Brian...not going to stake my reputation on it or anything, because I really haven't listened too closely, but the tone always struck me as too soft and rounded for Brian and more Bruce's thing.  But "it ain't a hill worth dying on" -- I'm deliberately NOT going to listen and leave it open to everyone's interpretation!

Man, an F is impressive, even in falsetto!  Nice!  I can grab an F on a good day, but it's nasty.  I had to do it recently at an Elton tribute gig:  "And he shall be LEE--von..."  For ease of singing I prefer not to go over C if I can help it, but I have a regular session gig layering backups that often requires me to go higher, up to an E.  Not the most COMFORTABLE singing range, though, is it?  Some guys have that extra falsetto that gets 'em up even higher than that.  I don't know how they do it.  It's really amazing to me.  The Fosketts of this world...hats off to 'em.

I just listened to a Stereo Good Vibrations and will happily put my non-reputation on the line and suggest that, after painstaking  examination, all I can say for sure is that, to these ears, it's most certainly not Brian. It doesn't have the Brian shrillness, (shrill in the most awesome way) isn't Carl or Al, neither Dennis or Mike were likely to have have been assigned that part, so that leaves Bruce! Unless Brian had Marilyn do it! But it SOUNDS like a Beach Boys, so my money is on Bruce.

Damm good tune BTW. Damn track never ceases to blow my mind.

My isolated copy of that vocal sounds a lot like Bruce, with Brian floating in the background underneath, but that's after heavy extraction processing, so still not a guarantee.  ;D

Re: Mike's falsetto, there's a track on Keepin' The Summer Alive in which he busts it out for a few notes, but I'll be damned if I'm going to listen to that entire record for that!

I have no isolated vocals to compare with, but after listening to the Lei'd in Hawaii rehearsals for GV (from the Hawthorne comp), where Brian sings the part, and then to the studio version, I'd say that Brian is in there, although maybe not alone.

This guy from the Danielson Famile can really gets up there

http://youtu.be/sUG0S2ClC2w

I'm kind of thinking of the entire range of the group's career ... Al is a great singer (and guitar player), super unrecognized and i think the group's true secret weapon.  i think, being a humble guy, that his influence on the group is greater than we may realize.

1 - Carl
2 - Al
3 - Brian
4 - Dennis
5 - Mike
6 - Bruce

Really?!?  I don't remember that.

Hmmm, is it on Oh Darlin?

OH!  I know where.  At the tail end of the bridge.  He kind of half-sings a few notes in falsetto, doesn't he?  Good catch!

According to Bruce it's Carl doubling with him on the na-na-na-na outro of GV!

//RD

I could see that. Geez though, awfully high vocal for Carl.

Well now we know he got the note.  I wonder if it's the same deal on "Surf's Up?"

They did some pretty snazzy (and high) dual vocal stuff on the LIGHT ALBUM as well.

First of all, let me say I trust Bruce on this. Then, let me proceed to say how weird that is. Didn't Brian fly out to Michigan to rehearse GV with them prior to them debuting it live, including teaching Carl how to sing the verse line ("wheeeeen I look...") that Brian sang on the record, because it was so high. And here we have Carl already singing a part that is over half an octave above that, on the studio recording! Adam, you know more about singing than I do, make sense out of this, please.

It doesn't make any sense - unless the quick trade-off on the verses was done for aesthetic reasons (as in Carl could actually hit the note, but Brian wanted it to sound stronger than Carl could sing it), somebody's story isn't accurate.  I definitely hear a Wilson in there, and I wouldn't be surprised at all if it was Carl and Bruce.  Where did the story of Carl not being able to hit the high note in the verses originate?

Let's remember though, Carl was developing FAST as a lead vocalist around this time! Something that may have been hard for him when put on the spot in the studio, might have been cake a mere weeks later.

I don't care who you are, you don't suddenly develop another near octave of comfortable range overnight.  A few years, sure, but if you have trouble with a high B flat, you aren't going to be nailing a G5 anytime soon.

How do we know that the note in question (I hear the sound of a......) was doubled in by Brian ( or completely by Brian) because Carl simply couldn't hit the note? Could it have been that Carl could hit it but that it just didn't sound strong enough? Carl never had that Brian shrillness that made such note so supernaturally awesome.

Lol, Chris, I know you brought up this exact same possibility a couple posts ago, but I guess I find it a very likely possibility :P

I think Erik's got it.

The whole Brian doubling on the top note thing on GV always struck me as something that the band, internally, thought was necessary that we as listeners probably wouldn't.  The reason I say that is they continued to double that line live into the '80s (and as far as I know, they still do), and it always struck me as completely superfluous in that Carl always hit the note and half the time whoever was doubling him (Bruce IIRC) didn't always double it well.  Brian probably just thought that it needed to be stronger there, so he added his own voice.

Anyway, I speculated about this somewhere else but my sense is Carl had the notes but didn't feel comfortable singing in that range.  And having just come from a session where I had to hit repeated E5's, I feel his pain.  But I guess the answer to the person that asked why could he do the one thing that was higher and not the other thing that was lower, let me refer back to that:  I can hit an E5.  But it is a loud, screechy thing.  If you want a big, loud, whiny big top note, and you don't have to hold it too long, I am your guy.  I can whine that sucker like nobody's business, you'll be covering your ears and windows will break.  But if you want a nice pretty, held E5 that doesn't sound like an icepick, call Probyn Gregory.  He's your guy.   I can't do it.  He's got finesse up there.  I've got one gear in that range, and that's piercing.  So if you want that sound, great, but if you don't, you want the other guy that can finesse.

So to apply that to the question and to the Beach Boys, it's not just about having the notes, it's about your quality and timbre and what you can do with 'em.  Brian was very aware of this aspect of the band's singing, how the voices would blend and what each member could and couldn't bring to the table on a particular track.  So he may have thought, OK big winey top note, that's me and not Carl, let me get that one.  And at the end, maybe he's thinking, OK, light, soft and breathy, a high G.  I'm gonna sound too harsh.  Bruce and Carl doubled does the trick.

I'm a bit drunk, so maybe I'm not expressing myself well, but that's how I see it having played out.

Having not read this full topic, I hope that this hasn't been discussed. I have always thought that Dennis would have been great as a lead singer for the group. Especially from around 1968 to 1974. He should have been at the front of the stage. Think about all the song he could have done in concert as the "leader". Can you imagine Dennis in front, singing Slip On Through,  All I Want To Do(you guys know which one I mean  ;D), Help Me Rhonda, Got To Know The Women, Forever, Only With You, etc. He could have done the solo on Surfer Girl. He probably could have done In My Room. Even You Need A Mess of Help To Stand Alone, if Carl wanted a break. He could have made Student Demonstration Time cool, and maybe even Barbara Ann.  ;D

Ed Roach made a great comment about this, it may have even been upthread on this topic (I can't keep them straight).  He said that the group's trust and respect for Dennis went down dramatically after the Manson murders.  There's evidence that around '68 or '69 the band was considering this approach, including a few TV appearances with Dennis fronting the band, and having a very high profile role on the 20/20 and SUNFLOWER albums.  Contrast that with the band putting Dennis up front after his hand injury in '71, but Dennis not actually doing very much.

I'm as big a shipper for Dennis as anybody, but I do have to say that my experience with band dynamics is that if somebody's that talented and wants that role enough, that person is going to be accommodated in some way.  But after '70, Dennis (from the band's perspective) couldn't be counted on to be there.  He hurts his hand, he's off in a movie, he's making a solo record, he announces to the press he's leaving the band, he pulls his songs off the album at the last minute.  And this is just 1971.

So you're absolutely right, but it wasn't too be.  Now you could argue that, according to Ed, the band just no longer was willing to roll the dice on Dennis and Dennis exercised his frustrations elsewhere.  Or that Dennis just was never that reliable in the first place.  You can find evidence to support either scenario....but there's a reason this didn't happen and it wasn't just that nobody thought of it, I'd wager.

Actually Adam, you expressed quite well what I was getting at.  Brian was all about getting the right sounds, and he knew their voices well enough to choose the right person/people for a particular vocal part. 

I asked this before, and hopefully somebody can shed some light - does anybody know where the "Carl couldn't hit the note" story originated?

Yes it makes more sense now, thanks Chris and Adam. Still, Brian does a nice job on said part on the Lei'd rehearsal ... until you tell me that that's Carl too!  :)

Did it start from it simply being so obviously Brian in that part of the song???

No Brian or doubling here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nC2gZMNkyJo

and Carl hits the note like a champ, but it's a lot softer than Brian on the recording.

Maybe, although I swear I recall reading it in an article somewhere.  I've probably read hundreds of BB articles in my lifetime though, so who knows?

Before I knew their voices well, I never suspected it wasn't Carl singing the entire verse.  I like the way Carl sings it, but he never had that stronger, more shrill head voice that Brian had, and obviously that was what Brian wanted for that part.  Hell, on the demo (with Asher's lyrics), Brian hits it not only strong, but in full voice - he wanted the note to stand out, and his voice was more suited to that than Carl's was.

But nearly ten years later, when his voice was stronger.

i'd be surprised if he would have ever had trouble with that note. it's an easy one.  I'd definitely bet brian just wanted more oomph.  It sounds better when that part has an extra voice anyway. 

To get back to the 'bloody high notes of the group' side of the discussion, what's the top note of the Piano/Vocal CITFOTM chorus? And is it Bruce singing it?

While Bruce can sing VERY high, he doesn't have much projection on his high notes. So in a live setting, his falsetto doesn't do the job at all. If you listen to live recordings when he was doing the falsetto on  I get Around you can barely hear it. Al sings alot more of Brian's parts. Billy Hinsche and Bobby Figureoa sang high parts as well

Absolutely true...he also had a tendency to sing about a million miles off the mic, God knows why.  Loud monitor causing misjudging?  Who knows.

So, if Carl's (or possibly Bruce's) A5 in "Surf's Up" is the highest noted reached by a Beach Boy on record, what's the lowest? Top of my head, I'd say the F that Dennis sings in "Shortenin' Bread" ("Mama's little baby loves shortenin', shortenin'..."). Any lower? Is there an E somewhere?

Mike hits a low E twice in the last 4 bars of the bridge on "Wouldn't It Be Nice."

I believe that's Dennis singing those bass notes on WIBN

It all gets pretty low during Breakaway, although apparently it's Murry on some of those notes, my memory fails me at present.

I know it's Dennis doing the low part during the verses, but the bridge bass part always souded like Mike to me.  It would seem odd to have somebody other than Mike singing the bass part for an entire song.  Guess I'll have to give it another listen!

In preparing for a Beach Boys tribute gig, I noticed another high one for the vocals...there's a bunch of high F#s and Gs on the backups to "Do You Wanna Dance."  Presumably Brian on all (though I'm only sure it's him on the chorus).

So none lower than Mike's WIBN 'E' than? That means we have a BB range on record from E2 to A5, right? That's impressive.

Another related question: what's the loudest note ever sung on a BB record? With that, I don't mean loudest as it comes out of your speakers but rather what would've sounded the loudest had you been in the studio when they recorded it. Naturally, we can only speculate about this ... but that's what we do here, right?  :) My suggestion: Brian's "Iiiiiiiiii" in the verses of the early version of "Good Vibrations".

 

Oh I'd say Brian's "Papa Papa Papa HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" was a good bit louder than that.  I bet people were covering their ears on that one...

"Screaming" Mike Love's lead on All I Want To Do?

Surely the coda to that song, if mixed at its natural level, would take the prize here!

Good call!

What about Wild Honey?
//RD

I'd like to put forward the middle section to My Solution '70, too.