The Smiley Smile Message Board

Every time a Brian solo album comes out, people naturally look for sections where he sounds like he did in the 60's.  While it's all well and good, and heartening that he sounds more like his old self in 2011 than he did in say, 1990...

For the second verse of "I'm Waiting for the Day", it sounds to me like Brian all of a sudden channels his current voice for 15 seconds or so, until the soft part.  It's like his younger self suddenly turns gray, whips his shirt tails out, probably does some hand motions to the lyrics, and then just as quickly retreats back to his 22-year-old self again.  The vocal delivery in that part seems to be the prototype for everything he's sung from the 80's to the present day.

Does anyone notice this happening in any other songs?

The very beginning of Wonderful "She belongs there" I hear old Brian.  :lol

I've said something VERY similar to this before! :3d There are some songs that just seem like that older 'twang' of his comes out. Of course, you can imagine some of the d-headed replies that came after...::)

yes it's pretty amazing actually how close his current voice is to his 60s voice considering what it was in the late 70s. even by 88 he was sounding amazing again and had that classic eerie BW quality in his voice

if brian took cocaine again i bet he'd sound like he did on The Little Girl I Once Knew, manic and ecstatic alien with adhd

The Humble Harv demo.

Sweet Mountain has Brian doing some great vintage falsetto and also has him doing his gruff voice. Actually tonally Sweet Mountain and He Come Down are almost like 1976 Brian but more on key and slightly less coarse. Hearing the interviews with Brian from the seventies his speaking voice really didn't change until 1974 but even then it was only slightly compared to 1976. I would bet Brian could sing very well until 1975. He has writen good songs since, some of his vocals since are nice, but Brian only knocks me out as a singer pre 1975.

Spirit of 76 or whatever that song is sounds like Brian recorded it on the Gettin in over my head album. 

He sounds so eerily like Daniel Johnston on some parts of this version. imo.

From the mid 80's onward, Brian's vocals have at times sounded worringly close to those of Ozzy Osbourne.

er, no, I bet he would have a fucking heart attack and fucking die because he's a 69 year old man who spent nigh on 30 years abusing his body.


The hell is wrong with you people.

Agree with you 100%, Brian doesn't need that horrible drug anymore because he was a total wreck when on hard drugs.

"Here Today" (Alternate Version) where Brian sings lead, has a bit of the old Brian voice on the choruses, IMO...

Wow, Brian & Ozzy would sound great together! Brian are you reading this? Let's get the ball rolling buddy, call up Ozzy.

I would love that way more than a Disney themed release.

Very much not. I can not stand this man's voice, especially for the last 15 years or so. Brian sounds like fuckin' Freddie Mercury combined with Brian Wilson circa-themomenthedidthevocalfor"PleaseLetMeWonder" combined with Jesus Christ compared to Oswald.

You know, I always thought that Brian's I'm In Great Shape vocal on this "demo" sounded like a mid 80's Brian trying to reach for high notes, but not quite getting there. I think it's the exact opposite with Getcha Back. There are some high notes in there that kind of sound like early 1970's Brian. To make things even more confusing, on He Come Down there is a brief spot where 1975 Brian shows up in 1972.  :lol

Listen to his leads on Rock and Roll to the Rescue again.

No deal.

Is it weird that this comment makes me want to hear a Brian Wilson Reimagines Black Sabbath album?

Can you imagine Sharon and Mel trying to discuss the terms for such a thing?

I was thinking more along the lines of Brian & Ozzy writing up a list of the required substances for their collaborative efforts. Tell me I'm not crazy, Ozzy.

You're So Good To Me. 

And yes, I hear it (and the Daniel Johnston comparison!!!) on the Humble Harv demo.

  "It's not to late"...from "I'd love just once to see You"..sound like older Brian

A Brian/Ozzy collab doesn`t seem to far fetched. Both of them slur and/or stutter when they talk, they both spent good chunks of the 70s and 80s on various substances, and both couldn`t function without/have their lives pretty much run by their wives.

I Love To Say Da Da.

It's amazing how much he sounds like old Brian here.

Brian has always had a peculiar tone of voice. On the Howard Stern show someone called in just to ask what was up with his voice. But he didn't specifically mean the style of speech but the tone. Or that was how I understood it. Brian had a very manly tone in the 50 packs of cigarettes a day years but before and after that it's had a strange tone, people who know more technical stuff about the voice will surely point out what register or whatever he speaks and sings in most comfortably. I can see why Brian seems to have, at some times, felt insecure as a man. Here he is, this big guy, physically quite large and imposing, but he has one of the sweetest 'feminine' voices in the music world, and he knew it. And he is not opposed to listening to or writing songs from a girl's perspective! Brian must have tripped himself out so many times on these issues. Having two daughters while Carl had sons - Carl was the more feminine Wilson boy in the beginning despite Brian's falsetto. Carl always remained the most feminine in his quiet but confident style, Brian medium, Dennis way over there being a real man. But Dennis seems to have had his own insecurities too...

I remember that interview.  The caller asked asked Howard (as if Brian weren't right there) if Brian had had a stroke, and Howard yelled at the caller and moved on to the next call.

Recently it was, I think, an NPR interview about the Gershwin album -- video of it's been posted on youtube, I think-- and Brian started the interview in a very manly tone of voice, which dissipated after a few responses.

Interesting... As late as 1988, while promoting his solo album, he mentioned how uncomfortable he was with his lead voice and defined himself mainly as a "falsetto singer" (!). Wish I could find the quote.

Also, I  suggest listening to the original version of This Could be the Night (modern folk quartet, I think). Brian seems to have built his mature, shouty, in-your-face rocking tone after that group's lead singer.

Interestingly, both Brian and Ozzy appeared as background vocalists on Ringo Starr's "Vertical Man." 

If you want to hear Brian channeling Ozzy, check out "Without Understanding."  Kinda creepy, Brian, singing about "no good vibrations."

Actually that's a really interesting point - and something I've wondered about may be related.

When did Brian start talking out of the side of his mouth?
 
He sings in a similar fashion. The first time I remember this was when he did an interview with Mike Douglas back in what - 1976? After his first "bed binge". I was wondering if he'd had a stroke myself back then. It just seemed really odd and I was taken aback - but figured we were lucky he was alive and kicking.

I also wondered if he started doing that to somehow compensate for the deafness in his right ear, and it just became more prominent over the years.

It's odd, but I do believe it has an effect on the tonality of his voice, aside from whatever register he can muster.

Brian was singing out of the side of his mouth back in `63. There`s a video of Surfer Girl where he does that.

Yeah he's been doing that since the beginning, and the reason has in fact been attributed to his deafness - not sure if it's a common thing amongst those who are deaf in one ear, but it makes sense. 

I don't think it's ever really had an effect on his voice one way or the other, aside from maybe enhancing some intonation problems as he's aged - granted, that happens to many artists in their 50's and 60's, even without the history of a ridiculous amount of prescription medications.

How much of the similarity is due to double tracking the 60's vocal, or sweetening the current vocal?

where do i hear this interview

I think he does it because it is an inherited trait. Audree spoke that way all the time or at least in any video I've ever seen of her.