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Let's talk about our favorite compositions and lead vocals by the late, great Carl Wilson. Some good, positive, happy discussion.  :)

Feel Flows, Long Promised Road, and The Trader are probably my top 3, 2 & number one favorites. I'm not a huge fan of a lot of the Rieley era songs but he definitely brought out the best in Carl. Too many good leads to name though, he was by far the best voiced out of the band's career once Brian lost that sweet falsetto. The I Get Around falsetto, not the She's Got Rhythm one. But that's a different thread.   :hat

Ton of great leads on the Wild Honey album. The title track, Darlin', I Was Made To Love Her. There's that one Pet Sounds song, his voice was the only one who could have sung it. Kokomo wouldn't have been Kokomo without his voice singing those parts.

Hows about yourselves? The thread about the recently discovered unheard/unreleased CW songs piqued my interest in his solo albums because I've never really bothered checking them out. What're his greatest solo numbers?

His contributions to

(http://oi60.tinypic.com/2hwissm.jpg)


 :laugh:

I love Long Promised Road, Trader, Feel Flows, Angel Come Home, Where I Belong and Heaven, but I also feel his merits as a co-writer are sometimes overlooked. Let's not forget that he's credited on Our Sweet Love, River Song, Dance Dance Dance, Good Timin', I Went To Sleep, Friends, Be Here In The Morning, All This Is That and It's About Time - all of which I think are great.

Ah, forgot Angel Come Home! Definitely one of my favorites of LA Light Album with a great lead by Dennis.

Has he always been credited on It`s About Time?

Agreed. His contributions to the 85 album (It would have sucked otherwise) plus Long Promised Road, The Trader, Feel Flows and Angel Come Home.
And those are my favourite Carl songs  :)

Al certainly credited Carl during Al's Goldmine interview in 2000.

Ah, I now re-read Bob Burchman`s interview where he says that Carl pretty much got a credit for nothing.

I really enjoy Carl's first solo album - hard to xplain why, but to me it has a kind of mellow early summer evening vibe to it.

I have a beat up vinyl copy that I spin from time to time - it doesn't knock my socks off, but just rolls along and grooves a little bit in it's own humble way.  Worth checkin' out.

Big Carl fan here......would have to say Angel Come Home was such a great tune, whose intensity was magnified by perhaps one of Dennis' last great performances. And while there are sooooo many vocal performances to choose from, Surf's Up certainly stands out for the Boys' tune, though I think my personal favorite may well be Where I Belong. How this tune is routinely overlooked in 'best of' compilations always amazes me.........Carl was magnificent. And on his own, Heaven and I Wish For You. I purchased the Carl Wilson 'Best Of' compilation that was available from one of the Cancer charities years ago; I also have both original pressings of his solo CD's from Japan from the early 90's. I never fail to enjoy listening to Carl Wilson.......one of the true distinct voices in Rock and Roll. Great thread!

His vocals and production on I Can Hear Music are top notch. Other favorites are Our Sweet Love, Friends, Time To Get Alone and I Went To Sleep. Carl's voice is the only redeeming factor on the songs Kokomo and Lahaina Aloha.

Top 5 Compositions:

1.  "Heaven"
2.  "Where I Belong"
3.  "Trader"
4.  "Livin' With A Heartache"
5.  "Long Promised Road""

Top 5 Lead Vocals:

1.  "God Only Knows"
2.  "I Can Hear Music"
3.  "Good Timin"
4.  "Let Us Go On This Way'
5.  "Givin' You Up" or "Of The Times" (pick 'em)

I completely agree. Not sure why this wasn`t included on either of the box sets.

Where I Belong, Trader and All This is That are probably my favourite songs that Carl has a writing credit on. From his solo career though songs like Heaven, Givin You Up and I Wish For You are all impressive.

His attempts to write anything more rocky are generally weak though like Maybe I Don`t Know, Run Don`t Walk and several solo songs.

  "Feel Flows" is Carl's masterpiece. In a sense it's his "Good Vibrations." I like Rieley's words as well.

  In a career of standout vocals, "God Only Knows" was his finest moment as a lead singer.

  In an era where the material was too often substandard (80's-90's), Carl's singing always elevated the mediocre into something a bit better.

  Carl Wilson - One of Rock's great voices. We know it; does the rest of the world?

The best voice in pop/rock history, hands down with don Henley probably number 2. I actually preferred Carl's voice as it aged. From the late 80's onward, his live vocals on songs like Forever, GOK, Darlin, SOS can't be touched.

He really had a beautiful sweet voice. The end of All This Is That is just out of this world.

Carl was beautiful, lovely man and it's sad that he's still not around today.

I love all his work - everything he did with the boys was great. "I Went to Sleep," my favorite Beach Boys song, has his name attached to it, as does "Friends," another of my favorites. "Long Promised Road" and "Feel Flows" ain't no slouches, either. Great pieces of psychedelic music that strayed so far from their usual sound, but still managed to stay within it. Truly original songs that are so completely different from what everyone else in the band was doing.

I read once that Carl was practically their producer from 1969 onwards, which is remarkable. So much talent, and it certainly helped to have a brother like Brian to teach him. I think he managed to save a lot of albums from being average at best. The fact that he managed to pick up Brian-Fucking-Wilson's unfinished works and complete them while still maintaining the same level of quality is really fascinating. Some people would even concede that he outdid Brian with his version of "Surf's Up."

He also had a wonderful voice that conveyed so much emotion, it's a wonder Brian held off on using him for so long. His singing was just perfect and sublime and it's breath taking on things like the ending to "All This Is That." He was certainly a master of vocal cords. Although, as much as I love him, I think he started to be overused on later albums, it seemed like almost every song had Carl doing a lead.

I miss you, Carl  :-[

Favorite Compositions:
1. "Feel Flows"
2. "Trader"
3. "Long Promised Road"
4. "Where I Belong"
5. "Heaven"

Favorite Vocals:
1. "God Only Knows"
2. "Soulful Old Man Sunshine"
3. "This Whole World"
4. "I Can Hear Music"
5. "Let Us Go On This Way"

Carl's lead vocal on Out Sweet Love is stupendous.  So pretty.

Love him on the concert version of Darlin' too (on Endless Harmony compilation).  For me it is the definitive version.

My favourite is probably the 1980 Knebworth rendition. OUT-OF-SIGHT.


P.S. Your nickname is still one of the most awesome things I've seen on this board. ;D

I forgot about Livin' With A Heartache and Sweet Sunday Kinda Love. They don't get mentioned as much as others but they are two I love listening to.

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its gettin late rocks my socks off, hooks galore :hat

"Of the times" is a very underrated Beach Boy Quality song...

"Darlin" is one song that was better live than on the record. Carl just sang better and better as the years went by. "Our Sweet Love" has to be on my list, too - perfect vocal and production there. I agree about "Of the Times", too, like how it builds from the soft first verse, and gradually builds. Some fantastic guitar work by "Skunk" Baxter.

There's some good stuff on Youngblood.

Where i Belong is in my all-time top ten favourite Beach Boys songs - possibly even my top 5.

It is so earth-shatteringly supendous I find it slightly staggering when people on here claim not to be overly taken with it.

It's just an incredible song. That it was left off Good Vibrations and MIC is nothing short of scanderlous! It is by some considerbale distance the best thing they did in the '80's and it's up their with Feel Flows and Trader in the All-Time Great Carl Wilson composiitons.

The song is, more than anything, proof positive that Carl had the genius genes flowing through his veins like his brothers. It may not have boiled to the surface as often, but when it did it was just as incredible!

There's a million lesser bands who would happily commit murder for a song of this calibre. It's a sign of both the greatness of Carl and the band that they could have songs like this in their catalogue, largely neglected and forgotten.

Where I Belong is a victim of its time. A certain segment of their fandom will not give it it's due simply because of when it was recorded. Had it been on Holland or CATP, or had the lyrics been drafted by Jack Reilly it would be held in much higher regard.  It is a great song. David Leaf said after the GV box was released that he regretted not including it on the last disc.

I first fell in love with Carl's vocal ability on "I Can Hear Music."  It's difficult for me to actually fathom that this was a cover, because Carl took that tune and really made it his own.  I very much agree with those who believe Carl's voice got better with age.  Wonderful songs like "God Only Knows," Darlin'" and others sounded better in concert in the '80s and early '90s mainly because of the maturity that Carl's voice had developed by that era.

It's almost impossible for me to place Carl Wilson's leads into any type of order.  I never heard the man sing anything – whether his own compositions or anything else – that I didn't like.  I will say that all of the songs I mentioned above are among my personal favorites.  Others on which he sang lead, or contributed mightily, include "Good Vibrations," "Heaven," "I Wish For You" and one that I don't remember anyone else mentioning: "What You Do To Me."  I'm leaving out many others that are equally good.

I believe there will never be another vocalist with the talent and ability of Carl Wilson.  I listen to the man's music almost every day – and I never get tired of hearing that wonderful, soulful voice.  Even after all these years, it's almost unimaginable that he's gone.  Just think what the 50th anniversary tour could have been like with Carl on stage alongside his partners.

Great post! Seeing them live quite a few times between 1969-1975, Carl showed a very understated "coolness" on stage and in interviews. He had a nice presence on stage and could sing his ass off. Those early to mid-70's shows really centered as much around Carl, as they did around Mike.

Favourite composition: "Feels Flows". Nothing remotely like it anywhere.
Favourite lead vocal: "I Can Hear Music". That wail a few bars in is worth more than the entire repertoire of most other pop vocalists.

My favorite Carl Wilson compositions are Feel Flows, Long Promised Road, The Trader and I Wish For You (Beckley-Lamm-Wilson).

I love "Surf Jam", probably my second favorite surf instrumental ever recorded by anyone.

I've never met a Carl Wilson fan who didn't sense the man's "understated coolness," though I doubt few ever stated it as well as you did in your post.  Outside Carl's wonderful voice, that was one of the most endearing qualities of a man who displayed far more than his share of good qualities.

I always liked Carl's 'Time' from Youngblood. It's a total rocker! Great way to end the album too!

One of the highlights of the show I saw in June 1983. Wish I'd snuck a tape recorder into that place.

Yes it is. This thread prompted me to give Youngblood a good listen and I'm I'm glad it did. I thought Youngblood was a strong album in 1983 and, after revisiting it, I still think it is. Carl's vocals are spectacular; it might be his strongest album vocally. There's not a clunker on the album (maybe the title cut is the weakest) and, in my opinion, Youngblood features 7 or 8 strong tracks. Again in my opinion, I can think of only one other BB solo album which can claim that - Pacific Ocean Blue. Check these out:

-  "She's Mine"
-  "Givin' You Up"
-  "One More Night Alone"
-  "Rockin' All Over The World"
-  "Of The Times"
-  "If I Could talk To Love"
-  "Time"

Nice to see that other fans are coming around to sharing my opinion of this album. For many years  it seemed that  I was the only one that liked it.

You can add me to the list too; I always liked it and thought it should have done much better than it did, retail was. Some great Carl Wilson tunes and vocals.

Funny, I was in the grocery store just this morning and heard a song overhead...thought, the playing of this song
over the past quarter century has brought dear Carl to my mind (and ears) more than any other song.
"Don't Let the Sun Go Down..."

I find Where I Belong is a bit overrated. I can't be the only one who cringes at the "don't need to search no more exotic islands" lyric, right?

I'm also a fan of Carl's solo stuff -- there are some hidden gems within.

For this long-time Carl fan, "Wild Honey," "Darlin'," and "I Can Hear Music" set the hook. "Feel Flows," "Long Promised Road," and his vocals on "This Whole World" and "Surf's Up" sealed the deal. I fell in love with that voice!

I like "Where I Belong" a lot. It's a very good song with great vocal from Carl, and I think Al's vocal counterpoint the last two times in the chorus is terrific.

For the best Carl song, though, I have to go with "Long Promised Road."

My favorite Carl Wilson vocal performance is probably... anything he ever sang. Cop out? Probably.

Somewhere on YouTube there's video of a concert from Australia in 1978 (I think) where he is clearly somewhat inebriated, yet, he still turns in a gorgeous rendition of "God Only Knows". I just don't think I've heard Carl sing anything that he didn't sound good on. He had a beautiful voice on mellower tunes/ballads, but he could get gritty on a rocker with the best of them.

Favorite compositions...

The only stuff of his I've ever heard that I don't care much for is on his first solo album. I like "Hold Me" and "The Grammy" and I love "Heaven", but the rest of the album just doesn't grab me. Beyond that, I like his writing, be it "Long Promised Road" or "The Trader", or "What More Can I Say?" or "Where I Belong".

Anybody know why he didn't contribute material to the couple post-1985 Beach Boys studio albums he was involved in before he passed away? Was he not permitted/asked to? Did he feel his efforts were unappreciated, so why bother? I think it's extremely unfortunate that he didn't because, IMHO, the albums from 1970 onward always benefited from Carl's contributions to the songwriting.         

I've wondered about that for a long time. SC and SIC would have benefitted from some songs from Carl.

Youngblood is better than Heaven I think. Horrible titles for albums though. Shame Carl didn't continue with his solo stuff, the Beach Boys were done for by this point so would've been no difference disbanding the whole deal.

that lyric is really horrid, really cheeses the album up. perhaps he wanted it to be more 'beach boys/summerish'? After all, he was the bloke that wrote the atrocious Keeping The Summer Alive

The first album was not call "Heaven", it had no title or was self-titled. Of the solo material, I think Heaven and Of The Times are probably the two best pieces of music that he wrote.

A few fave lead vocals by Carl that I haven't seen mentioned yet:

Steamboat
With Me Tonight

I love the sound of his voice on both of these; such a richness and sweetness to it.

Also, not a lead vocal per se but the bridge on I'll Bet He's Nice is similarly lovely.

"Our Sweet Love" is such a perfect, perfect, perfect recording in every way -- sometimes I can't believe that it really exists!

I heard some talk circa 1986-87 that Carl was going to do another album. I was surprised, though, that the group didn't attempt to follow up the 1985 album. True, it wasn't a commercial blockbuster, but it sold better than the last few albums, and got them back onto top 40 radio again. Then I remember reading about the Beckley/Lamm/Wilson project in late 1992...and waited, and waited for something to come out.

As per Carl's comments on Goin' Platinum program, he wrote the music. The lyrics were provided by Randy Bachman.

http://youtu.be/XZUqZ1QDFDw?t=7m51s (http://youtu.be/XZUqZ1QDFDw?t=7m51s)

Agreed.  I mentioned this song earlier in this thread.. it is a perfect vocal performance.  Carl at his peak.

"Feel Flows" is a very strong composition & he played just about everything there! As a fan, I like to find out when/if the band did the backing track on it's own. Carl had beautiful voice, no doubt, however, during the 70s it became a wee lazy & incoherent. He was great all along the 60s, even the early years. My favorite Carl lead is "How She Boogalooed It", so groovy & fun, big evidence he wasn't a quiet one & could easily overshadow his "angelic" side if it required so. Conversely, "GOK" remains to be his best 3 minutes.

Should be noted too, he's been known to utter zingers, no less funny than Brianism.

Carl had a great sense of humor. Didn't show it publicly very often, but yeah, he could be hilarious...and oh so perceptive.

The Trader is my favourite Beach Boys song hands down. My favourite BB era is the early 70's where Carl is easily the glue that held everything together. As others have mentioned, in the 1980s his singing made weaker material sound so much better. Simply put, post '68 Carl is the main reason the Beach Boys are my favourite band.

Carl played every instrument on Feel Flows except for the flute and sax (Charles Lloyd) and some additional percussion played by someone named Woodie Thews.

Carl was the best voice in the group and one of the best ever in pop music (I'd say THE best, even). As a songwriter, he had not the melodic genius of Brian and Dennis (who has?), but could craft excellent songs. "The Trader" is one of the best in BB canon.

Also, the early '70s period with Carl at the helm is my fav period of the BBs as a band. I am not alone in that, I see.  :)

Woody Theus: http://www.moderndrummer.com/site/2011/08/woody-sonship-theus/#_

Feel Flows, Long Promised Road, The Trader, Angel Come Home, Where I Belong.

1. 'Our Sweet Love' (co-written by Carl)
2. 'Long Promised Road'
3. 'Where I Belong'
4. 'The Trader'
5. 'It's Gettin' Late'

Carl Wilson has been the love of my life since I was about 8 (though he faced some fierce competition from Barney Rubble for a time). Him singing Caroline No on The Beach Boys in Concert started it, but the second part of "The Trader" clinched it.

Carl is my favorite Beach Boy.  I can't get enough of his voice and he makes everything he sings extra special and beautiful.  This is really a tough topic because there's so many songs that are just incredible.

I guess my number one song would be God Only Knows.  Though Brian and Tony Asher penned this beauty, Carl made it his own because he always sang it. 

Heaven is superb.  Love the lyrics, the soft melody and that voice.  Hurry Love, from his first solo album is another soft one that just has me melting whenever I hear it - a kind of sitting on the beach drifting away kind of song.  What You Do To Me and One More Night Alone, from his 2nd album, Youngblood, are very good.  WYDTM is fine example of how versatile and strong Carl's vocals were.  Towards the end of the song, it's incredible!

Some really great vocal achievements from Carl would have to be in Surf's Up, All This Is That (the Brian's back part that was added in 1976).  The ending part really astounds me.  But, I have to say that the number one song for me would have to be his background vocals from Elton John's Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me.  Towards the end of the song, at the crescendo, with the ahs and oohs, Carl's voice doubles perfectly with the french horns.  Just superb!  Goosebumps.

I have heard that song hundreds of times on oldies radio, and never noticed Carl's voice on there. Not an Elton fan.

I LOVE LOVE CARL on the 1985 self titled album, it doesnt seem to be a favorite of others but I love it, Bruce Johnston says he doesnt care for it because of autotune but I love it, Im curious if they have original tapes of it before it was autotuned. Maybe Autotune was done at the time of recording so there is no way to hear original. Anybody know? Kind of cool to have Ringo and Stevie Wonder on there also. There is alot of sweet Carl Giveaways right now on ESQ, no entry needed, just have a subscription: https://www.facebook.com/ESQ.Editor/photos/pcb.10153629932757487/10153629930047487/?type=3&theater
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Carl Wilson didn't need no freaking auto tune. Not so sure about Brian or Mike.