The Smiley Smile Message Board

Ive been listening to "Pet Sounds" since 1971 , I just dont hear Al!
All the other boys , I hear , but not the guitar player from Lima Ohio , Alan Jardine.
Could someone point out some sections where I can hear that almost Dentist.
Keeping it clean,
Astroray

He shares the lead on "I Know There's An Answer" with Mike.  I don't think he has any other major parts beyond that though, other than background vocals.

He does the lead on the second verse of "I'm Waiting For the Day".

No, that's totally Brian.

But I wonder if it's Al on WIBN doing the "ba baba ba" at the end while Mike is singing "Good night baby, sleep tight baby" or if it's just Mike overdubbed...

I hear him in IJWMFTT.

Really? It's always sounded like Al to me.  Those two are always tough to distinguish but the second verse is sung differently than the first (which is obviously Brian).  Who knows, you're probably right.

I think you're right about the end of WIBN though. 

Then is Al also singing the "you didn't think" part at the end?

I've always thought so, yea. 

I think the "you didn't think"-part ma very well be Al, after thinking about it, but the other parts no way imo. Brian just sung a little deeper.

Looks like Al will not have much to do on Brian's "Pet Sounds" Tour.

I think Al's voice will be used to support or"double" Brian's in places, I can definitely see this on stuff like WIBN and You Still Believe, and can see them alternating on Waiting for the Day

I guess it's safe to say that Al will sing "Sloop John B"

Well, don't forget all those guitar parts he played on the album sessions!  :lol

It's Brian singing the lead throughout on "I'm Waiting for the Day."  Brian had a very versatile voice and he was able to push it and sound much different than when he would ease a lead.  Take something like "Please Let Me Wonder" Vs. "You're So Good to Me" or something.  Al is all over the place on the PS backing vocals.  Obviously his showcase is "Answer" but he's very prominent on Sloop as well. 

Isn't it the "I'm Waiting for the Day" sessions track on the Pet Sounds SOT where Brian is trying to coach Al through a segment of the lead, trying to get him to sing with more feeling, and he eventually gives up?

I once saw a list somewhere of the songs on Pet Sounds (besides obviously Caroline No and the instrumentals) that none of the Beach Boys except Brian had anything to do with... Does anyone know which songs those were?

I guess "Don't talk"  ;)




Haven't listened to it in a long time but I'm quite sure that it's "I know there's an answer".
The only non-Brian lead for "I'm waiting" is probably Mike's as heard on the boxset

I guess Taylor Mills never has anything to do, using that logic.

Yeah, but I'm pretty sure there were also a few songs on Pet Sounds with 'group' vocals that Brian did entirely on his own.

Not entirely. He did very much on "I just wasn't made for these times" but the other boys are on there doing that spanish thing.
The not used "Don't talk"-backing vocals are only Brian. But the boys are all over the record, except the ones you mentioned.

On "IJWMFTT", there are six tracks of bvs. Five are entirely Brian.  :)

That's a little misleading, though.  True, at one point there are six simultaneous tracks of Brian, that's just during the chorus.  The rest of the time, you have Brian's doubled lead, and then on the prechorus "oohs", the boys provide doubled backing vocals, as well as the spanish question and answer under the chorus.

Come to think of it... It's pretty funny that songs like Let's Go Away For Awhile and Pet Sounds are Beach Boys songs, as in 'performed by the Beach Boys', while none of the Beach Boys are actually performing artists on the songs.

Smile was much more of a group project vocally anyhow. I think Brian, Mike, Carl, Al, Bruce, and Dennis are the order as far as who is most prominent on Pet Sounds. Dennis' support of Brian at the time was quite important even if he is not really heard.

Talking about that "spanish" lyric, do we know what they're singing? I was trying to figure it out yesterday, but eventually gave up.  :(

I'm very sure it's all Brian on lead vocals of 'I'm Waiting For The Day', including the "you didn't think" tag. Brian did change his vocal tone for the second verse and it sounds tougher, but it matches the song's dynamics and tension.

Also that is Mike on the "ba ba ba" vocals on the tag of WIBN. Mike just overdubbed the "good night baby" lines (which he claimed he wrote).

I've come to the point where I can usually tell each Beach Boy from another, vocally. (Even though when I was a BBs newbie several years ago, I actually thought it was Brian singing lead on stuff like 'This Whole World'....god how far I've come!)

Al's parts on PS live would be pretty small unless Brian wanted to give away some leads (like Sloop perhaps, and certainly great swaths of 'I Know There's An Answer'). I only wish Carl were still with us; imagine HIM singing w/ Brian on PS live - 'God Only Knows'. Whew...

I'm with you on this.

Yup, definitely "I Know There's An Answer." IIRC, Brian and Mike were both in the control room....Brian was coaching Al specifically on pronunciation, emphasizing how it's important that every word be sung clearly...like Al was kind of schwa-ing and muting his T's on the line "Now, what can you tell them...."

Yep -- Al needed to loosen-up -- & maybe he should have syncopated it a little...

You mean right there in front of everyone?  8) 8)

It was suppose to be I think translated back "I will be. One day I will be".

Yea that's right I think...it goes something like "cuando sere, un dia sere".