The Smiley Smile Message Board

Sorry if that has been discussed before but how many octaves had Brian's voice at it's best time? I heard something about 4.... ?

That's probably about right.  He could cover every vocal part (even bass) and his falsetto could get at least up to the high F in Surf's up, so I'd imagine his range was pretty wide.

Yeah, he had a great voice. Thanks for your reply.
If anybody got more info, go ahead and post it...

brian's highest...warmth of the sun, girls on the beach, dont talk(lead), surfs up

brian's lowest...Pet sounds (demo's) his bass guide vox on Dont talk resonates in my gut!!!!!

The Break Away demo has him doing about 3-4 different parts. It isn't polished as his finished recordings of the time but it gives you a good idea of his range.

Can anyone here actually hit that high F in Surf's Up (columnated ruins d"OMINO")?

I'm proud to say, that I can.

I can hit it...doesn't sound as good as Brian though!

I'm proud to say that I can hit that note too... When my voice is at its "best" (usually around 3 to 8 pm on a regular day), I can sing the "ghost harmony" (in the '71 Surf's Up, at the second "columnated..."). Hell, I can even sing the last "for meeee" of the "opera section" of Bohemian Rhapsody! (not for long though...!)

I'm really proud of my vocal range... I can sing Mike-esque bass vocals as easily as some of Brian's or Carl's most difficult high-pitched parts!  :)

Yes.

I can hit Brian's part of that in the '66 piano demo, but barely.
Carl's is somehow tougher. It's so effortless. It's way easier to sing the high part of "canvas the town and brush the back DROP. Are you sleeping, brother JOOOHNN?"

I've also noticed I can hit Brian's falsettos easier than, say, Smokey Robinson.

I'm jealous!  Whenever I try to reach it, my voice literally just cuts out.  I mean it--NOTHING comes out!

My experience is the same. I'm an alto, and I can't voice that note either. I struggle with the high D on a good day.  ::)

I can't sing for crap.  :-[

Does anybody remember when Mr. Smajda used to frequent the board and he said he could hit an octave above that note?  I always thought that was ridiculous...

As for me, I can KIND of hit that note, but it sounds like crap.  Not like that stops me from singing it though.

I can hit it, but stand the hell back.  It's gonna hurt.

Brian's falsetto was flawless.  There might be people who can technically sing the note, but not with the same tone and impact.  See Frankie Valli or (Dare I say it...) Jeff Foskett.

That's exactly my problem...I can hit it, and it doesn't sound half bad.  But Brian hit it so effortlessly, and it sounded so good that it makes most other attempts sound worse by comparison. 

Somewhere in the Pet SOunds booklet that came with the box set, one of the studio musicians, or somebody said that Brians' voice was not falsetto but rather like something better, more natural than a typical falsetto. I am going to research the book and see if I can find the exact quotation. IMO he had the best singing voice in the whole rock/pop genre.

I can hit it most of the time

Headtone. However, when he hits a high note now, it actually is falsetto.


I can too. My voice has gotten a lot better in the 2 1/2 months since I quit smoking; I actually sing higher now then I did when I was in high school choir 10 years ago; I was a baritone, and now sing in a high tenor with my "full" voice.

I know, but try to think abstractly here...I paraphrased, but what the guy was saying was that hearing it was like something better, stronger than falsetto.....

Click here for my performance of Surf's Up on the New Friday Project (http://del.interoute.com/?id=e3b26160-6a25-46a6-9188-976193ef9c87&delivery=stream)

i was a bit coldy but i just about managed it.. i do really fucking hate the sound of my own voice though

I read somewhere that Carl was woried about singing that high part in 1970. He really wanted Brian to sing it, but Brian told Carl to sing it. Carl didn't think he could do it. I think it sounds better then Brian.

That's an excellent performance.

Keep in mind the Brian version is a demo, though--and in fact, a demo with a doubled vocal in which the two takes are a little out of tune. Who knows what Brian's might have sounded like on a real take if they had recorded it.

One other thing to keep in mind on this talk of Brian's range: Stephen Desper has said in his thread on a few occasions that they sped up the guys' voices plenty of times when there were particularly high parts. That isn't to say their ranges weren't great or that they couldn't maybe have hit the highest notes, but just that we can't take the recordings at face value all the time. The days of doing that, if they ever existed, were over by the mid- to late-60s.

Nice performance, man!

On pg55 in the Making of Pet Sounds book from the box set, Chuck Britz recalls, "Brian could hit the high parts, and it wasn't falsetto. His voice was unreal."

He's right, it was head voice.  Most people have a natural break between the two, and that's why Brian's voice was so unique.  He literally had no discernable break.  A good example is "You Still Believe In Me", the "I wanna cry" line.  With most singers, you could hear several breaks where they switch between falsetto, head voice and chest voice.  Brian's voice sounds pretty much the same throughout.  It's amazing. 

Paul, alright, now!! Beautiful performance of "Surf's Up" you were really feeling that one. Enjoyed it....PMcC

That is a fine lead. The demo of Break Away has him taking many different tones as well. It's not as polished as most of his released leads of the era but it's a good example of how multifacited his voice was. The worst thing he ever did was blowing out his voice in 75.

I agree that Brian's voice is better then the Surfs Up demo. However, I do like Carl's voice better then Brian's. Having said that, there are certain songs that seem to fit Brian better then Carl, like 'Wonderful' and 'Caroline, No'. I heard Carl singing them live and he did a great job on them, but his voice doesn't quite fit the song like Brian's does. On Surf's Up, I love the way they split Carl and Brian's voice on the song. The sections they sing fit their vocal parts well.