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I read somewhere that all the vocals were done by Carl. I know he did all the leads. But I swear I hear other BBs in the backround. Am I mistaken or is the person that wrote that mistaken?

Well, Carl did all of the vocals on the 1974 version. The revised version as released on LA has the band on it. Bruce sticks out.

Not listened to it for a few years, but iffn i recall correctly, the 1974 version consists of the track and Carl doing just the lead.

The 1974 version has Carl's basic lead vocal, yes. Perhaps I should have been a little more accurate and said Carl did all of the one vocal on the 1974 version. :)

Correct.  Carl only on my copy.  Makes it almost impossible to resist personally adding other parts as a sing along.  I like to add the Brian "You need good timin" part like he did live.  I sound almost as good as Brian on the live versions!

On the master version from "L.A. Light", part of Carl's 1974 lead vocal might be used, but he also redid parts or added to it significantly in 1978.  Bruce wrote the background vocal arrangement, which was sung by Bruce, Carl, Al, Mike, and Bobby Figueroa.  They had hoped to get Brian to do the lead (hard to imagine it would've been better than Carl's, but that's what they wanted), however he was hospitalized and they ran out of time (according to engineer Tom Murphy), so Carl did it.

That would make a lot of sense (to try to get Brian), though. It's not a challenging part, so even a far-from-peaking Brian could have technically done it. And it would have made Brian more audible on an album where he's far from featured.

It's actually a bit low for Carl, though he does a great job.  I can see them wanting Brian on it.  And it would not surprise me if all of the verse vocals (as opposed to the choruses) were done by Carl and Bruce.  They have the same kind of sound that a lot of the other vocals they did on L.A. had.

I love Good Timin'!  It's probably in my top 20 BB songs, but does anyone here hear an indistinct screechiness in the background vocals?  No matter what speakers I'm listening on, I can't turn it up too loud because it literally hurts my ears.  It's during the chorus..."You need good timin [AH-AH-UH-AHH], it takes good timin [AH-UHHUH-AHUH]"  It's like all the background vocals are overprocessed and muddled together and it creates a high-pitched screech that at first is unnoticeable, but if you listen for it, it's there.

At the very end of each chorus (Gooood Gooooood Tiiimin'), I swear I hear a gruff voice in there, possibly either Dennis' or Brian's voice.  It is definitely not Bruce, Al, Carl or Mike, though I can't say I've ever heard Bobby Figueroa sing.

I believe the gruff voice in the "good good timin'" bit is actually Bruce. His voice sticks out in those harmonies.

Adam, I have very good reason to believe you are right on that!  ;) (i.e. an impeccable source told me that).
Then the group (Carl, Bruce, Al, and Mike, plus Bobby) are on the choruses.

An MIU-style vocal from Brian could have been absolutely great. Not unlikely, either, given that these songs were all worked on around the same time.

Carl's vocal is great just the same, obviously.

On that note, does Brian ever bust this one out live? Seems like it'd be in great range for his current voice.

Brian did it a few times. Mike and Bruce do it as well.

Not that this is that helpful because it was 25 years after LA, but here's a video of Bobby singing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wypRxifbLzs

Bobby Figueroa nails Sail On Sailor every time he does it. He does it with Al at virtually every one of Al's shows, and he sang it in mid-1981 when the song returned to the setlist. In later years his renditions became a sort of "so soulful it hurts" situation.

Thanks. Also, the LA Light Album is said to be produced by Bruce Johnston, but I also read that it was mostly Carl and Shilling (spell?)? What did Bruce do, and what did Carl and S do?

Good Timin is mostly produced by Jim Guercio, Baby Blue and Love Surrounds Me are mostly produced by Dennis, Carl's songs are mostly produced by Carl(Jerry Schilling was a manager and never a producer) Bruce pulled the rest of L.A. Light together and sweetened and polished the aforementioned tracks to their L.A. Light completion. Personally I think that either Carl or Dennis were much better producers than Bruce but neither were in any condition to complete a record in '79, Brian was even worse. Bruce had sobriety on his side.

I would argue that with all the cooks in the kitchen, it was a miracle that LA turned out as well as it did. I don't know if a Brian-produced LA would have done any more than the final product to alter their fortunes, and Carl and Dennis were a bit inconsistent at the time. But if you take it as the band's excuse to make a soft rock album, then Bruce was ideally the perfect person to put the pieces together.

Of course, it's anyone's guess why Do You Like Worms was considered for the same album, but we always have stuff to wonder about when it comes to the Beach Boys.

I'd agree with that, Dr UNH.

But in hindsight, for all of the garbage that was released on the late '70s albums, just imagine if they had waited and released the best songs off of Adult/Child, MIU, LA, and Keepin' The Summer Alive as one or two single LPs.

They were rushing them out and praying for a hit, it seems to me.

LA could be left as is. Adult/Child and MIU's best stuff could be combined. Keepin' the Summer Alive deserves to be buried and forgotten. The worst album they ever did.

Personally, I hate the way Bruce takes all of the funk and groove out of "Angel Come Home" and "Love Surrounds Me," compare the LA versions to the Midnight Special and POB remaster versions. The latter, admittedly, is mostly the same recording but so much fresher and...well...cooler.

Stebbins, you say Carl wasn't in a condition to complete a record in '79. Why? I thought he was doing much better in '79 than '78?

And, that continues to fascinate or mystify me. That period, 1974 - 1981 (or to 1983) found Brian, Dennis, and Carl in such bad shape. There was substance abuse, mental illness, financial irresponsibility, divorce, inter-group fighting, some poor performance in the studio, and just a basic deterioration.

But why? The Beach Boys were given a second chance in 1974, a second chance that very few rock bands are given. It brought a lot of (new) money, a lot of fame, and a chance to reaffirm their legend, their status, and their reputation(s). But they blew it. A look back at that period shows one debacle after another, one tragedy after another. As fans looking back with 20/20 hindsight, it's hard to figure out why. They had it all.

Many historians point to Murry's death as a real turning point. I suppose there's some truth to that. But that has to be other reasons why they couldn't stay healthy, stay creative, even stay married. I mean, they lost it all - again. It's as if they learned nothing from their decline in the late 60's/early 70's. Anyone have any thoughts?

Carl was still reeling from his addictions in 1979. Heroin is a tricky thing to kick, and Carl had a serious problem with it for years.

Most of L.A. Light was recorded in '78. BTW... I agree with what you said about Angel and LSM.

Not exactly - Adult/Child was never released, M.I.U. was released 18 months after Love You, and for the last two albums you name they had CBS leaning on them very heavily.

Carl was heroin-clean in 1979: he'd hit rock-bottom on the Jan/Feb 1978 NZ/Oz tour and that was his wake-up call (it's possible he saw the footage). May have still had an alcohol problem, but he was off the hard stuff.

To be fair...1974 through mid 1977 was Dennis' most productive and prolific time. And he was relatively straight in '74 and '75 as well...and physically healthy throughout '76. The bad stuff kicked in mid '77 for him.

I know there's been some discussion before regarding the falsetto 'Surfer Girl' part in L.A., with some people saying it was Carl, some Brian, some Bruce...but I wonder if it wasn't Terry Melcher. It seems that when I hear those old RipChords records his voice has a similar timbre to the Good timin' vocal.


But then it's probably Figuroa.

Don't think Melcher was involved back then - correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't he appear on the scene in 1984 ?

Well, as a producer, sure. But he had sort of been 'on the scene' since the early sixties.
The hypothetical scenario I'm envisioning is him just singing an uncredited cameo on the one song, nothing more. But I don't know. It's just that I think it sounds more like him than Carl, Bruce or Brian. Nothing more, no other 'evidence' than my own ears, which might be wrong.

And why do you think that was, Jon? Instead of POB being a "taking of", a starting point, a success to be built on, it was basically down hill from there. As far as the band was concerned, Dennis didn't have the pressures or responsibilities that Brian, Carl, and even Mike had. Why couldn't Dennis be.....happy?

EDIT: I remember the day Dennis died, and a Beach Boys' buddy of mine came over to the house, and we got to talking about Dennis. And, I remember this friend saying, "I could never figure Dennis out. He had life by the balls. He had loving wives, kids, adoring fans, talent, and looked great. But it wasn't enough." I realize that statement, in retrospect, was naive, and my friend meant no disrespect by it. But, still, I often think about that statement, and, periodically, I will remind my friend that he made it. Because, in some ways, it does make you wonder....

Yeah, he had kicked the heroin in 1978 but he was still reeling from the effects well into 1979. The alcohol didn't help either.

Bruce mentioned in an interview just before L.A.'s release that Al did most of tzhe production on "Lady Lynda" and that he should be given credit for it, if it would become a hit (which interestingly happened in England).
I agree with you guys, that the production on the album sounds very dead. Same goes for KTSA. Never been a fan of Bruce's productions to tell you the truth.

BTW, on the Dennis thing about '74-'77 being his freshest period, I agree. Look at the pictures, he looks better than ever in the '74-'75 ones, still very good in the 1976 pictures and then in '77 when he shaved the beard off. And it's hilarious because I was listening to a few boots the other day of '73-'75 BB concerts and you can totally tell the difference in Dennis' demeanor. In '73 he's charming and talkative, but clearly feeling no pain. In '74 and the Beachago concert I have, he's still charming and talkative, but it's well structured, well formed sentences  ;D

Also, just to share a nugget from the Hartford concert, the audiences is smoking...ahem...substances quite heavily (Carl yelling out jokingly "I smell something's burning!") and Dennis adds into a blank void "Anything but the head of Ed Carter!"

I'm kind of shocked, I never heard before that Carl was on heroin.  That's serious, life-destroying drug use.  I guess Brian's deterioration from substances wasn't enough to make him stay away from the stuff.  Was Al Jardine ever into drugs or other vices.  He seems the cleanest of the bunch from what little I know.

Michael and Al both smoked pot, although Michael used it more than Al. Blondie also apparently had a cocaine addiction.

Yeah, I remember reading that Mike and Al both experimented a bit in the late 60s. Blondie doesn't suprise me. What about Ricky Fataar and Bill Hinche?

The most credible answer to that comes from what Barbara told me..."he couldn't accept or love himself." She mainly says that was because of Murry... Karen Lamm basically told me the same thing, "Dennis' biggest hangup is that he never felt accepted by his father. He could never get past that." Most of his friends agree. The Manson thing only made it worse. That generated major guilt and shame, warranted or not. He didn't relax or sleep well because he was constantly haunted by relentless inner turmoil, that wears on you. Sometimes he'd get a little better like in '70 and in '74/'75. But the darkness always returned, and always in a more severe form. Substances gave him a brief break from obsessing about whatever that darkness and pain was....but of course they just created a larger problem, a deeper hole. One thing that helped was living on the boat, and in the studio, sailing and working. When the boat and studio were gone he had no anchor...thus more time to self medicate the gnawing self doubt...which turned into a death spiral.  Brian's problems generate from pretty much the same place. These guys were severely traumatized at an early age, they might have been pre-disposed to addiction anyway, they both were/are very fragile inside. Some of us have that built in sense that everything is going to be okay, and we like ourselves, and feel loved and secure at our core. That comes from good parenting. Its a stable foundation. Brian and Dennis do/did not have that. In fact they both have a giant deficit in that area...massive self doubt, massive insecurity, massive inner turmoil and pain. Brian's morphed into huge fear and emotional paralysis, Dennis' morphed into self destruction. Draw your own conclusion.

Thanks, Jon.

Very well said Jon.  Murry really was the root of the most wonderful (music) and terrible (substance abuse) elements of his sons' lives.

Both versions have their merits, but the 1974 recording is grittier and better. Bruce's production on LA was a bit too much syruppy for me, but the song, in general, is among the group's "post Holland" best.

The 1974 version has a charm to it that the released version, as good as it is, does lack. The backing track (which also circulates) is very punchy, with tons of the classic touches. The original backing track was perfectly fine to have been left as is when the band went back to the song, but Jim Guercio probably found it too punchy for the late 1970s. Of course, in a perfect world, Good Timin' would have been part of a 1974 album that would have gone further with the Holland progression.