The Smiley Smile Message Board

I’m sure others have noticed this... but it’s really been in my head lately how much Carl’s vocals got better and better with age, most particularly in the late 70s/80s and into the 90s, right about the time that the quality of recorded material being recorded got much worse. His vocals just got so overwhelmingly amazing, like a fine wine getting better and better with age, that practically passing each year in the above mentioned time frame, the decline of the material is almost an exact opposite curve to the increasing awesomeness and shear emotional strength of his vocals.

A really unique and bizarre phenomenon that, to me, gives so much more listenability and enjoyablilty to latter day Beach Boys product (some of which would otherwise be nearly complete dreck), but Carl somehow saves the song, or makes it at least parts of the song, very very enjoyable.

Biggest examples of this:

Lahaina Aloha
Make it Big
Somewhere Near Japan
entire Beach Boys 1985 album

Even train wrecks such as Problem Child and Happy Endings have moments of Carl bliss which make them listenable to me.

Carl reached his zenith on BB85, a record I can't stand from a production/songwriting perspective. His range did drop a little after that, simply beacuse he found himself on the wrong side of 30.

I'd add Kokomo to the list and take off SNJ. I don't think that one needed saving. That song features excellent vocals from Mike and Carl, but Al on that tag MAKES the song.

I'm in total agreement actually, that SNJ is not a song that needed "saving" per se... I totally dig it...but it does fall in the category of songs that Carl's voice takes from good/great to stellar (or at least stellar at times).

And gotta give props to Al as well on these later songs too. Al makes Strange Things happen actually really quite listenable for me. I hadn't come near Summer in Paradise for many years, despite being a huge BB fan, largely due to people saying it is utter garbage. And while parts of it surely are, Carl and Al's contributions, however minimal, make a HUGE difference, and make it at least a third or half an album's worth of ok listening, to BB nuts like myself.

When I finally broke down and bought a copy of SIP off eBay, it was better than I expected. I guess having the lowest of possible expectations can make something much better if it has some decent parts to it. Just gotta make sure to use that SKIP button on the CD player/ipod as needed!

IMO his voice peaked in the period '69 - '74...but was still great into the '80's, just not as great.

Agreed.

I think it was, in part, the material from 74 onward. Not much of it seemed to either require or inspire the best out of Carl.

Full Sail and Baby Blue are wonderful exceptions though.

The song 'Where I Belong' is very underrated. One of Carl's best songs imo.

In the minority here, but I cannot stand his late 70s vocals, especially on "The Night was So Young". His lead actually kills the song for me.

Now pretty much everything before and after was ace.

I agree but I do like his young voice from 64-68 too.

Funnily enough, I was just thinking the other day how Carl's voice matured and got a lot better in the 1970's. If you listen to live versions of Wild Honey from 1967, Carl really pushes his voice to the limit. The same with Darlin'. But his vocal on the Knebworth 1980 version of Darlin' is mind blowing. I don't actually really like his voice starting from around 1985 and continuing into the 1990's. To me his voice became increasingly hoarse. I don't really like his vocals from 1976 to around 1979. But I would chalk it up to illicit substances getting in the way. On "Talk To Me", he sounds about one beer away from passing out.

He did get throatier, but he still had great pipes, and I also prefer his later voice...slightly.  His mid '90s "Sail On Sailor" was definitive.  AMAZING vocal performance.  I don't think it would have been that great in '73 -- in fact his one weak period was the late '70s (probably the drinking/drugs).  It's just a question of which tone you prefer.  He changed a bit, but he was great all the way through.

Carl could (and did) put chills down my spine singing scales for vocal warmups. What a VOICE!  :love

He and Alan both added a deep warmth and richness to the BB's vocal blend.

I really like Carl's part (the chorus) of "It's A Beautiful Day".  The verses and lyrics would lead one to believe this is an awful song, but the chorus just saves it.

he kept on delivering great vocals until the end. His sound grew raspier, but that's what 180 dates a year do to you  :p

His vocals on Life is for the Living are just breathtaking.  :lol

yeah i'll take late 60's carl voice.  Particularly when brian was there to produce his vocals.  and i say that in i like how brian had him sing with the softer voice.