The Smiley Smile Message Board

Is Bruce singing the falsetto that comes in at 1:37 in Love Surrounds Me? Is it a woman? I honestly can't tell. Anybody know?

That A5 at 1:44 is stretching it a bit for a male voice. Could it be Christine McVie, as in the fade?

http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,5525.msg75805.html#msg75805

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faTAocd4EU0

I’m 95% certain that is Christine McVie, although the 5% stems from the fact she didn’t really attempt those notes with Fleetwood Mac. Could be a pitch shifted Bruce..good question!

I've always assumed since it was first mentioned years ago that it's McVie. It's not even so much about the note she's hitting (although that would be hard for any 1978/79 BB to hit), but the timbre of the voice. I think Bruce could have probably tried to reach for such a note, but the tone/timbre of that high voice is nothing like Bruce and in fact seems very much like McVie (and I'm not even like a hardcore/ardent Fleetwood Mac fan).

What's also interesting, and Stebbins or c-man or others can correct me or clarify, is that there was a specific effort made on the "Bambu" bonus track version of "Love Surrounds Me" to *not* include any BB/LA Light Album session work on the mix, ostensibly to ensure it was only from Dennis solo sessions under the auspices of his solo deal.

So you can hear what is and isn't on that mix and at least get an idea of what was added during the BB/LA sessions.

The high, high falsetto voice is Bruce - that's been verified for me by someone who would know. And as far as the Bambu version not including any "Beach Boys" work - well, the only stipulation was that it not include any of the group's vocals (other than Dennis, of course), and that was due to a licensing issue. What's important for people to know is that prior to "LSM" becoming a Beach Boys track, it was ONLY a rough instrumental track - with no vocals. It didn't even have lyrics or a complete melody until Carl and Jimmy Guercio talked Dennis into giving it to the band shortly after the band's stay at Criteria in Miami in late August/early September of '78, at which point Carl's friend and songwriting partner Geoffrey Cushing-Murray was given a cassette dub of the track and asked to write lyrics. Dennis didn't even meet Christine until November of '78, and her vocals (and Dennis' lead, for that matter) weren't recorded until early January of '79 - by which point the Beach Boys' backing vocals (Carl-Dennis-Bruce) had already been added. If someone wants to hear what the "solo Dennis" version of "LSM" sounded like before it was "given" to the Beach Boys - then listen to the rough instrumental mix that's floating around on bootlegs.   

Ah, okay, so McVie *is* on the song vocally, but with Bruce on the high, high falsetto voice. Interesting.

Man, how many vocal debate threads do we have going now? If that's Bruce on that highest bit, it's a bit unlike any of the other similar high parts (e.g. "Endless Harmony") he recorded around that time. It sounds more full-voiced than Bruce tended to do.

Thanks as well for the reminder on the "Disc 2" POB/Bambu version of "Love Surrounds Me." That's what I was remembering; that there *was* some sort of contractual/licensing issue that led to basically stripping certain things off the "finished" BB version of the song to present it as a "solo" version. So it's more of a "what it maybe could have sounded like had Dennis finished it solo" rather than literally a "what it sounded like prior to BB involvement" sort of situation.