The Smiley Smile Message Board

When and why did Bruce stop doing Brians falsettos live? Anyone who knows?

He still does the fun fun fun outro falsetto so he obviously has it in him, but it feels like he stopped doing them looong ago? He already had stopped doing it when they played on Knebworth 1980 correct?

There were a lot of switch-offs on high parts/falsettos through the 80s. Eventually, by the 80s and into the 90s, it was mostly Adrian Baker or Jeff Foskett or Matt Jardine doing those parts.

But in the late 70s and early 80s, Al was still doing some of them (e.g. "Barbara Ann"), they had Bobby Figueroa doing Brian's part on "I Get Around", etc. Bruce was capable of doing a high/falsetto-ish part, evidenced by stuff like his 80s renditions of "I Write the Songs", that little high bit he would do at the end of "Good Timin'", etc. But it was within a few years after his rejoining in 1978 that they started bringing in backing guys to sing a lot of those parts.

As far as I know, Bruce still does the FFF coda falsetto, but he doesn’t do the chorus falsetto.

This is slightly off-topic, but I’ve never understood why Al was still doing Barbara Ann in 1980. While he sounds good on others, he was just too shot by that point for that song. Bruce or Bobby Figueroa should have taken over.

Bruce never had enough power to do a falsetto lead kind of song. He has the range and certainly did within a harmony stack . But I don’t think his voice was ever powerful enough to do a great Barbara Ann. He struggled with IGA in the years he sang it . Al may have not had quite the range but had the power to do them. While not as technically good as others later , one thing I always loved about an Al falsetto is he uses the same phrasings as Brian so there is authenticity . This is the reason I prefer him on WIBN over anyone else cause he used nearly identical phrasing as Brian

The bottom line is that Bruce was never a valid live replacement for Brian. Bruce is a fine vanilla middle of the stack harmony guy. Eventually, Alan had most of the falsetto parts...and ended up on bass quite a bit, too. Personally, I'd love to know more about the details of how it really came down to Bruce joining in 1965. I know the story, but it's always short, and there must be more to it. They weren't going to tour with just anyone in that place. It just always seems to be a place in this muddied up history that there is surely more beneath the surface, yet no one elaborates beyond "squeezing into a pair of Al Jardine's white pants"...

As for now, I don't know how his falsetto is right now on the road. Last I saw them was the 2018 Christmas tour, and Bruce was still hitting the FFF line out of the park with ease...credit where it's due!

I was surprised to hear him do it tonight,  it still sounds good!

Yeah he still does the falsetto in the outro of fun fun fun and it sounds great. I really think a song like Don't Worry Baby would have fitted him at least back in the days but he never sang that right?

Bruce also sang the falsetto on "Hawaii" live in '79/'80, sometimes trading with Brian or Bobby during the same performance. He also sang the falsetto on "Surf City" when they started doing it in late '81 - that and the ending part of "FFF" were his live falsetto mainstays for years.

Well...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vxwu9eHoLY (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vxwu9eHoLY)

Also...this bizarre take from '69...shared lead with Al...and way too much tremolo on the organ. The medley itself is nice, but "Don't Worry Baby" feels quite out of place, as does Bruce's squeeling...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHdi3zW78pg&t=795s (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHdi3zW78pg&t=795s)

In 2012 Bruce still had his high voice and - judging by youtube videos - he still can deliver.
That said, in the Beach Boys (after Brian left) it was more or less Al who took on the high part. Bruce did to oof course, but mostly it was Al. The main part of Bruce filling in for Brian was playing the bass.

One Brian falsetto that Bruce took and kept was "I Get Around". After he left, I think it was Blondie who took it...then it went to Billy, and eventually Bobby. Interestingly, in the '60s and '70s, it always stayed with someone whose first name starts with "B"! :)  Until Bobby left in the early '80s, then it went to Jeff, then Adrian, then Matt....

One Brian falsetto that Al claimed live was "California Girls", I think until it was given to Adrian, then Jeff...

Don't worry baby weren't in that medley was it? Or is it later in the concert? I've always wondered about Mike's sounds on the intro of I Get Around on that show, and it's hella funny how Bruce jumps when he does it haha.

On that first video you linked was interesting, the version itself isn't something I'd want to remember haha, but Bruce's vocals is on point, he really had a great voice.

Yes, it runs from 11:30-12:30 in the video...quite roughly shoe-horned between lovely versions of "The Warmth of The Sun" and "Please Let Me Wonder".

Ooooh, thank you for that! He really did nail please let me wonder though didn't he? :D

Saw Bruce with the band three times this summer. He always sings the falsetto coda of Fun Fun Fun, and when he sang Disney Girls recently, he did some falsetto towards the end.