If Brian really did intentionally try to destroy his voice it just goes to show what a disturbed mental state he must've been in at the time.

The backups on He Gives Speeches are incredible.

Didn't someone in the Wrecking Crew say that Brian had the best left hand in the business?  He played some awesome, really inventive piano basslines, like in the coda of Surf's Up.

I'm digging that piano that's all over Wild Honey right now. Great bass lines. Did Brian play all of the main piano parts on that album?

you know, i'm listening to this right now, really loud with headphones, and a lot of it sounds really good.. chapel of love sounds great.. listen to it loud!  even blueberry hill shines.

I've also realized that is how this album must be listened to. Loud, it sounds much better. And crank the bass up too. Palisades Park is my favorite of the covers. "County Fair," "Amusement Parks USA" and "PP" are like a demented little trilogy all using that organ/spoken break.

My mind just reels at thinking how much cigarettes and coke one has to consume to change a voice that drastically. I like the later Brian voice. But, it took some time to grow on me, and I'm still very confused about how quickly it all happened.

I think he's also upset that The Beach Boys have always been underrated compared to their classic rock peers--The "Mop Tops" and The Stones.

I can understand his pain...

there's just something, besides the atmosphere, his face, hair; maybe I dont see enough pics of Brian from that era...The only other one I can think of is what he looks like on the back of So tough

http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,1990.msg73662.html#msg73662

http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,1990.msg125702.html#msg125702

There are reports that he tried to sing the 71 "Surf's Up" but stopped after what he felt to be two bad takes. Would it have sounded great to us? Probably. Did he still not feel his voice was good enough? Very likely, yes. I think the reason he rarely sang on his own songs or even others songs around that time could have been that he had recognized the change in his voice a few years before felt that he couldn't do his songs justice. But other members, usually Carl? Shore, they could.

Kind of ironic that he started singing more leads after his voice really had gone south. He must've just really needed to get that music out.

Is All I Wanna Do considered partially a TM song?   

Maybe a love/TM inspired song?

Never thought it was until I saw it on the Endless Harmony doc. when discussing Mike's TM endorsement.

I've wondered this myself. In that doc they even show footage of Mike meditating/walking in the forest with "All I Wanna Do" playing. Maybe it's just because it was a very peaceful cut.

But I'm inclined to think it is slightly TM inspired. Especially the "oooh when I sit and close my eyes/a gentle thought comes in my mind/my love is burning brightly/the (?) moon and stars shine nightly".

I've also been kind of confused as to what "kind" of love song this is. Romantic, platonic? Some of it sounds like something a parent could say to a child ("help you in whatever you do") and some of it sounds romantic (Carl's wonderful "lonely in the night I feel"). Either way it's sorely underappreciated. Could've been a classic love song everyone knows in my opinion. Classic Brian and Mike song--it's like the psychedelic version of "Please Let Me Wonder," in sound and gentle sentiment.

It is indeed Brian. 
Brian's on that, Funky Pretty (I've heard the isolated version), California, and that's about it.

Wow, thanks for the confirmation. It might be a sign of my increasingly unstable obsession with these guys but it was bugging me. I thought I was crazy hearing Brian when others couldn't make him out.

Good one. It's almost got a proto-industrial vibe to it.

It's very evocative. "Sounds" like a "steamboat" at least.

I love Carl's vocal on "This Whole World", but I really wish there was an alternate Brian vocal lying around somewhere. It puzzled me why they'd have Brian sing leads at the beginning and then he wouldn't be on the rest of the track - "California" is another example, and I think there's another that escapes me right now.

In "California", I always thought Brian's vocal at the beginning was THE hook of the song, the other choruses sound empty to me without it. It annoyed me so much that I remixed it so his vocal part comes in again at each chorus because it sounds like it should be there. JSUTME, now I've rambled about nothing for too long.

I always though "This Whole World" was Brian doing his best Carl impression. But it's actually more like Carl doing his best Brian doing Carl impression.

The single mix of "Californ-i-a" is, IMO, much more anthemic with the extra Brian vocals and responses. Plus the overall "punchier" sound, too.

Mike on "Hawaii". Thought it was Dennis. Must've been that cold. Also thought the SMiLE version of Wind Chimes was Brian for the longest time.

"Steamboat" is one of the "Holland" songs that Marilyn & Diane said they were on (in an interview with AGD some years back).  Without digging it out to listen at the moment, I would guess the high part is possibly one or both of them.  I will say that I've always thought I could make out Ricky's voice on there, singing a mid-rangey part in the "Oh, don't worry Mr. Fulton" refrain.

Interesting. Complicates things.

The part I think is Brian specifically starts on the second verse--at exactly 1:03 (when Carl says "jasper") a high voice abruptly cuts in, on the right channel. Singing something like "huhn nah" and variations of. When it does a falsetto "huuuh" at 1:48-53 I'm almost positive it's Brian. If I only had the isolated vocal tracks. There is so much (vocally and instrumentally) going on in this song.

Since we're somewhat on that topic, which songs was Brian vocally present on? "California" obviously, and maybe "Funky Pretty" although I don't think I can hear him on there. Are there any other songs he's possibly on. Or for that matter, they he even played on besides "Funky Pretty"?

Apparently Brian is on Funky Pretty. He plays drums (hardly!) and sings, backing vocals. Apparently he's the one saying "funky pretty gone". You can hear that, buried deep in the mix at about 2:22-2:25 and continuing thereon. I don't know if there's any proof but it also sounds like he's in the backing vocal blend of "The Trader". Though I guess it could be someone else. And "Steamboat," or at least that sounds a lot like him singing those high backing parts. To me anyway.

Holland I have to admit is one of the albums I fell out of love with. Not sure specifically why - maybe it's an album where Brian feels less present - but the positive comments here, especially the enthusiasm for steamboat, make me want to go and dig it out again.

Brian's minimal presence makes his music on this album seem even more arcane and mythic than usual to me. That creepy photo of him on the back (note new avatar) and Mt Vernon and Fairway only serve to reinforce this.

Not 100% on topic, but... This afternoon I was listening to the first side of Holland at loud volume and while "Steamboat" might not be among the group's greatest ever in terms of songwriting, the production still strikes me as nothing short of mesmerizing. Would love to hear that track without the vocals. Did they achieve those percussion sounds by slowing down an actual drum beat?

Big fan of the 1972 arrangement of "Big Sur", by the way. The group vocals complimenting the final verse of this song never fail to amaze me. I think they're gorgeous. What an album...

Those vibes or whatever crawling all over "Steamboat" totally blow me away. And are you talking about Al's "ooohh"s at the end of the "Big Sur"? Great backing.

Really the whole album is quickly climbing up my list of favorites. It's been getting me very hyped about a trip I'm going to be taking to Yosemite in a couple weeks. Holland's always given off this very woodsy, organic vibe...it sounds what Northern and wild California looks like, and rings very authentic rather than pretentious, as some seem to find it.

So I've been listening to Holland a lot lately. A lot.

Is that Brian doing the high background part on "Steamboat," mostly on the right channel. It definitely sounds like him to me, but is there any proof, confirming or otherwise? And who is doing those über-deep bass vocals in the left channel? Is it Mike or Dennis?

The one song from PS I really don't care for is "Let's Go Away For Awhile". I think it's the one tune off the record where Brian did lead the group too far off the beaten track musically.  "Brian's ego music" ho-hum!

I actually dig it as the B-side to GV more than as a PS track. It makes for one of the best (but, I suppose, one of the most "egoistical" too) 45s ever.

I like the spoken word bits in "California Saga" a lot, in fact I think they really add to the overall feel of Holland. That record wouldn't be the same without "The Beaks of Eagles".

Agreed. Mike always sounds so damn peaceful for how much people rag on him.

"It's OK"--love the bass vocals, hand claps, and those weird sax lines weaving everywhere. Mike's lyrics are pretty good too.

I think Brian is definitely taking the piss on Transcendental Meditation;  maybe it's not directly aimed at Mike per se, thought I think it is--also 'taking the piss' doesn't have to be vicious or vindictive, sometimes it's just a...joke.

 But that song is definitely a joke from the jarring off-key horns, to the swami-salami chanting. It's a pretty friggin' good joke if you ask me.

I'm with Sheriff John Stone on this one; although the song's title and "sound" don't necessarily seem to go together, I doubt Brian was being "vindictive," but rather inventive. "Don't Worry, Baby" is about a car race, albeit one filled with doubt, but definitely avoids a typical "car song" sound; or "Wind Chimes" (Smile version) which, far from being peaceful, has a drum section that sounds more like a hurricane.

Not to mention Brian's own interest in TM. For instance: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2ijen_brian-wilson-talks-drugs-meditation

Re earlier posts: Agreed, All I Wanna Do is an amazing track. I'd like to have seen Sunflower represented thus: Slip on through, This whole world, All I wanna do, Forever, Cool cool water. Although i realise Add some music... couldn't really be missed off (although personally i agree with the author of 'Dumb Angel' that it sounds 'like a Coke commercial').

Ironically, Cool, Cool Water (one of my favorites btw) was actually supposed to be used for a Coke commercial. "It's the real thing, Coca-Cola," apparently is how it went. Both Bruce and Al sing snippets of it on the Warmth of the Sun podcasts.

Would've cut "Tears" and "Got to Know" and added "Breakaway/Celebrate the News," "Soulful Old Man Sunshine" and maybe "Lady"

Also, some interesting (and positive!) contemporaneous reviews/blurbs. Even a full page ad couldn't sell it. Such a shame what so many people missed out on.

http://www.superseventies.com/spbeachboys4.html

Anyone know the story behind this picture? Brian looks more pissed than I've ever seen him. Dennis too. Carl and Al look uncomfortable. And Mike looks stoned.

By the way, Zooey interviewed Brian last year for some online site that I can't remember.  Had to do with the Hollywood bowl.

Saw that, it was kind of funny. All I can recall Brian really saying is "you're a very pretty girl". Such a player.

Of course there are so many woulda coulda shouldas with Sunflower - the material that was recorded during the sessions but passed over was also of a considerably high quality. Not that the band ever would have released a sort of White Album or anything, but it's always fun for the CD burner.

Well said. Sunflower is even more of a "woulda coulda shoulda" album for me than Smile. Couple track changes and it's perfect, but either way should've made a much larger impact. And it is great for the burner--I made a mix with all the songs and outtakes in order of recording, good fun.