I can tell you that the falsetto on California Dreamin’ isn’t Bruce. That’s all though. I’m listening to it right now and I have no idea.

Once again, it's really important to specify which exact vocal one is talking about when trying to determine its singer - "the falsetto" will never accurately describe one part of a beach boys song, and definitely doesn't narrow it down on California Dreamin'. There are many many backing parts, lots of which are high. Which part are you looking for? Could you transcribe it?

Perhaps interesting to note that in barbershop harmony, the roles are called Bass, Baritone, Lead, and Tenor -- and that's true regardless of the genders of the participants.

The "high voice wail" part that is sung by Brian and is featured on a lot of BV on Beach Boys records in the 60's is falsetto, but on lead vocals in the early years of the Beach Boys Brian was (in most cases) mainly attempting to replicate Bob Flanagan's part in the Four Freshmen, which was a jazzy barbershop tenor or even high tenor, not falsetto.

See, that's where I disagree.  I think Brian was a sort of leggiero tenor type voice that mixed a lot of head voice into the timbre pretty low in his range and never needed to open his vocal folds to produce falsetto.

I agree. Can't think of any moments outside of 2 or 3 very specific vocals in the 70s (and on Wind Chimes like Salty noted) that Brian actually uses a "falsetto." And I also think that generally using that term creates a lot of misconception, and many people will point to Brian Wilson as an example when describing the voice type, when that technique was really not something that he used.

Couldn't Al actually sing a lot lower than Mike, if there was a contest?

The nomenclature is an interesting discussion, in any case.  There's words that describe more what role the singer plays than the range, and then there's words that describe the actual range, then there's words that describe the quality of the voice.

I know a lot of men in choirs who sing one part, but when they do solo literature, it's not that part -- they sing in choir because it makes sense for that choir.  When I was in choirs, I sang "alto" in one, but anything from Soprano, Canto, Alto, Tenor, discantus, quintus, contratenor, and a number of other descriptions.  None of that changed my range, though!

Mike was the bass singer in the sense that he usually took the lowest part.

The lowest I've heard Al sing is a D2 on an alternate version of Don't Go Near the Water, and it's a rather weak D2 compared to those that Mike has hit (I'm thinkin the intro to Hot Fun in the Summertime). I've never heard either go lower than that.

I apologize I called it a falsetto.  I was not referring to the high background on the bridge.  What I was trying to convey is that I always thought Dennis was the lead and only lead vocal on this song where he sang the first and second verse in a high vocal and did the bridge in his normal  vocal for that era.  I al2ays thought that it was cool and rare to hear Dennis singing the high part.  I went back and listened again and I still hear Dennis as the lead.  You have to admit that the high vocal on the first and second voice is not a high part that you usually hear?

That is Carl, who is the lead vocalist on most of the song outside of that Dennis bridge. It sounds a bit raspier than the typical Carl vocal, sure, but nothing like Dennis to my ears.

A large part of the problem is that "falsetto" has two different meanings in the music world - range, and voice type. So one can be singing falsetto without singing falsetto, if that makes any sense. But when Brian Wilson is listed on the wikipedia page for the voice type, it's clear that most people completely misunderstand the term and what it really means, physically.

Head voice or mixed voice and falsetto are distinguishable vocal techniques above the break. The signature high sound of the Beach Boys, especially in Brian's case, is head voice. Falsetto was hardly ever within Brian's musical vernacular. He just didn't develop his voice in that way. Al, Bruce, and occasionally Dennis did in the odd specific circumstances.

Brian reminds me a little bit of some prominent countertenors who sang high as kids, and then never stopped singing high even after their voices broke.  Cenčić comes to mind.  They immediately figured out how to sing with more or less complete chord closure as high as they needed to go.  I actually would posit that Brian never sang without complete chord closure until the 70s.  Carl was similar, but his voice was even lighter than Brian's.

It's an interesting topic, but I agree that the Beach Boys signature sound is distinguished by the fact that their high singer never needed to rely on falsetto (unlike Bee Gees, 4 Seasons, etc)

Well said. "Falsetto" is a confusing term, and it's mostly wrong when used in reference to the beach boys' vocals. I think it's counterproductive to refer to any part in a song with many high parts, and no discernible falsetto as "the falsetto."

And, as Alan Boyd, Craig, and some others have said, the high vocal in the background of the bridge here is most certainly Carl.

It's important to be specific, as it's not really clear what "falsetto" anyone's talking about here - the backing vocals are done by Bruce, Carl and Dennis, with Bruce and Carl doing the highest parts, and Dennis mainly singing the mid-range shouty parts. If you're referring to the lead vocal, that's Carl on the verses and choruses, with Dennis singing the "late at night" bridge. Clear as day, if a little raspier than usual.

That's a fun interview.  Thanks for posting.   Glad to see Don doing so well at 84.   Yeah, he's way off with respect to various points of BB history (regarding Help Me Rhonda, Murry's death, etc.) but he deserves a pass.  He's an ace pianist who played on our favorite tracks.    His anecdote about his Good Vibrations session nap is priceless, and it's great to hear that word of it trickled to Brian who even called him to verify.   

I've mused before about the "Wrecking Crew" and other studio musicians who played on those peak-Brian 1964-67 sessions: did they have any sense or appreciation at the time of the special magic in which they were participating or was it just another ho-hum gig no different than scoring another peanut-butter commercial?   It's always heartening to see how many of them truly did (and do) get it, speaking glowingly of Brian's sessions during that period.  This is clearly true of Don and is/was also true of Hal Blaine, Lyle Ritz, Leon Russell, Glen Campbell and even the not-always-charming Carol Kaye. 

It really depends. I have never heard Bill Pitman say anything positive about Brian's music; he seems to be dismissive of any and all pop music.

for this upcoming Feel Flows box set I certainly hope none of the original master stereo mixes that Stephen desper meticulously engineered under carl Wilson approval are tampered with in the least.  you cannot improve on perfection

I found objectionable the remastering of Our Sweet Love for the 2009 comp. CD Summer Love Songs, since the quiet little percussion shake that nicely closed that sunflower song (I'd become so accustomed to) was (for all intents and purposes) excised.  WHY!?  FOR WHAT PURPOSE SERVED!?

The entire purpose of archival releases like this is to "tamper" with the recordings. There will likely be backing track, vocal only, and other alternate mixes included in the box, all created from the multitracks. When the box set releases, original copies of Sunflower and Surf's Up (which are everywhere, as they've been reissued dozens of times) will not disappear. What's the purpose of this mentality? The original mixes of both albums may appear on the box as the mono mix of Pet Sounds did in 1997, or they may not. What difference does it make if we all have the albums and have heard them plenty of times?

Who is on Spanish Kokomo?

Just had a listen to this - it's really not one I listen to often. Unlike the regular version I don't hear Carl and I do hear Brian. Who else is on it?

I'm assuming J Foskett, Mike, Al & Bruce. But is there a definitive listing somewhere?

I guess the appearance of Brian is the only difference to the hit single. Carl is on it and sings the same parts as on the english version, though single tracked (or at least that's what it sounds to me).

Don't know if Terry Melcher sings on the spanish version, he does on the original though.

Terry sang on the demo for the English language version, as did Jeff. But per Bruce, their vocals were wiped - by Carl, who insisted that "only actual Beach Boys should be singing on this."

Isn't Terry still in the final mix though? On the tracksheet, the group chorus vocals are spread across two tracks (with Mike's low part on another two tracks), but there's a separate track which reads "Terry chorus." To my ears, the group is panned left and right, and there's a very clear Terry Melcher sounding vocal doubling the second part, coming from the center of the mix - especially in the last choruses during the fade out.

https://open.spotify.com/album/3bDPASvPa8Ev18ZUbXPrBt?si=-yBvhXZUT6-6LbgmjgC6_g

It's real.

If you're talking about the song Surfer Girl, the beach boys themselves are still playing all the instruments.

Surely it's Dennis's instinctive drum fills?

Yep, no way Dennis isn't drumming on all the new songs on Little Deuce Coupe (Besides A Young Man Is Gone of course).

And how did the FF snippets end up on Allmusic???

That was the way to keep everything from losing copyright in 2020 so they didn’t have to spoil the box by doing massive digital dumps.

I see, thanks. So that was an official thing. But the live set is another thing. Just don't understand how "they" - whoever it is - can/are able to put stuff like that on an _official_ channel...

Since it has been over 50 years since these recordings, anyone can release them legally. Then since a new legal release comes out digitally, it gets uploaded to Youtube and Spotify. Mark and Alan weren't involved with this, but they did create those new mixes featured in the allmusic snippets.

How did it end up on the _official_ BB ch.?

Have they lost all control??

And how did the FF snippets end up on Allmusic???

The Beach Boys topic youtube channel just automatically uploads new releases by the band. It's happened plenty of other times with grey area live broadcast bootlegs.

Word on the street is that it *is* an official release, like it or not. It just doesn't involve the usual suspects of Mark Linett et al. Also, the powers that be have said before that recordings of Beach Boys concerts from 1970 are virtually nonexistent, so if you're going to have a collection of 1970 stuff, what you have is pretty much what exists. It appears that they basically did a Beat the Boots kind of thing, like Zappa did: just basically dump what's on the boots.

Not true on concerts from 1970 being virtually nonexistent. There are a couple in the vaults. But of course that isn't relevant since the people who put this release together have zero access to multitrack concerts, or anything other than bootlegs.

Where is this available if not the US? Blocked in my region too (Australia)

Europe, where the copyright has expired

"Live in 1970" uploaded today to the official YouTube page? Not available for me though.

Playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nT6i9gnGVfpzznoABAOX9tATiPJPAiFIA

It's nothing "official" I guess as it mixes soundboard and audience recordings. Don't know why it's on that channel.

That channel automatically uploads any "releases" by the band, including stuff like this and the Surfin' Safari re-releases. Someone's obviously just taken advantage of the copyright on these recordings being expired in the EU due to the lack of their release in 2020. It's just someone's bootleg collection now "legally" released, featuring an ad in the middle of an intro - https://youtu.be/dWha_Z19_SA

He wrote the lyrics on both versions.

Recently:

Lonely Sea - hard to believe Brian was only 20 when they recorded this

Marcella - this has become one of my favorite 70s songs, love the "Hey Marcella" backing vocals during the tag

He was actually only 19!

Given how no form of release has happened for any live recordings made in 1970, am I right in understanding that as of 00:01 tonight, these recordings become public domain within the EU? Or does the fact the the original recordings have the Copyright extension, mean the live versions do as well?

Interesting question. And what about the FF stuff that was on Allmusic a while ago? BTW, could someone please explain how the snippets ended up on a site like Allmusic - and nowhere else?

And however interesting could someone please move the McCartney stuff - isn't this thread about FF? Thx...

The answers to those two questions are probably related. Other bands such as The Rolling Stones have figured out ways to "release" material to preserve copyright without actually "releasing" it, and that's probably exactly what The Beach Boys have done here due to Feel Flows now coming in 2021... which doesn't bode well for the potential of future releases.

Brian's voice changing and declining are two quite different things. For a first change to his default sound that wasn't just age, it's probably Summer Days, or post-LSD. You can hear him expanding on that more fully through Pet Sounds, experimenting with different vocal styles, singing in a less 'mannered' way, belting higher notes in his chest voice, etc.

The next noticeable change is Hawaii '67 and Wild Honey. He drops the rounded, Bob Flanigan-y stylings even more fully and starts embracing something closer to his natural speaking voice. It's lighter and the phrasing's less considered. Brian's less likely to slide up into his head voice as one smooth sound, more likely to do a clean break, leaning on the nasal squawkiness as a default rather than just something he can do. And his voice was a little weaker by then from not using it so much on the road - he bails on Wouldn't It Be Nice not because he can't do it, he just doesn't have the energy to do it easily. I don't think that's a notice of any permanent decline though. Probably for the same reason, he started going lower and lower in his head voice to cover parts that he once would've yelled on Pet Sounds.

1968 continues the trend and pushes it further. More nasal squawky high voice, more relaxed conversational full voice. He's avoiding most of the challenging stuff. And it's about here that he starts doing that fragile pushed thing from the front of his throat (I call it 'Elf Brian') that turned into his natural sound through the early 70s, even closer to speak-singing. By the time he does We're Together Again and Walk On By the squawk is in full effect, and when he tries to pull a 1963 Brian on the early Do It Again by singing the bridge up high it comes out incredibly thin and cutting, none of the fullness that used to be there. I'm sure he could've imitated his younger self slightly better with some thought, it's just not the way he sang anymore.

The 'pause' happens, and then I think the first real decline is there in the Break Away scratch vocal. It's good, but you can tell Brian's struggling to do what he used to do without extra effort. Besides not singing very often it'd add up that he first used cocaine in '69. He pulls it together for the final proper opening verses though - that's pretty much the last difficult range-y vocal where you could close your eyes and picture Pet Sounds Brian doing it. By late '69 to early '70 it's really getting noticeable. Thinner, cracking sometimes, less resonance. He's now probably the weak link in the group (after IMO being the strongest & most consistent at the Lei'd in Hawaii shows), although obviously still great when used in the right places. On Games Two Can Play he's doing Busy Doin' Nothin' but it's not happening in the same way. From there I think it's a steady decline from coke and inactivity to Murry dying. In some 1971 stuff his voice is pretty shot.

The 15 Big Ones voice is a whole other cocktail. That's a deliberate, extreme change (plus a lot of actual damage), and I don't think there's much of a suggestion of it until 1974ish. He abused his vocal chords and put on another voice so heavily in such a special combination that it made him metamorphose into Bill Murray. In He Come Down, that's a guy trying to sound like someone else, not a reflection of his natural sound. It's kind of a mystery how that did become his default talking/singing voice so quickly and so thoroughly.

I love this thoughtful analysis, but balk at the notion that Brian became the vocal "weak link" in the group...even as his voice thins and reeds out in the early 70s and he draws into the background, his tone retains that singular "Brian Wilson" quality and tonality that encapsulates the sound of the Beach Boys. To me a perfect example is the bridge/outro on "You Need a Mess of Help to Stand Alone;" once you pick out Brian, in a low-mid range, doing that simple buried "She don't know it" ---- that TONE! Nobody else in the group had that level of pure vibe vocally, even on such a low burn.

I wouldn't necessarily say that Brian being the weak point in the group is untrue. I think 5 of the other guys were at their all time best in the late 60s and early 70s, and that just happened to be when Brian's voice began to decline. Still an extremely unique and enjoyable tone, just not as strong as everyone else.

The whole thing was recorded December 20, 2007. It was available for download the next day for Carl's birthday.

For the Long Promised Road doc, Brian recorded covers of Honeycomb, I Hear You Knockin', Johnny B. Goode, and Long Promised Road, the latter with Blondie Chaplin and Jim James from My Morning Jacket. I assume they're waiting for the documentary to be released. According to the director, Brian and Jim James also cowrote a song and sing it together on the recording.

Really?! I didn't know that. Have those been confirmed. Now there's some of Brian's idea of a Rock'n'Roll album right there.

Yep, the first four in ESQ and the last one by the director himself. Although he didn't offer any details other than it's a "beautiful" new song written just for the documentary.

For the Long Promised Road doc, Brian recorded covers of Honeycomb, I Hear You Knockin', Johnny B. Goode, and Long Promised Road, the latter with Blondie Chaplin and Jim James from My Morning Jacket. I assume they're waiting for the documentary to be released. According to the director, Brian and Jim James also cowrote a song and sing it together on the recording.