Change in Dennis's voice.

[Bicyclerider]

As anyone who's heard it will confirm, Dennis' lead vocal on "(WIBNT)LA" is as sweet as any he'd ever cut.

yeah, rub it in all of our faces that we haven't heard the greatest unreleased BB ttrack OS all time!

[positivemusic]

I know not all of the reasons for Brian's and Dennis' voices going south aren't the same. That being said, I was wondering if anyone with some knowledge of throat problems could take a guess as to whether, and if at all how much, Dennis' voice could've recovered had he taken a "healthy" (the mistreatment by Landy, not withstanding) path such as Brian in the 80's.

[MBE]

I would guess had he stayed sober from 1975 on it would have gone back. By 1981 though I'm not sure if it could have been saved.

[Jay]

Dennis talks quite a bit during Help Me Rhonda from the July 4th 1981 Washington DC show. He keeps telling everybody to clap, etc. His voice sounds totally changed. It's much deeper. If you didn't already know who it was, you'd probably never guess it was Dennis. But his voice doesn't sound hoarse at all, at least to me. Before the first song is played at the Seattle show in 1983, Dennis walks* up to the microphone and says "Are you ready?", and it sounds basically the same as the Washington '81 show.


*Well, it's not necessarily a "walk", but that's another story....

[The Heartical Don]

Perhaps Carl, despite his chain-smoking, was a 'pure' singer, in that he used his vocal chords without straining them overmuch? And Dennis used them in the wrong way, so that he taxed them beyond what they were capable of? I read numerous times of singers in classical music, who learn from specialized coaches how to sing without damaging their chords.

Oh, I won't say that cocaine and cigarettes aren't harmful to your voice. But the above option seems rather credible to me too.

[Dave Modny]

PS - On a somewhat related note, and something that I've been meaning to ask Andrew about, glancing at Bellagio, it mentions Denny's "Slow Song" from late '72. Is there any chance that this could actually be Carry Me Home (which I don't see an exact session date for), or is it something completely different?

Tiny bump on this one. Was wondering if anyone might have some info on it?

TIA,
Dave

[Mike's Beard]

As anyone who's heard it will confirm, Dennis' lead vocal on "(WIBNT)LA" is as sweet as any he'd ever cut.

Can you just post a link in the media section, maybe using your secret ID "mikes beard" 

Um, AGD isn't mikes beard. I'm mikes beard. I wish I knew half the BB related stuff Andrew does. 

[The Heartical Don]

As anyone who's heard it will confirm, Dennis' lead vocal on "(WIBNT)LA" is as sweet as any he'd ever cut.

Can you just post a link in the media section, maybe using your secret ID "mikes beard" 

Um, AGD isn't mikes beard. I'm mikes beard. I wish I knew half the BB related stuff Andrew does. 

Say, how is life hanging attached to the chin of the Mighty Mikester?

[Mike's Beard]

Itchy. 

[The Heartical Don]

Itchy. 

 

[Curtis Leon]

Listening to the Nassau Colosseum boot, and comparing it with another boot from 1973, I can hear a definite change in Dennis' voice. It's subtle, but it's there. I'd say Nassau sounds like a mid point between his earlier and later voices.

[bgas]

As anyone who's heard it will confirm, Dennis' lead vocal on "(WIBNT)LA" is as sweet as any he'd ever cut.

Can you just post a link in the media section, maybe using your secret ID "mikes beard" 

Um, AGD isn't mikes beard. I'm mikes beard. I wish I knew half the BB related stuff Andrew does. 

Hey! You're reminding me of Uma's Pulp Fiction Tomato Family joke....

[adamghost]

Perhaps Carl, despite his chain-smoking, was a 'pure' singer, in that he used his vocal chords without straining them overmuch? And Dennis used them in the wrong way, so that he taxed them beyond what they were capable of? I read numerous times of singers in classical music, who learn from specialized coaches how to sing without damaging their chords.

Oh, I won't say that cocaine and cigarettes aren't harmful to your voice. But the above option seems rather credible to me too.

There's evidence to suggest that you're right, not the least of which is Carl opting to do the lower midrange harmony whenever possible.  As far as the harmonies go, he had a much less strenuous range to sing in than Al.  Or anybody, for that matter.  Even though Carl had monster range, he seems to have avoided singing super high falsetto unless he was forced to a la "Surf's Up".  L.A. LIGHT ALBUM is the rare exception where Carl is doing a lot of the "Brian" parts.

I have a little bit of the Carl tone in the head voice range from about F# to B above middle C and I can tell you once you find that transition voice (it took me many years...I'm no Carl Wilson), it's fun to sing there and you can do it all day and all night and not hurt yourself.  Go above that and you start to have to be careful.  That seems to be where Carl liked to hang out vocally.

[Sam_BFC]

I have a little bit of the Carl tone in the head voice range from about F# to B above middle C and I can tell you once you find that transition voice (it took me many years...I'm no Carl Wilson), it's fun to sing there and you can do it all day and all night and not hurt yourself.  Go above that and you start to have to be careful.  That seems to be where Carl liked to hang out vocally.

Lovely insight as usual .

How did you find it? Practice practice practice?

[adamghost]

Ha ha ha...you're going to think this is a joke, but I'll tell you how I first found that voice:

When I was in my mid 20s I was in a band with a lovely guy named Robert Ramos, and one of his things was to do an imitation of Michael McDonald:  "You don't know me, but I'm your brother..."  So the way young guys do, I started to imitate his imitation, as a joke.  And then after a while I kind of went "wow, it's actually easier to sing up here this way than the way I've been doing it."

It's the trickiest register to learn to sing in, and it's always the first thing I lose when I lose my voice for some reason -- very annoying to lose the middle of your register!  It took quite a few years to get the crossover notes solid so I didn't sound like a kid hitting puberty or it didn't sound too weak coming out of full voice.  But the transitions are real easy now.  So yeah, practice.  But I started down that road by making fun of the Doobie Brothers.  And tell you what...with that register I can sing nearly everything Carl Wilson did.  I'm not saying I have as pretty a voice or as precise pitch or anything like that, and he knew a lot of other tricks with his breath that I'll never begin to learn, but in terms of singing the parts, I can do them without much trouble.  It's a great lovely range to be able to sing in.  I can't blame Carl for wanting to stick to it.  The super high merda, while I can do it, is not nearly as much fun.  Bet Carl felt the same way:  "Hey Brian?  Al?  Bruce?  I have a part for you..."