cigarette smoking in the beach boys

[Lonely Summer]

I really hear a change in Carl's voice on the Surf's Up album. Then after 1981-82 it again got huskier. He still sounded like Carl to me though.

I have a theory that Carl's voice changed during his drug and alchohol phase. Listen to his voice on "Holland", then listen to it on "Keepin' The Summer Alive". Carl's voice is quite a bit better than it was on the "15 Big Ones" through "LA Light Album" albums, but the tone has changed. It's like those two or three years of abuse lowered his voice by an octive or two. If you listen to live recordings from around 1979 and on, he could never again get his voice quite as high on "God Only Knows", for example.

  I thought Carl's singing was superb on L.A. The only albums where his vocals suffered (a bit) were 15 BIG ONES and LOVE YOU.

I agree with that. His voice sounded won-won-wonderful throughout the 80's and 90's.

[Nicko1234]

Hi all,

People smoked wo were in the music business.  Some might have not.  Yet most did.  If one reads the statistics people smoked a lot, even those not in the entertainment world from after the two world wars until a certain time.  Some could agrue that if you were abused smoking was self mediction or self abuse.  Most people in the world have done drugs more than we think. 

I have never smoked or done drugs.  One could say that eating candy cigarettes leads to smoking real ones.  That is a myth.  I eat candy cigarettes and I have NEVER smoked real ones.   

I`m not sure that is really conclusive proof.

I have traveled in a car yet have never been involved in a fatal road accident. I wouldn`t say that they are a myth though. 

[donald]

Bruce in the entertainment industry from the time he was a kid and never even experimented?  Hanging out with Terry Melcher, Byrds producer?   I'd say everyone in the band did a bit of something over the years.  The holier than thou attitude of some band members only says that they didn't become dependent and sink into the abyss like others.

[Micha]

I thought Carl's singing was superb on L.A. The only albums where his vocals suffered (a bit) were 15 BIG ONES and LOVE YOU.

It's not good on MIU either. I agree that he sings well again from L.A. on, but of course it didn't have that youthful sound of his teenage years.

[drbeachboy]

I thought Carl's singing was superb on L.A. The only albums where his vocals suffered (a bit) were 15 BIG ONES and LOVE YOU.

It's not good on MIU either. I agree that he sings well again from L.A. on, but of course it didn't have that youthful sound of his teenage years.

Not a one of them sounded as youthful as their teenage years by 1979, Carl was no exception.

[Lonely Summer]

I thought Carl's singing was superb on L.A. The only albums where his vocals suffered (a bit) were 15 BIG ONES and LOVE YOU.

It's not good on MIU either. I agree that he sings well again from L.A. on, but of course it didn't have that youthful sound of his teenage years.

Why would we want him to sound like a teenager the rest of his life? Maturity is not a bad thing, even in singing voices.

[Gabo]

I thought Carl's singing was superb on L.A. The only albums where his vocals suffered (a bit) were 15 BIG ONES and LOVE YOU.

It's not good on MIU either. I agree that he sings well again from L.A. on, but of course it didn't have that youthful sound of his teenage years.

Why would we want him to sound like a teenager the rest of his life? Maturity is not a bad thing, even in singing voices.

Pop music is a young person's game. A youthful image is essential... proof is on the back cover of the Imagination CD...

[Lonely Summer]

I thought Carl's singing was superb on L.A. The only albums where his vocals suffered (a bit) were 15 BIG ONES and LOVE YOU.

It's not good on MIU either. I agree that he sings well again from L.A. on, but of course it didn't have that youthful sound of his teenage years.

Why would we want him to sound like a teenager the rest of his life? Maturity is not a bad thing, even in singing voices.

Pop music is a young person's game. A youthful image is essential... proof is on the back cover of the Imagination CD...

Then I guess Brian and the "boys" should have packed it in decades ago, leave the pop music making to One Direction.

[The Heartical Don]

I thought Carl's singing was superb on L.A. The only albums where his vocals suffered (a bit) were 15 BIG ONES and LOVE YOU.

It's not good on MIU either. I agree that he sings well again from L.A. on, but of course it didn't have that youthful sound of his teenage years.

Why would we want him to sound like a teenager the rest of his life? Maturity is not a bad thing, even in singing voices.

Pop music is a young person's game. A youthful image is essential... proof is on the back cover of the Imagination CD...

Ha - a then friend of mine had bought Imagination on its day of release and showed it to me at dinner. Immediately and on instinct I remarked about the front cover picture: 'Nice, that must be the son of Brian Wilson then.'

He had a big LOL moment and I took that as a real compliment.

[Micha]

I thought Carl's singing was superb on L.A. The only albums where his vocals suffered (a bit) were 15 BIG ONES and LOVE YOU.

It's not good on MIU either. I agree that he sings well again from L.A. on, but of course it didn't have that youthful sound of his teenage years.

Not a one of them sounded as youthful as their teenage years by 1979, Carl was no exception.

Of course not!

Why would we want him to sound like a teenager the rest of his life?

Because I like the sound . But naturally that's irrealistic, unless you want to go into castrato territory.