Getcha Back is such a tease!

[Aegir]

Mike's vocal is definitely bad though.  Personally, I think Al could have knocked that song out of the park.

as long as we're being hypothetical here, it would've sounded great with a Light Album-era Dennis lead. wouldn't've been as commercial, but it would've been great.

[Banana]

Mike could have had a better vocal...but I've read in the past that he kept tinkering with the mix trying to make his voice sound younger...but you get to the point where it stops sounding human!  Interesting idea of a late-70's Dennis taking the lead.  The bottomline remains that it's not a bad song...it just suffers from some bad production...especially on the lead vox. 

[hypehat]

Al would have sounded a bit too 'much'. Carl would have gone too far with it, his vocal mannerisms wouldn't work at all. Bruce, no. Brian, no (although his part on the fade is f***ing amazing). I guess Mike was their best bet, but he should have blown his nose before the take.

BTW, I am feeling this song tonight, so will repost this snippet from the albums thread wot I just wrote and have at it, you... you.... people on the internet, you.

The thing I like about this album, the more I listen to it, is the strange collision between Levine's and Brian/The Beach Boys' styles of production, best demonstrated by Getcha Back. You can feel the Brian coming out of that - the percussion hit on the 4, the block harmonies, bari saxes doing THAT line, strategic doubling of Mike  - versus all the eighties 'modern' techniques. "You want echo on the snare" turns into it becoming a gated monstrosity, the harmonies are precise to the point as not human, looping BW's falsetto, terrible effects on Mike...

[SIP.FLAC]

I really enjoy Mike's lead vocal but I'm also pretty much an idiot.

[Lonely Summer]

Since we're in that area, too, I think it's Brian doing the falsetto on "Wipe Out", which again sounds about like whoever's doing falsetto on Getcha Back.


I've also got to say, I'm very proud of my ability to love this song and represent it as great.  People come around, we're talking about the Beach Boys, this would be one of the 100 or so songs I would point at for why they're great.  Sure, they made a bunch of great songs in the 60's, and 70's, but the 'dork' image was always there and they've fully embraced it in cheese like this. 

I don't see what the problem is.  It sounds like it was produced in the 80's because it was.  Mike's voice sounds nasal because Mike's voice IS nasal.  Brian sounds a little off because he IS a little off.  It's a fun song meant to be taken lightly, you don't have to be ashamed of allowing yourself to enjoy it.  Drop all your notions of what people expect from music or what people will agree with you is good, and just enjoy what you enjoy.  You dont' have to hide in a closet to listen to Getcha Back   One of the best things about the Beach Boys was the feel, that warmth you get when you listen to those harmonies, and even through all the fighting, through the illness, through the robotic nature of the song, the warmth still shines through to these ears.

The video is one of their best, in my honest opinion.  Stupid storyline, silly lyrics, etc. but damn there's so much great going on in it.  When Brian pulls up in that van at the end, looking healthy, waving at the camera.... how is that not awesome?  The first time I saw it, I literally laughed out loud at him!  I think my exact words were "HELL YEAH!!!!"  Carl at the party as the security guard or whatever... there's this great part where he turns to the camera and just Smmmmillllleeeessss.  When I hear the name "Carl Wilson" I think it's that smile from this video that I remember the most.  Mike.   Kind of awkward... kind of cool... kind of like he always is. 

I'm not pitching you on the idea that the song is as good as Good Vibrations or Surf's Up.  It's certainly not.  It is a good song though, I love it. 

+1

[startBBtoday]

Well, it sounds a lot like Hungry Heart, which worked pretty well for Springsteen's voice. Dennis' voice is the most like Springsteen's. I could see it with Dennis' voice.

[GuyOnTheBeach]

Amongst the Beach Boys things I have never heard is a version of Getcha Back with an extended intro, starts off with the drums and then an organ comes in and then vocals.. or so I am told, does anyone know what this was? an early mix? intended as a single mix in the same way Somewhere Near Japan had a different intro?