Adrian Baker ?

[Autotune]

Though I quite like his vocal on Hot Fun in the Summertime (I assume its him).

Carl.

[AndrewHickey]

Though I quite like his vocal on Hot Fun in the Summertime (I assume its him).

Carl.

Baker's definitely in the backing vocal stack, and I *think* he's taking part of the chorus lead. I think it goes:
Carl - We can (unintelligible) when we want to
Baker - and we're out of school
Mike - County fair in the country sun
Carl - And everything is cool
With Baker taking over from Carl on the word 'cool' in the first chorus, and singing the high pitched 'ew' that comes after it in the second chorus.

I'm *guessing* it's Baker on that line because it sounds more like him than it does any of the Beach Boys, but it's not a typical Baker vocal either -- the vowel sounds are ones that have been made by other humans in the past, and he manages to hit the notes, rather than sliding around three or four quite distant ones trying desperately to aim at the right one...

[Autotune]

Though I quite like his vocal on Hot Fun in the Summertime (I assume its him).

Carl.

Baker's definitely in the backing vocal stack, and I *think* he's taking part of the chorus lead. I think it goes:
Carl - We can (unintelligible) when we want to
Baker - and we're out of school
Mike - County fair in the country sun
Carl - And everything is cool
With Baker taking over from Carl on the word 'cool' in the first chorus, and singing the high pitched 'ew' that comes after it in the second chorus.

I'm *guessing* it's Baker on that line because it sounds more like him than it does any of the Beach Boys, but it's not a typical Baker vocal either -- the vowel sounds are ones that have been made by other humans in the past, and he manages to hit the notes, rather than sliding around three or four quite distant ones trying desperately to aim at the right one...

It's Carl singing the falsetto leads, Andrew. He still had it, huh?

[AndrewHickey]

Though I quite like his vocal on Hot Fun in the Summertime (I assume its him).

Carl.

Baker's definitely in the backing vocal stack, and I *think* he's taking part of the chorus lead. I think it goes:
Carl - We can (unintelligible) when we want to
Baker - and we're out of school
Mike - County fair in the country sun
Carl - And everything is cool
With Baker taking over from Carl on the word 'cool' in the first chorus, and singing the high pitched 'ew' that comes after it in the second chorus.

I'm *guessing* it's Baker on that line because it sounds more like him than it does any of the Beach Boys, but it's not a typical Baker vocal either -- the vowel sounds are ones that have been made by other humans in the past, and he manages to hit the notes, rather than sliding around three or four quite distant ones trying desperately to aim at the right one...

It's Carl singing the falsetto leads, Andrew. He still had it, huh?

Are you sure? It really doesn't sound like him to me on those lines...

[Autotune]

Though I quite like his vocal on Hot Fun in the Summertime (I assume its him).

Carl.

Baker's definitely in the backing vocal stack, and I *think* he's taking part of the chorus lead. I think it goes:
Carl - We can (unintelligible) when we want to
Baker - and we're out of school
Mike - County fair in the country sun
Carl - And everything is cool
With Baker taking over from Carl on the word 'cool' in the first chorus, and singing the high pitched 'ew' that comes after it in the second chorus.

I'm *guessing* it's Baker on that line because it sounds more like him than it does any of the Beach Boys, but it's not a typical Baker vocal either -- the vowel sounds are ones that have been made by other humans in the past, and he manages to hit the notes, rather than sliding around three or four quite distant ones trying desperately to aim at the right one...

It's Carl singing the falsetto leads, Andrew. He still had it, huh?

Are you sure? It really doesn't sound like him to me on those lines...

It's sounded to me like that since I first heard the album. Tried to raise an argument in the defintive vocals thread but got no reply. To your credit, Carl does not sing those lines in the live recordings there are, so you may be onto something.

[southbay]

Though I quite like his vocal on Hot Fun in the Summertime (I assume its him).

Carl.

Baker's definitely in the backing vocal stack, and I *think* he's taking part of the chorus lead. I think it goes:
Carl - We can (unintelligible) when we want to
Baker - and we're out of school
Mike - County fair in the country sun
Carl - And everything is cool
With Baker taking over from Carl on the word 'cool' in the first chorus, and singing the high pitched 'ew' that comes after it in the second chorus.

I'm *guessing* it's Baker on that line because it sounds more like him than it does any of the Beach Boys, but it's not a typical Baker vocal either -- the vowel sounds are ones that have been made by other humans in the past, and he manages to hit the notes, rather than sliding around three or four quite distant ones trying desperately to aim at the right one...

This seems right.

[rn57]

http://manvsclown.wordpress.com/2011/07/21/i-still-hate-mike-love/

Put this link up in another thread but it fits as well here - Baker writes a comment, suggesting that Mrs. Love played the leading role in his getting fired. In which case, bless her. Compared to Baker at his best, Jeff at his worst is more or less indistinguishable from Brian in 1964. And Baker's pretty bad doing Four Seasons stuff too. And as I wrote in another thread, he even managed to mess up the BBs before he joined - case in point, the '81 medley.

[Jason]

Jeff at his worst is more or less indistinguishable from Brian in 1964.

Are you kidding?

[rn57]

Well, to rephrase - if Brian's 1964 falsetto is located at the sun, Jeff's at his worst is placed somewhere between Venus and Earth, and Baker's at his best is at the place that used to be a planet called Pluto...

[JanBerryFarm]

I don't want to offend anyone, but I've listened to Baker and Foskett carefully, and my ears tell me that Baker has a trained voice capable of a greater range of styles, pitches, and timbres. Whereas Foskett (bless his heart) is pretty much a one trick pony, and it's not THAT great of a trick.
 
Let me also add that altho neither sounds like Brian very much, (just achieving a falsetto soprano doesn't mean you sound like Brian Wilson) I'd say that Baker is capable of coming closer than Foskett.

Foskett knows a lot of lyrics...plays guitar....gets along with people...is personable...so he's got the gig.

There are lots of professional singers out there who can sing falsetto and could do the job better than Jeff Foskett.

I can't answer the question why a successful touring band of the Beach Boys caliber wouldn't, or couldn't, want somebody capable of hitting the notes regularly (which Jeff doesn't really always do). Maybe they just don't WANT somebody that good. 

[AndrewHickey]

I don't want to offend anyone, but I've listened to Baker and Foskett carefully, and my ears tell me that Baker has a trained voice capable of a greater range of styles, pitches, and timbres.

Yes. And he often hit them all on the same syllable...

[Austin]

I can't answer the question why a successful touring band of the Beach Boys caliber wouldn't, or couldn't, want somebody capable of hitting the notes regularly (which Jeff doesn't really always do). Maybe they just don't WANT somebody that good.

Jeff's role isn't just about singing. I'll bet it takes much more than musical ability to survive in the Beach Boys.

[JanBerryFarm]

I can't answer the question why a successful touring band of the Beach Boys caliber wouldn't, or couldn't, want somebody capable of hitting the notes regularly (which Jeff doesn't really always do). Maybe they just don't WANT somebody that good.

Jeff's role isn't just about singing. I'll bet it takes much more than musical ability to survive in the Beach Boys.

Now, that I agree with.

[Aegir]

I've always been a little suspicious of those Papa Doo Run Run "live" videos... all the vocals sound processed and perhaps even double-tracked.

Not that I'm doubting Adrian can sing like that, here's an actual live video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cpt3Oucguk and it's actually quite impressive.

[JanBerryFarm]

He has a trained voice.

Whether that's a plus for the Beach Boys is up to them, not us.

[AndrewHickey]

He has a trained voice.

Why would anyone train their voice to sound horrible and sing off-key? That would seem counterproductive to me...

[Wah Wah Wah Ooooo]

He has a trained voice.

Why would anyone train their voice to sound horrible and sing off-key? That would seem counterproductive to me...

This. Yes.

I have a trained voice too, that doesn't mean I should sing falsetto.  Foskett may not have a trained voice but he sounds infinitely better than Adrian Baker.

[Runaways]

i can't stop watching that Don't Worry Baby video.  There is no defense of how hilariously awful that singing is.  I'd love to know how much he has "trained".  I know he sings Sherry really well, but he sounds like he has no control over his voice in the DWB video.

[runnersdialzero]

Adrian Baker being so terrible that it's funny in the DWB video and elsewhere doesn't automatically make Jeff Foskett listenable or good. It's not one or the other. Neither sound much like Brian 61-74 in any sense (I know, not many people do), and there are other falsetto singers out there.

A sincere question, though - the "Don't Worry Baby" and "Good Vibrations" videos are from the same night. Does he always sound like this? I've only heard a few other instances of his voice. I really dislike his voice in all of them, but in those few other instances, he's at least on key and isn't all over the place as in those two videos. Could he have been totally drunk or having a particularly awful night? The former wouldn't shock me in the least based solely on how he sounds.

[AndrewHickey]

Adrian Baker being so terrible that it's funny in the DWB video and elsewhere doesn't automatically make Jeff Foskett listenable or good. It's not one or the other. Neither sound much like Brian 61-74 in any sense (I know, not many people do), and there are other falsetto singers out there.

Oh, absolutely. Foskett would only be my third choice for main falsetto vocalist for the Beach Boys, after Scott Totten and Matt Jardine, based on vocal ability and no other considerations. But I've never heard Foskett do a truly incompetent performance.

A sincere question, though - the "Don't Worry Baby" and "Good Vibrations" videos are from the same night. Does he always sound like this? I've only heard a few other instances of his voice. I really dislike his voice in all of them, but in those few other instances, he's at least on key and isn't all over the place as in those two videos. Could he have been totally drunk or having a particularly awful night? The former wouldn't shock me in the least.

When I saw him in 2001, he was close to that bad on leads, but sounded more-or-less listenable in the harmony stack. In 2002 he was at least that bad. Those shows were really odd, because there were six good, talented, professional performers on stage (Mike, Bruce, Scott T, Tim Bonhomme, John Cowsill, Chris Farmer) doing their damnedest to give a fantastic performance, and they were hamstrung by Baker and Kowalski who were, at least on those occasions, by far the least competent musicians I have ever seen perform in my life. I've heard recordings from other shows from 2001 where Baker's that bad, too.

Maybe on every performance I *haven't* heard and *wasn't* at, Baker sounded like the reincarnation of Caruso, and reduced grown men to tears with the sheer beauty of his voice, but on the evidence I've actually heard, even *I* could do better (and the best way to describe the quality of my voice is to imagine Ringo Starr doing a bad impression of Mike Love).

[Smilin Ed H]

Sounds like a cat being kicked in the balls.

[JanBerryFarm]

He has a trained voice.

Why would anyone train their voice to sound horrible and sing off-key? That would seem counterproductive to me...

    - - I have a sense of humor. That's good.

But then I can't stand Caruso, so...........

[Jason]

I can't answer the question why a successful touring band of the Beach Boys caliber wouldn't, or couldn't, want somebody capable of hitting the notes regularly (which Jeff doesn't really always do). Maybe they just don't WANT somebody that good.

Jeff's role isn't just about singing. I'll bet it takes much more than musical ability to survive in the Beach Boys.

For all the people who call Bruce a cheerleader, I'm surprised the same accusation isn't thrown at Jeff for doing basically the same thing. I know that'll be a bitter pill to swallow for the Brianistas, but they were also never known for consistency.

[AndrewHickey]

For all the people who call Bruce a cheerleader, I'm surprised the same accusation isn't thrown at Jeff for doing basically the same thing. I know that'll be a bitter pill to swallow for the Brianistas, but they were also never known for consistency.

To be fair, the roles are rather different. For a *lot* of the last 30 years (from the mid-80s through to Cowsill switching to drums), Bruce's keyboard was essentially inaudible, while Foskett is at least sometimes playing a prominent instrumental part. Foskett also has far more of a vocal role in Brian's shows (being essentially co-lead vocalist on many shows) than Bruce does in Mike & Bruce shows.

That's not to say that what Bruce added and adds to the show isn't valuable, just that there's a definite difference between what the two do.

[runnersdialzero]

Meanwhile, Bruce has been a legitimate writing, producing, and performing member of the band since 1965. The first thing the guy did was step into the studio to sing on the chorus of "California Girls", while Jeff's first task was to sing backup on a track produced by Boy George or something.

Just sayin', Bruce isn't just some d00d and has made some big contributions to the band.