When was the singing voice of each individual Beach Boy at its best?

[Smile4ever]

Carl: 1966-1979...Easily the greatest vocalist to ever grace the band. The range I placed was really just to represent his vocals on NEW material at the times, but there's no doubt his voice held up in a live setting until the final months. Just listen to "God Only Knows" and "Wild Honey" back to back...hard to believe it's the same person!!!

You think he was "easily" the greatest vocalist? I can understand and respect your opinion. And Carl was definitely the most versatile vocalist. I still like Brian at his prime the best.

[runnersdialzero]

Carl: 1966-1979...Easily the greatest vocalist to ever grace the band. The range I placed was really just to represent his vocals on NEW material at the times, but there's no doubt his voice held up in a live setting until the final months. Just listen to "God Only Knows" and "Wild Honey" back to back...hard to believe it's the same person!!!

You think he was "easily" the greatest vocalist? I can understand and respect your opinion. And Carl was definitely the most versatile vocalist. I still like Brian at his prime the best.

Carl was talentless compared to Brian "Genius" Wilson. Carl was such a NITWIT.

[RubberSoul13]

Carl: 1966-1979...Easily the greatest vocalist to ever grace the band. The range I placed was really just to represent his vocals on NEW material at the times, but there's no doubt his voice held up in a live setting until the final months. Just listen to "God Only Knows" and "Wild Honey" back to back...hard to believe it's the same person!!!

You think he was "easily" the greatest vocalist? I can understand and respect your opinion. And Carl was definitely the most versatile vocalist. I still like Brian at his prime the best.

that's cool, and I can see your point...one of many things here that just boils down to taste 

[Gertie J.]

carl is a rocker, not a mod or a mocker.

[ThyRavenAscend]

I'll pick an album for each member, the one that I think they sound the best on (if even just for a single song):

Brian Wilson - "Pet Sounds"
Dennis Wilson - "Sunflower"
Carl Wilson - "Smiley Smile"
Mike Love - "Carl & the Passions 'So Tough'"
Al Jardine - "M.I.U."

[TimeToGetAlone]

Brian -> 1964-1968
Mike -> 1965-1970
Carl -> 1968-1973
Dennis -> 1968-1972
Al -> 1965-1977
Bruce -> 1969-1971

To me Friends is the album where everyone's voice is near their peak.  It is admittedly tough in some respects because other than the Wilson brothers, I think some of my sentiments are based on the types of songs they were singing.

[phirnis]

Brian: Friends album, hands-down
Carl: GOK, early 70s, Light Album
Mike: 1963-1973
Dennis: Sunflower, mid-to-late 70s
Al: Help Me Rhonda
Bruce: mid-60s perhaps

[runnersdialzero]

I don't really care for Carl's album vocals on "God Only Knows" and "Good Vibrations", they're way too breathy, he did a thousand times better on later live versions of the songs and I wanna fight about it.

[drbeachboy]

I don't really care for Carl's album vocals on "God Only Knows" and "Good Vibrations", they're way too breathy, he did a thousand times better on later live versions of the songs and I wanna fight about it.

[BergenWhitesMoustache]

Brian- up to '73
Mike, up to '76
Carl, up to '75
Dennis- all good
Al- all good
Bruce- all good

Carl hit the booze years and lost the lightness of touch he'd previously had, Brian went hoarse/shouty, Mike went nasal in '76.

As far as these ears can tell, Al and Bruce have never really changed, and re: Dennis, whilst his voice definitely CHANGED in tone, it didn't get worse. If anything I appreciate the richness of tone in something like 'baby blue' more than I do, say, little bird.

[runnersdialzero]

Carl's voice on "God Only Knows" sounds better on the Knebworth concert than it does on Pet Sounds.

[Pinder's Gone To Kokomo And Back Again]

Great thing about the Beach Boys as singers is: each guy could do something that the other guy really couldn't .... No one could or can do aching vulnerability like Brian at his peak (people try but usually just resort to cliched vocal technique), no one in the Beach Boys could either, or at least not on his level. No one could do the soulful/spiritual Carl thing, No one had the vocal strength, clarity, and richness of Al, No one could quite do that innocent, Disney, AM radio sweetness of Bruce. No one could do the bass thing quite as well as Mike and no one could put forward that punkish "tude" thing like him.

 Dennis?....... no explanation necessary.

[EgoHanger1966]

Carl's voice on "God Only Knows" sounds better on the Knebworth concert than it does on Pet Sounds.

I have 3,000 words to say.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Trolled by the title -_-

[Nicko1234]

I'll pick an album for each member, the one that I think they sound the best on (if even just for a single song):

Brian Wilson - "Pet Sounds"
Dennis Wilson - "Sunflower"
Carl Wilson - "Smiley Smile"
Mike Love - "Carl & the Passions 'So Tough'"
Al Jardine - "M.I.U."

I agree that Al sounds excellent on this album. His vocals on Somewhere Near Japan are also some of the best later Beach Boys vocals.

[Smile4ever]

I'll pick an album for each member, the one that I think they sound the best on (if even just for a single song):

Brian Wilson - "Pet Sounds"
Dennis Wilson - "Sunflower"
Carl Wilson - "Smiley Smile"
Mike Love - "Carl & the Passions 'So Tough'"
Al Jardine - "M.I.U."

I agree that Al sounds excellent on this album. His vocals on Somewhere Near Japan are also some of the best later Beach Boys vocals.

Yeah. These rankings seem to be exactly like my assessment. Like.

[smilethebeachboysloveyou]

Brian's and Mike's lead vocals are all strong through the early seventies.  To narrow it down a bit, though, I'd say Brian's voice is strongest between The Beach Boys Today! and Sunflower and that Mike's is strongest between Little Deuce Coupe and Friends.

None of Carl's lead vocals prior to God Only Knows gives a good indication of how strong a vocalist he was, but starting with "God Only Knows" through his lead vocals on Surf's Up are all excellent.  He especially shines on Wild Honey, though.

Dennis is difficult to say for the simple reason that his voice changed quite a bit in the seventies, and while it got much more hoarse than Brian's ever did, the hoarse Dennis voice also developed an expressive quality in a way that I don't think Brian's hoarse voice did.  I have difficulty deciding whether I prefer pre-hoarse Dennis (in which case it would be Sunflower and Carl and the Passions-So Tough, when his lead vocals are much stronger than they had been in the 1960s) or hoarse Dennis (The Beach Boys Love You through L.A.).

I'm inclined to say that Alan's voice is strongest in the late 1970s, around the time of The Beach Boys Love You.  On the other hand, I'm not sure that his voice got stronger so much as Brian's, Mike's, and Carl's voices got weaker.

It's difficult to say with Bruce, whose has gotten relatively few lead vocals over the years.  I would be inclined to say Sunflower, but that would seem to be by default as I think it's the only album where he gets more than one lead vocal.

[southbay]

I don't really care for Carl's album vocals on "God Only Knows" and "Good Vibrations", they're way too breathy, he did a thousand times better on later live versions of the songs and I wanna fight about it.

I got your back on this one.

[Orange Crate Art]

Brian: 1963-1971
Dennis: 1968-1973
Carl: 1966-into the 80's
Mike: 1965-into the 70's
Al: 1965-into the 80's and beyond
Bruce: unsure

[Mike's Beard]

For me Brian peaked vocally very early on, around the time of Warmth of The Sun and Hushabye, so I'd say 63-64 for him. By the Friends era his voice had taken on that Mickey Mouse tone - I'm not very keen on it for lead vocals but it was fantastic for backing vocals.

Mike hit his prime from 68 to 73, which as others have pointed out was ironically the time when he was singing lead the least. His only stinker from this time was Bluebirds Over The Mountain which is a pretty crappy song anyway.

Al has been consistently fantastic throughout his career.

Carl's voice was far too weak and childlike (maybe because he was still a child!) for the first few years, then seemingly overnight he morphed into one of the greatest singers of all time from Pet Sounds onwards. I'm not a fan of some of his mid to late 70's vocal work (he sounds bored or sleepy) but then he came back better than ever for the 80's. I'd say the 1980's holds his best ever vocal performances even if it was often on sub-par material.

I'd say Dennis was the weakest singer out of them all until his voice became husky in the mid 70's. From a technical standpoint it had gone drastically downhill but as an upshot it gained much needed character.

Bruce is just Bruce. Outstanding for Disney Girls but elsewhere his voice is rather twee. It's held up well throughout the years if nothing else.

[Jim V.]

Hmm. This is tough. Started to do it a few days ago. But I guess I'll try again:

Brian: 1965 through 1967. His vocals on Pet Sounds are just so perfect. Especially stuff like "Don't Talk".
Mike: 1963 through 1968
Carl: 1979 through 1998. His vocals were so soulful and classy  from '79 on. I think if the guys woulda emphasized his voice more in the '80s they made have had some more hits.
Al: Right now. His vocals on "From There To Back Again" are the best of his career.
Dennis: Probably 1968 through 1972. Kinda rough, but still sweet.
Bruce: I don't know. I suppose '70 or so. Don't really care for his voice.

[Ovi]

  Carl sounds drunk on LOVE YOU.  His singing was way better on LPs like SURF'S UP and HOLLAND. Not to mention BEACH BOYS' 85. He was the ONLY member of the band who did not have a cold on that album.

  Since technical precision isn't the point of LOVE YOU maybe it doesn't matter.

  Do you really think he did "Just Once In MY Life" justice on 15 BIG ONES?

Totally. He may sound a bit sleepy at first, but it's all about the climax, and oh boy, does he deliver it. A very, very emotional moment for me.

[zachrwolfe]

‍

[MBE]

Yeah I feel Carl did peak in his twenties as a singer-like his brothers.

[Cabinessenceking]

I don't really care for Carl's album vocals on "God Only Knows" and "Good Vibrations", they're way too breathy, he did a thousand times better on later live versions of the songs and I wanna fight about it.

I think many could agree with that. The GV and GOK vocals are very suitable to the production though. Not sure if a 'live' vocal would suit the backing track on either song, but I enjoy these songs just as much live as the studio versions.