Settling the "Getcha Back" debate

[Coda Hall]

It's been 30 years since BB85 was released, and for 30 years, it has been debate whether Jeff or Brian sang the falsetto. However, I think we might finally have an answer. Here is a full recording  of the Beach Boys on 6/27/85. What is so sweet coal about his concert? Getcha Back is played for the first time live. I'm not sure if other people have heard this, but Jeff takes the falsetto live, and it definitely sounds different than the one on the record. The live recording and album recording were taken within a year, and I highly doubt that Jeff's voice would be strained on the record, but clear live. I think that this proves Brian Wilson is the one who sang the falsetto.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WrT48E18GGw

[Andrew G. Doe]

And we're expected to listen to the entire show ? It's at 48.17...

BTW, either the date or the venue is wrong - they played Montgomery on the 21st, Milwaukee on the 27th.

[kwebb]

Getcha Back starts at about 48:20

[kermit27]

You're right, the falsetto part as sung by Jeff certainly does sound different than the record.

[CenturyDeprived]

That was super cool to hear that version of Getcha Back. Even though Jeff admittedly sounds different, I don't think that proves anything either way, since songs will often sound different (even by the same singer) between studio and live versions.

That said, I absolutely think it's Brian on the album.

I really love how the ending part "I'll leave her and you leave him" sounds on this recording... super rad harmonies that aren't on the recorded version, plus some awesome drum build stuff around there too.

[Lonely Summer]

It would be nice to believe it's Brian on the record, but I'm undecided.

[NateRuvin]

To me, this concert recording obviously has Jeff singing the falsetto, and it sounds so different from the record, which makes me believe its Brian.

[Ron]

I've never understood why people even wonder about this, it sounds nothing like Jeff, and exactly like Brian, to my ears.  I just don't see it...

[Custom Machine]

Not only has the falsetto sounded like Brian to me for a little over 30 years now, those involved with the recording have stated that it's Brian.

[eran levy]

100% Brian. It doesn't even remotely sound like anybody else, and least of all Foskett.

[c-man]

I thought I'd settled this definitively some months back, when I posted that none of the vocal track notations from the track sheets are labeled "Jeff": only "Brian", "Carl", "Al", "Mike", "Bruce and Terry"...and there ain't no way it's Terry singing falsetto! Plus, I got it straight from Bruce that Jeff is NOT on the record (and he couldn't have emphasized "NOT" any more than he did)!

[Autotune]

That's a killer vocal by Mike, btw. The best I've heard him do this song.

[Eric Aniversario]

I have never thought that it was anybody but Brian on the studio version.

[Andrew G. Doe]

I thought I'd settled this definitively some months back, when I posted that none of the vocal track notations from the track sheets are labeled "Jeff": only "Brian", "Carl", "Al", "Mike", "Bruce and Terry"...and there ain't no way it's Terry singing falsetto! Plus, I got it straight from Bruce that Jeff is NOT on the record (and he couldn't have emphasized "NOT" any more than he did)!

We need a thread entitled "For the Love of God, use the search function first !!".

Probably.

[marcusb]

I think it's Brian, but it could be Jeff. You know, Cousin Brian had a drug problem.

[HeyJude]

There’s a soundboard recording (via radio broadcast) of the 7/4/85 Philadelphia show as well with “Getcha Back”, and frankly Jeff’s falsetto on the 2012 C50 version isn’t even *vastly* different from his 80’s falsetto performances. None of these sound anything like the original studio version.

I’m not sure where this question originated; I suppose maybe people were thrown because Brian’s falsetto on the ‘84/’85 recording certainly doesn’t sound the same as his 60’s falsetto, and/or because a lot of the vocals on the ’85 album are relatively heavily processed, and/or because articles with info about Foskett’s CV with the Beach Boys usually includes mention of his being on the BB ’85 album. If he’s on the ’85 album at all, it’s pretty muted compared to his work with Brian post-1998. (Do we have some general info on which 80’s sessions Jeff definitely *did* take part in?). Indeed, some of the other stuff Jeff is supposedly on (e.g. “Kokomo”) doesn’t feature him nearly as prominently as his later work with Brian. Dunno if that was just a mixing decision, or because Jeff was just one voice in the stacks back then instead of Brian having two or three Fosketts on some later stuff.

[Jim Rockford]

Sounds like 80s Brian to me.

[pixletwin]

I have never thought that it was anybody but Brian on the studio version.

Ditto. Where's the beef?

[send me a picture and i'll tell you]

I don't know how anyone could mistake that for Jeff-- he and Brian don't sound remotely alike.

It's kind of like debating whether a person in a given photo is Bill Cosby or Miley Cyrus. If you look, you can probably tell.

 

 

[Steve Latshaw]

I'm amazed that this thread even exists.  What's to debate?  Anyone who's been listening to this band for more than 30 years knows without question that the falsetto is sung by Brian.  I think I even remember in Mark Dillon's 50 SIDES book, a story from Steve Levine that he or someone actually managed to cajole Brian into doing the falsetto.

[donald]

I recall reading here, or possibly somewhere else, that it is Brian and the part is repeated on a loop.

[kermit27]

If I remember correctly, the question only arose when Jeff himself said he was on the song.  Then people started to act like there was some conspiracy to pass Jeff's vocal off as Brian's.

I could be remembering this incorrectly, though...

[Lonely Summer]

Are there any other post-cigarette recordings where Brian's falsetto is so clear and strong? I sure can't think of any. He sure doesn't sound like that on "She's Got Rhythm".

[Sheriff John Stone]

Are there any other post-cigarette recordings where Brian's falsetto is so clear and strong? I sure can't think of any. He sure doesn't sound like that on "She's Got Rhythm".

There's a song on the same album (Beach Boys 1985) that is rarely mentioned where Brian gets up there pretty good, which is "I'm So Lonely". I always thought of it a companion piece with "Getcha Back", both lyrically and with Brian's high voice. I wish the songs would've been sequenced "I'm So Lonely" into "Getcha Back" on the album, although "Getcha Back" is admittedly a great opener. 

Another song comes to mind with Brian singing very high - and clearly - which is his version of Carl's "Heaven". In my opinion, it's the best lead vocal of Brian's solo career.

[Matt Etherton]

It's Brian OBVIOUSLY (yet not as obvious is the pitch correction used).