The Definitive Vocal Credits Thread...

[John]

I'll have a listen tonight. Funnily enough, I always thought Al was the "Hey!" but nothing else.

[c-man]

The "Hey!" is a "Love You"-era addition and it's Brian. 
Unless I'm wrong.

[Andrew G. Doe]

I thought so too - until Someone Who Knows These Things told me that they "hey !" is on the original, 1969, multitrack. Just wasn't mixed up until 1977. 

[RONDEMON]

The "pitter patter" section on Good Time is most definitely 1976 Brian. There is just a stark contrast due to the very different tone of his voice from 69 to 76. You can hear it in the subtle vibrato on his voice in that section. Same with the "hey" part. Definitely 60's BW.

[c-man]

The "pitter patter" section on Good Time is most definitely 1976 Brian. There is just a stark contrast due to the very different tone of his voice from 69 to 76. You can hear it in the subtle vibrato on his voice in that section. Same with the "hey" part. Definitely 60's BW.

If that's true...then who did the "pitter patter" part on the "Landlocked" version?  Is it not the same?

[signum]

The "pitter patter" section on Good Time is most definitely 1976 Brian. There is just a stark contrast due to the very different tone of his voice from 69 to 76. You can hear it in the subtle vibrato on his voice in that section. Same with the "hey" part. Definitely 60's BW.

That's an interesting suggestion. Do you mean that Brian re-recorded the "pitter patter" section in 1976 and that the "hey" is Brian in 1969?

To me this seems strange, but I don't know the recording history. Why then does Brian not have any roughness in his voice in the "pitter patter" section. His voice is rough everywhere else on "15 Big Ones" and "Love You" (except, strangely, the falsetto on "In The Still Of The Night").

I admit that whoever it is does sound close in tone to 76 Brian, except for the sweetness/roughness. But listening again, the first verse still sounds like Al (or possibly 69 Brian doing a good Al impression) and the second verse sounds like...69 Brian actually, except for the words "close" and "smoke" which are like Al or where he seems to be doing an Al impression. I still think the "hey" is definitely Al.

The whole thing is curious.

The "pitter patter" section on Good Time is most definitely 1976 Brian. There is just a stark contrast due to the very different tone of his voice from 69 to 76. You can hear it in the subtle vibrato on his voice in that section. Same with the "hey" part. Definitely 60's BW.

If that's true...then who did the "pitter patter" part on the "Landlocked" version?  Is it not the same?

Yes, surely they are the same recording? Does anyone know?

I also notice that Marilyn sings lead (I would say, rather than background) at the end of the chorus of "That Same Song". I am even starting to wonder if Brian couldn't and didn't sing any falsetto on "15 Big Ones", except that "In The Still Of The Night" sounds like Brian's falsetto. Perhaps it suggests that if he really tried he could omit the roughness in his voice?

[adamghost]

It's funny how we always come back to Al and Brian and who's who.  I actually had a fight with a guy on wikipedia who said that anybody who was a real fan would know the difference, and then proceded to use a bunch of Al vocals as examples...except some of them were actually Brian.  Doh! 

I'll give "Good Time" a listen in a bit, because now I'm curious.  I always assumed the whole thing was Brian.  In the meantime:

I talked to Earle Mankey earlier today and asked him about Bruce's participation in the Brother sessions and whether he could have multitracked a vocal on "I'll Bet He's Nice."  He had a lot of interesting information, that Bruce was there fairly regularly, sometimes on his own sessions and sometimes with the band to add a harmony.  I asked him if he ever recalled any instance of Bruce multitracking his own vocals and he said no.  He was always singing along with the guys.

On the LOVE YOU sessions in particular he said "Brian was pretty firmly in control" of those sessions and "that was a very loose album" and that Brian's attitude towards who was singing the backups (whether the band did them or not, and who sang on them) was something along the lines of a shrug.  As for unidentified vocalists, he pointed out that "Marilyn or Diane could have been singing" on some of the songs.  He seemed a little dubious that Bruce would have sung on LOVE YOU at all, but seemed pretty certain that if he had it would have been with the other guys.

Earle's memory isn't flawless, but he seemed pretty certain he'd never seen Bruce multitracking himself on anything, and thought that it would have been something Brian would not have bothered with.  Of course, it could have been something overdubbed later at another studio, but I think it's more likely that it's Mike, Bruce and one or two other people singing in close harmony than that it's Bruce overdubbing himself.

[c-man]

I'll throw in a few things to ponder:

(a) Bruce once said he was on all the albums they made after he officially left, except MIU (and In Concert, of course, although who knows for sure about that, since he did join them onstage a couple of times in '73)

(b) There's a great picutre of Brian, Dennis, and Bruce standing around a single microphone at Brother Studio.  I've seen this in a couple of places, first in Issue 4 of "Pet Sounds" (November '78).  The caption says it was taken at Brother in December 1977, but I've always figured that was a misprint, and that it was really December 1976 (in which case it could be "I'll Bet He's Nice" they're working on in the picture).  But who knows...maybe '77 is right, and whatever they were recording there was an outtake.  I don't know if it's an Ed Roach shot, 'cause the credit just says "photo couresty of The Beach Boys".

(c) In Issue 1 of "Pet Sounds" (February '77), there's an interview with Dean Torrence, in which he says, in addition to being considered as a touring replacement for Mike Love when he goes to Switzerland, that he's been singing on the new Beach Boys and Dennis Wilson albums:  "I come down (to Brother Studio) to show them silides (of his graphic artwork) and next thing I know, I'm singing...and the girls that answer the phone get called too.  If you need some parts, just buzz to the girls in the front and say, 'hey, come on up here.'  And they just trip back and they do a couple of vocal parts and then they go back to answering the phones."  I would think the reference to the girls singing is related to Pacific Ocean Blue, which has lots of femme vocals in the backgrounds.

[adamghost]

Yeah, I tend to agree that Bruce is on that track at the very least, but I doubt it's more than him.  I also doubt, given the tightness and smoothness of the vocal, that the other voices are Brian and Dennis.  I am kinda curious, though, who else is on that part.

[c-man]

(d) Alan (Boyd) once posted this here:

"...I CAN tell you the backing vox on HONKIN' DOWN THE HIGHWAY are Brian, Dennis and Billy....

And the backing vocals on LET'S PUT OUR HEARTS TOGETHER are : D - M - A - B. Dennis, Marilyn, Alan & Brian, perhaps?"

Sorry if this has been mentioned again on this thread, but with 500+ entries, I've skipped a few!

[SloopJohnB]

On the tag of "I'll Bet He's Nice", I hear Mike doing the "you my darlin'" part, but I also hear an insteresting thing...

I hear Bruce as well in the "Well it's youuuuu", but I hear Mike in the "youuuuuu". Could be wrong, but to me it sounds awfully like Mike's voice.

[John]

I'm not hearing Al on Good Time. It all sounds like Brian to me.

[John]

I think as regards to IBHN, that I've been subtly subconsciously influenced by that great tape of Bruce multitracking the Radio Veronica jingle, and perhaps his work on "Rainbows", which I think is all him too. He always strikes me as an ultra-professional who can do that stuff quickly. I'll delete the reference to multitracking anyway, though that needn't end this mini-discussion. I do wanna point out though that I never said he was ALL the voices on there...

[John]

Should I include Signum's proposal that Marilyn is lead on the end of That Same Song?

[c-man]

I think as regards to IBHN, that I've been subtly subconsciously influenced by that great tape of Bruce multitracking the Radio Veronica jingle, and perhaps his work on "Rainbows", which I think is all him too. He always strikes me as an ultra-professional who can do that stuff quickly. I'll delete the reference to multitracking anyway, though that needn't end this mini-discussion. I do wanna point out though that I never said he was ALL the voices on there...

You mean Bruce did all the backgrounds on "Rainbows" from Pacific Ocean Blue?  Or is it a different song with that title that you're referring to?

Also, I can't remember if you mentioned this, but I think Marilyn is singing on "I'll Bet He's Nice", in the verses:  "Baby ooo-oooh". 

[John]

Yeah, the POB track. Sounds like him.

Also, Full Sail sounds like another all-Bruce mutlitrack fest, I forgot that one.

Interesting about "I'll Bet He's Nice", I always assumed it was Brian (or maybe Carl).

[Jon Stebbins]

Alan Boyd told me he "thought" Rainbows bv's were mostly Carl and Dennis. Bruce is on End of the Show.

[adamghost]

On the tag of "I'll Bet He's Nice", I hear Mike doing the "you my darlin'" part, but I also hear an insteresting thing...

I hear Bruce as well in the "Well it's youuuuu", but I hear Mike in the "youuuuuu". Could be wrong, but to me it sounds awfully like Mike's voice.

Right...I guess I wasn't very clear.  That's what I was saying, too.

[adamghost]

Yeah, the POB track. Sounds like him.

Also, Full Sail sounds like another all-Bruce mutlitrack fest, I forgot that one.

Interesting about "I'll Bet He's Nice", I always assumed it was Brian (or maybe Carl).

I'd have to go listen again, but from what I've heard of L.A., a lot of that stuff is Bruce-Carl and/or Bruce-Carl-Dennis.  I don't think it's all Bruce.

[c-man]

Yeah, the POB track. Sounds like him.

Also, Full Sail sounds like another all-Bruce mutlitrack fest, I forgot that one.

Interesting about "I'll Bet He's Nice", I always assumed it was Brian (or maybe Carl).

I'd have to go listen again, but from what I've heard of L.A., a lot of that stuff is Bruce-Carl and/or Bruce-Carl-Dennis.  I don't think it's all Bruce.

Bobby Figueroa has gone on record as saying he did a lot of vocal work on the Light Album, with Bruce and Carl.

[MBE]

Well as far as "Good Time" nothing was added to the lead or backup in 1976. I have a 1971 radio brodcast that proves that. Listened again close and I was wrong. That is Brian just singing lower on those verses. Sorry about that. Man he could really sing back then.

[matt-zeus]

Yeah, I don't hear Al on Good time at all. If you listen to other Brian leads around this time (most notably the demo for Awake which is sung low at first then high later on) you can clearly hear Brians 'low' voice on there and that is easily the voice which sings Good time.
Also if you listen to Brians speaking voice in interviews from the 60s and early 70s you can hear clearly how his voice would sound if he was singing softly. Als speaking voice is a bit more 'strident'.

[John]

Righty-o, what about Signum's proposal of Marilyn on That Same Song?

And then we can push on with the M.I.U. Album! Yippee!;)

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

 Bruce told me it was Carl. I thought it was Brian, myself.

[MBE]

Bruce told me it was Carl. I thought it was Brian, myself.

What song are you speaking about?