"Melt Away" end vocal round

[Runaways]

i went to half price books today and was perusing their cd's when i saw this album.  I decided to get it since i didn't have it yet, it looked like an original issue, and i definitely have the "ahhhh ahhhhsss" at the end of melt away on mine anyway, on first listen, this album sucks! but melt away is gooood

[Ron]

Stay tuned for the end of the album.  You'll be all like "OH MY GOD"

[Runaways]

i think once the flush of the overwhelming production goes away i'll probably start enjoying it.

[Ron]

Yeah, you'll get past that.  You did listen to Rio Grande, though, right?  You didnt' enjoy it?

[Aegir]

I didn't like Rio Grande the first time I heard it. I like it now, but still.

[Craig Boyd]

Yeah, you'll get past that.  You did listen to Rio Grande, though, right?  You didnt' enjoy it?

Rio Grande just hit me after about the 4th time of listening to it. I think it was that beautiful "whoa whoa yeah" part that got to me on a higher level like all the best Brian songs.

[Wirestone]

BW 88 may be the least approachable of all of Brian's albums. For whatever reason -- the dense (and inconsistent) production, the stiff instrumentation, the shouty vocals, the wide variety of songs -- it can be a tough nut to crack. It was one of the reasons Imagination seemed like such a revelation back in 98 -- it was a pleasant, refreshing, less difficult listen.

[FatherOfTheMan Sr101]

The last 3 songs on this album + Melt Away, There's So Many, and Maybe L&M Make this Brian's best solo album IMO

I have 3 copies, Vinyl, the old CD (Real One) and "Remastered" one.

[I. Spaceman]

I've loved that album since it came out. Was partly responsible for me becoming a fan.

[Runaways]

the second half of Rio Grande is def better than the first. *listening to the album with nice headphones now*

[Sea Devil]

usual boring apologies for being slightly off topic/asking something that's been covered before

but

found this album a difficult nut to crack until I read the biography of Brian by Peter Ames Carlin and it suddenly clicked for me, but one question remains for me: how come Brian's (if it is his) falsetto is able to reach close to its perfect former glory on the backing vox of 'Baby Let Your Hair Grow Long' but weirdly not on the lead vocals or anything he did 15 odd years before or since?

[Runaways]

the chorus to night time is crazy annoying.  but other songs are getting better. melt away is goooood

[Wirestone]

usual boring apologies for being slightly off topic/asking something that's been covered before

but

found this album a difficult nut to crack until I read the biography of Brian by Peter Ames Carlin and it suddenly clicked for me, but one question remains for me: how come Brian's (if it is his) falsetto is able to reach close to its perfect former glory on the backing vox of 'Baby Let Your Hair Grow Long' but weirdly not on the lead vocals or anything he did 15 odd years before or since?

I think you're overstating things a bit. He was sounding excellent on "Getcha Back" in '85, which was quite high. And the falsetto was still pretty healthy on Imagination. Listen to "She Says that She Needs Me" and "Cry." He got his band the next year, so he's turned to Foskett since then.

Overall, I think Brian is kind of embarrassed of his falsetto and generally prefers not to sing with it, unless he has a co-producer who's really pushing for it. Also, I think it's just physically harder for him to do now.

[Sam_BFC]

He has done some other falsetto here and there more recently...he does all the vocals for the Rhapsody In Blue intro and outro on the Gershwin album, so listen for some there.  Doesn't really count, but on the demo for Forever My Surfer Girl (and possibly other TLOS demos) he does some falsetto work.  Not a lot though, admittedly.

[Sea Devil]

Aha, yep he sounds great on Getcha Back - didn't realize because i've only listened to the 80s BB albums once (and brian's solo album is pet sounds compared to those!). I suppose i am overstating the case, it was just shocking for me to hear his falsetto as pure and pristine as ever because i thought true Brian falsetto disappeared from 15BO onwards.

[Runaways]

brian can kinda hit those falsetto notes, but that doesn't mean he sounds great to me.

[Ron]

Not that anybody here would know   but he does sound great in falsetto on "Wipe Out" with the Beach Boys too.  I believe that's around the same time as Getcha Back...

[Zargo]

the chorus to night time is crazy annoying.  but other songs are getting better. melt away is goooood

Night Time chorus is catchy as hell! Album highlight for me!
'Melt Away' is okay, but I have never heard this apparent "proper" mix...

[Aegir]

He does some falsetto in The First Noel, too, at the end.

[Andrew G. Doe]

He was sounding excellent on "Getcha Back" in '85, which was quite high.

Um, there's still an ongoing debate as to how much of that is Brian and how much Jeff.

[runnersdialzero]

Not so much a matter of "how much", though, right? Brian said Terry Melcher coached that vocal out of him, where as Jeff says that he did it. I doubt the final is a mixture of the two or anything, unless one did most of the song and the other did the key change. Both parts sound like the same guy, though.

Isolating the f*** out of the CD mix, sounds more like Brian - it sounds like the closest he ever got to his 60s prime, but you can definitely hear a bit of his late 70s falsetto in there, too. That "whine" he had in the 70s (that was different from his 60s whine) very much sounds to be in there. Jeff never really sounded much like any era of Brian to me (that's not a slight on him this time - just two different sounding voices), where as this vocal has always carried a kind of eerie feel to it because, while certainly not exact, reminds me so much of Brian's 60s voice.

But then that's an amateur isolation, I don't have the multitracks and could obviously be way off. Shame we'll probably never know for sure. Anyone else who knows a bit more about this want to give it a shot and post the results?

[lance]

The vocal would sound better if it were Jeff, in my opinion. Sorry, Jeff haters!

[Runaways]

not sure why, but i find the first half of Rio Grande creepy.  

[Ron]

Now you have to decide, is creepy always a bad thing?  Or is it impressive that someone can make music that invokes different emotions.


The falsetto note he hits on "First Noel" is breathtaking, if you're in the right mood   He's singing the same "Noel, Noel... Noel; Noel!" the whole song, over and over again in the chorus as the song is written... and then towards the end, he has the band come in strong with a good "AHHHHHHHHHHHH" and he does "Noel; Noel.... Noel;... NooooeeeeLLLLLLLLLLL!" and swooshes up into that old-school, early Brian Wilson falsetto, for all of one note. 

If it's the right time of night, and the right time of year, you might cry a little bit. 

[Exapno Mapcase]

LOve the 88 album. Yeah, I wish the production hadn't been that way, but there are more stronger songs overall on here than on Imagination