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Lead Vocalist
How do we know that Brian sings this song? Is it indicated on the CD jacket? The voice sounds an awful lot like Dennis. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.255.179.41 (talk) 17:45, 25 May 2008 (UTC)
- Dennis and Brian are singing in unison, although it is mainly Dennis that you hear. I've changed it in the article. MookieZ (talk) 03:46, 26 May 2008 (UTC)
- That's a really interesting concept, but you've offered no citation for it, and meanwhile, the booklet for the 2000 CD release (a twofer with 15 Big Ones) reads:
- 3. MONA Wonderful, circular love song on which Brian is the only audible Beach Boy. Special touching note: Brian's lyrical insistence that a shared love of Phil Spector is one of the prerequisites for romance.
- If you come up with a source for your contention, please cite it and change the article back. The CD booklet could be wrong, I suppose. But really, it sounds like Brian to me. Brian's voice in this era is just "rough", not "wasted". Dennis's voice is the wasted noise on "I Wanna Pick You Up", or the lines "Sometimes you're busy for awhile / But when I get through it makes me smile" on "Had To Phone Ya" from 15 Big Ones.
- The lead singing on "Mona" doesn't sound doubled, anyway. "I Wanna Pick You Up", however, does. Have you possibly got the two mixed up?
- --63.25.118.201 (talk) 11:44, 8 July 2008 (UTC)
No, I don't. The liner notes you mention were written by Peter Buck, who is a wonderful guitarist, but neither A) is a journalist, or B) knows enough about The Beach Boys to write liner notes. The notes are filled with inaccuracies, and the parts that are right seem to have been plaigarized from Andrew Grayham Doe's book. Here are two sources for Brian and Dennis singing lead on Mona:
- Brad Elliott's seminal discography, Surf's Up: The Beach Boys On Record, 1961-1981. It is on p. 233 where Brian and Dennis are both listed for singing Mona.
- Scroll down to the 4th post here. This infomation was hashed out at this thread first (starting about three posts down for Mona), where the part about Brian and Dennis singing on Mona together was first mentioned by Earle Mankey, the engineer of the album, in 1977. He may be a little bit closer to the truth then Peter Buck. Also note that contributing to the thread are Jon Stebbins, author of biographies of Dennis Wilson and David Marks; Alan Boyd, the current librarian for the Brother Records archives; the previously mentioned Andrew G. Doe; Craig Slowinski of beachboysarchives.com, and other people who would know these things.
I think that if you look around, you will find no other sources that say that Brian is the sole lead singer of Mona. You could probably find a few sources that say it is Dennis alone, but none that say Brian. MookieZ (talk) 15:49, 8 July 2008 (UTC)
- I don't have time for all that at the moment (having spent the bulk of my free time on your comments Re: Caroline, No -- enjoy!), but how can you say what you said about Buck? The dude has access to just about anybody in the music business he wants. Hell, when Atlantic Records sent Syd Barrett's sister a proposal for Syd to make a record, in the early 90s, Buck was on the short list (one of three, along with Mike Mills and Robyn Hitchcock) of proposed backing musicians. That's status, my friend. (Check out the book Crazy Diamond if interested.) I'd say if Peter Buck had some questions about the recording of a Beach Boys album, he could damn well find someone knowledgable who was willing to talk to him. I guess it is possible he just decided to shoot his mouth off, though.
- If it's Dennis, how come he sounds so much better than his wretched tone on "I Wanna Pick You Up"?
- I'll check out the other stuff later. Anyway, I'm not changing it back.
- --63.25.234.43 (talk) 23:48, 9 July 2008 (UTC)
- I'm sure that Peter Buck could find out whatever he wants to, but the booklet reads like he said, "Yes! I get to do liner notes for Love You! I love this album... Woo-hoo!" And then he just sat down and wrote them. I listened to Mona a few times through headphones. It does sound to me like it is Dennis and Brian, although Brian is turned down a lot. I don't think that Dennis's voice was as shot as you do at this point. The differences between "Mona" and "I Wanna Pick You Up" could be for any number of reasons. Pick You Up could have been recorded late at night, after Dennis had been out having a good time. Or maybe he sounds better on Mona because he has Brian singing with him, giving him support. Maybe he just felt that Pick You Up needed a gruffer tone and he adjusted his voice accordingly. I could look up what other vocals he recorded around this time if you want.
- So... Why don't you get an account. I think wikipedia could use more people like you. MookieZ (talk) 13:49, 11 July 2008 (UTC)