Mike Love provided the bass vocals on all the Beach Boys records until
the 1970s, when Brian Wilson and Dennis Wilson did a few low-register
parts.
"Mike Love was the trademark 'lead singer' on certain songs in lower
registers and also sang the bass parts."
alt.culture.us.1970s newgroup post
http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=000e1e7e.f70af4c2%40usw-ex0101-007.remarq.com&oe=UTF-8&output=gplain
"The article in question was a Musician Magazine interview with Carl
from '83. He said Brian was on top, followed by Al or Dennis, then
Carl, then Mike. Brian would be falsetto or very high tenor, Al and/or
Dennis would be a somewhat lower tenor, Carl (most of the time) would
be a mid-range tenor, and Mike would be bass or baritone... If you
listen to the opening of 'In My Room', you hear Brian signing the
first line, then Carl comes in with a high harmony part, then Dennis
on a higher note, then when they get to the word 'room', Mike joins in
on bass and probably Al singing the same note as Dennis."
alt.music.beach-boys newsgroup post
http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=20001213120427.18048.00009577%40ng-fi1.aol.com&oe=UTF-8&output=gplain
"As cousin Brian Wilson ventured off into less-formulaic composing in
the mid-'60s, Love - technically the group's lead singer, by virtue of
his ability to hit the low notes the Wilson brothers couldn't - openly
pined to retain the clean-cut image that originally vaulted the group
to stardom. The divide, coupled with Wilson's personal issues, led to
Love taking the group's reins after the release of 'Pet Sounds' and
guiding them through the years.
Not that Love didn't have a good time.
'I [Mike Love] sang lead on so many of those songs - 'Fun, Fun, Fun,'
'Good Vibrations,' all those surfing songs - but I've always loved
singing the bass parts,' he says. 'Brian would take the highest part,
Carl would be somewhere in the middle, and they just liked the way I
sounded. I've always taken great pains in recording to always make
those harmonies work like that."
Bellingham Herald
http://news.bellinghamherald.com/special-pub/nwfair03/150994.shtml
"Then their tour manager called because some of the other guys were
feeling left out. I heard this voice behind me say 'Hey, do I have to
take a number to get on this record?' I turned around to see none
other than MIKE LOVE. He showed us how to add a Beach Boy bass voice."
Laguna Tunes
http://www.lagunatunes.com/linernotes.htm
Google search strategy:
Google Web Search: "beach boys" + "mike love" + "the bass"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22beach+boys%22+%22mike+love%22+%22the+bass%22
Thanks for a fun, fun, fun question! If anything is unclear, or if a
link does not function, please request clarification; I'll be glad to
offer further assistance before you rate my answer.
Best regards,
pinkfreud |
