THE FREE DESIGN: There is a song

THE FREE DESIGN
Este foi o último álbum gravado pelo FD, mas não será a última postagem: ainda tenho mais 2 ou 3 mas, por motivos de ordem técnica, não pude obedecer à cronologia.
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ALBUM REVIEW
“There Is a Song was the last Free Design record the group made until 2001's Cosmic Peekaboo. It was recorded during a time of change for the group and the Dedrick family, as the group had parted with its label, Project 3, and Chris Dedrick moved to Canada. The album was released on the tiny New York label Ambrotype and was even easier to ignore than their other releases. Luckily for fans of the band, Light in the Attic rescued it from its fate and put the album out on CD, because it is definitely worth hearing. The group moved away from the big arrangements and orchestras of its past releases; most of the album is anchored musically by simple
acoustic guitars and colored in subtly by just a few horns and strings. Their rich vocal harmonies hadn't changed at all, however, as Chris and sisters Ellen and Sandra sound as innocent and star-struck as ever. Despite its obscurity, the album holds some of the group's finest compositions and performances, like the relentlessly upbeat "Canada in Springtime," the sweetly spiritual "Peter, Paul
and Mary," the bouncy "I Wanna Be There," and the breathtakingly clear-and-cool title track. The Dedricks fell in with a philosophy professor named Arthur Mills while in Canada, and many of the songs have a trippy, deeply felt intellectual point of view that comes from his teachings. As Chris says in the liner notes, they were exploring new definitions of love, freeing themselves from previously
held notions of love, and opening themselves up to the possibilities of love and life. Songs like "The Symbols Ring," "Love Does Not Die," and "There Is a Song" delve into these issues, but manage to escape being pedantic or clunky by being so wonderfully melodic and beautiful. In fact, the entire record is beautiful, and while it doesn't have any jaw-dropping moments like "Kites are Fun," "Bubbles," or "My Brother Woody," the album may be the group's most fully realized and rewarding endeavor.”
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MINHA OPINIÃO - neste álbum o grupo já havia sido reduzido ao formato de trio, com Chris e suas irmãs Sandy e Ellen. A qualidade, todavia, é a mesma do quarteto inicial e demonstra a habilidade de Chris no manuseio das técnicas de arranjo vocal.
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THE FREE DESIGN: There is a song

THE FREE DESIGN
Chris Dedrick (guitar, trumpet, vocals, recorder)
Sandy Dedrick (keyboards, vocals)
Ellen Dedrick (vocals, percussion, 1968-1972)

TRACKS/FAIXAS:
A1 Canada in Springtime 2:27
A2 Kum Ba Yah 3:15
A3 Peter, Paul and Mary 4:12
A4 Pineapple Crabapple 3:08
A5 The Symbols Ring 3:46
B1 Stay 2:53
B2 I Wanna Be There 3:17
B3 There Is a Song 3:01
B4 A Child Is Born 3:18
B5 Love Does Not Die 3:42
B6 Chorale 1:12
B7 Fugue 2:03

THE FREE DESIGN: Sing for Very Important People

THE FREE DESIGN
O Free Design dispensa apresentação: já é nosso velho conhecido.
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ALBUM REVIEW
“The Free Design always sounded a bit like a pop group for children, and they made the leap there themselves on their wonderful 1970 album Free Design Sing for Very Important People. Inspired by Peter, Paul & Mary's Peter, Paul and Mommy album and the fact that all of the Dedricks were parents by then, the record collects some of their kid-friendly previously released songs like "Kites Are Fun," "Bubbles," and "Daniel Dolphin" and adds some songs written and recorded for the project. The tunes they came up with are among their best; "Don't Cry, Baby" is harmonically rich and lyrically charming, "Ronda Go 'Round" sounds like a song angels might make up to keep themselves happy while floating through the heavens, and "Love You" is a bubbling a cappella delight. They also cover a few songs, turning in a sweet version of "Can You Tell Me How to Get to Sesame Street?," a reverent and solemn "Children's Waltz," a chamber jazz take on "Scarlet Tree," and a loping "Little Cowboy" (which was written Art Dedrick, the siblings' father). The Free Design's almost unbearably light and sweet feel, their flowing harmonies, and their lyrical and musical childlike sense of wonder make the record a smashing success artistically. It's too bad not many kids got a chance to hear it at the time -- the world might have
turned out to be a much mellower place. At least we can spin it for our very important people now. ”
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MINHA OPINIÃO - este é um "álbum para crianças" (pelo menos esta foi a intenção de Chris Dedrick). Infantil ou não, é coisa muito séria. Raríssimo álbum, para alegrar o fim de semana de seus admiradores e colecionadores.
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THE FREE DESIGN: Sing for Very Important People

THE FREE DESIGN
Chris Dedrick (guitar, trumpet, vocals,)
Sandy Dedrick (keyboards, vocals)
Ellen Dedrick (vocals, percussion)
Bruce Dedrick (guitar, vocals, trombone)

TRACKS/FAIXAS:
A1 Don't Cry, Baby 3:04
A2 Can You Tell Me How to Get to Sesame Street 2:12
A3 Children's Waltz 4:15
A4 Scarlet Tree 2:10
A5 Little Cowboy 3:50
B1 Love You 2:25
B2 Ronda Go 'Round 2:33
B3 Bubbles 2:15
B4 Daniel Dolphin 3:27
B5 Kites Are Fun 2:34
B6 Lullaby 1:28

THE FREE DESIGN - Heaven/Earth (1969)

THE FREE DESIGN
Mais um álbum do FD, para gáudio dos admiradores do grupo.
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ALBUM REVIEW
1969's Heaven/Earth is the Free Design's third album. It carries on the tradition of excellence the group's first two albums had firmly established. It was also very much of a piece with the rest of their output -- no big changes. The record is overflowing with beauty and weirdness and lush arrangements with plenty of groovy touches that instantly date the record but also give it a hipness that is lacking in other MOR vocal group records. However, the true genius of the band is the fresh clear voices of the Dedrick siblings and the way Chris Dedrick arranged them. Tunes like the swinging "Now Is the Time," the witty and alarmingly cynical "2002 - A Hit Song," and the quietly inventive version of "If I Was a Carpenter" have sublime and unusual vocal harmonies that soar and swoop like psychedelic eagles, always
surprising and often breathtaking. Some of the other tracks here worth mention are the sweet samba of "My Very Own Angel, Girls Alone," which features Sandy and Ellen harmonizing over a full big-band arrangement, and the moody and quite amazing "Dorian Benediction," which manages to sound like the Electric Prunes with Miles Davis sitting in and the hippest monks on earth chanting along. Heaven/Earth is worth a listen by anyone who likes vocal harmony and the sweet, innocent sounds of sunshine pop.
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MINHA OPINIÃO: como prometi, estou postando, gradativamente, todos os álbuns do Free
Design.
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THE FREE DESIGN - Heaven/Earth (1969)

FREE DESIGN
Chris Dedrick (guitar, trumpet, vocals, recorder)
Sandy Dedrick (keyboards, vocals)
Ellen Dedrick (vocals, percussion, 1968-1972)
Bruce Dedrick (guitar, vocals, trombone, 1966-71, 2001)

TRACKS/FAIXAS:
A1 My Very Own Angel 3:00
A2 Now Is the Time 2:14
A3 If I Were a Carpenter 3:17
A4 You Be You and I'll Be Me 2:34
A5 Girls Alone 3:55
A6 2002 - A Hit Song 2:34
B1 Summertime 3:36
B2 Where Do I Go (From "Hair") 2:14
B3 Hurry Sundown 3:04
B4 Memories 3:39
B5 Dorian Benediction 4:27

THE FREE DESIGN: You Could Be Born Again

THE FREE DESIGN
Fui apresentado a este álbum do FREE DESIGN pela maestrina CELINHA VAZ, há muitos anos, quando éramos vizinhos no Leblon. Celinha regressara dos USA onde conhecera pessoalmente os vocalistas do Free Design, do qual se tornou amiga e pelos quais se encantara. Quando postei o álbum "Kites are fun", prometi que iria postar este "You could be born again". Promessa cumprida e dívida paga.

(*)Dedico esta postagem à Celinha Vaz, pra relembrar os bons tempos.
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THE FREE DESIGN was formed in 1966 in New York's Greenwich Village. Comprised of three of four Dedrick siblings (Chris, Bruce and Sandy), they specialized in a similar style of folk as peers Peter, Paul & Mary. However, doubtlessly due to main songwriter Chris' classical music studies, their music was decidedly ornate and their vocal harmonies precise and complex. The band's 1967 debut "Kites Are Fun" placed them squarely in the realm of sunshine pop acts like The Association. The intricate vocal lines, using sophisticated harmonies normally associated with jazz or chamber classical music, carry out its beyond-innocent charms. The following year, The Free Design released this album, "You Could Be Born Again", adding youngest sister Ellen to the lineup. Having another voice allowed Chris to write more complex vocal arrangements.
(CB)
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ALBUM REVIEW
"The Free Design's second album offers fewer original songs than its predecessor, but a sound every bit as fresh and original as that earlier album. Chris Dedrick provides the title track, an upbeat, uplifting piece, not as hauntingly beautiful as "Kites Are Fun," but pretty in its own right, and followed by the ethereal "A Leaf Has Veins." The quartet also takes the risk of inviting comparisons with their West Coast rivals, the Mamas & the Papas, turning in a swinging rendition of "California Dreamin'," as well as gorgeous, ornate covers of the Beatles' "Eleanor Rigby" and Bonner & Gordon's "Happy Together," though perhaps the best moment here is their harmonized cover of Duke Ellington's "I Like the Sunrise" from "The Iberian Suite." The overall tone of You Could Be Born Again is more subdued and sophisticated than the group's debut, but it is also a more elaborate album musically, with a larger array of support musicians. The originals -- of which the prettiest examples are "I Found Love," "Daniel Dolphin," and "Ivy on a Windy Day" -- mesh nicely with the covers into a beguiling whole with a slightly spacy, psychedelic tone beneath its quiet elegance. ”
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MINHA OPINIÃO: a qualidade dos arranjos vocais e instrumentais do Free Design é extremamente sofisticada, inventiva e inovadora, misturando na dose exata e equilibrada, elementos de música clássica, barroca, pop e jazz, hábilmente manipuladas pelo seu talentoso líder Chris Dedrick. A sonoridade do grupo, ainda que original e mais antiga, induz a uma imediata comparação com a dos "Carpenters" em seu álbum de estréia, onde Richard Carpenter em algumas faixas se utilizou dos mesmos elementos clássicos e barrocos.(Lembra da composição "Druscilla Penny ? - ouça e compare). Como tantos outros grupos vocais, inobstante sua excelência, faltava ao Free Design apelo comercial e, como soe acontecer, teve vida curta. Apesar disso deixou outros quatro álbuns gravados, que consegui obter recentemente e serão postados, gradativamente.
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THE FREE DESIGN: You Could Be Born Again

THE FREE DESIGN
Chris Dedrick (guitar, trumpet, vocals)
Sandy Dedrick (keyboards, vocals)
Ellen Dedrick (vocals, percussion)
Bruce Dedrick (guitar, vocals, trombone)

TRACKS/FAIXAS:
You Could Be Born Again
A Leaf Has Veins
California Dreamin'
The Windows of the World
Eleanor Rigby
Quartet No. 6 in D Minor
I Like the Sunrise
I Found Love
Daniel Dolphin
Happy Together
Ivy on a Windy Day
An Elegy

THE FREE DESIGN : KITES ARE FUN

THE FREE DESIGN
Fui apresentado ao FREE DESIGN pela minha querida amiga, a talentosissima maestrina CELINHA VAZ, há muitos anos, quando
éramos vizinhos. Celinha regressara dos USA onde conhecera pessoalmente os vocalistas do Free Design, do qual se tornou amiga e pelos quais se encantara. O FD foi formada em 1966 em Nova York, no Greenwich Village, pelos três irmãos Chris, Bruce e Sandy Dedrick, especializou-se, inicialmente, no estilo "folk", tendo como modelo Peter, Paul & Mary. Um pouco mais tarde a outra irmã, Ellen se juntou ao grupo e lhe deu o formato definitivo de quarteto misto. Mercê do talento e competência do líder Chris, que estudara música clássica, os arranjos eram extremamente elaborados, e suas harmonias vocais bastante complexas, ornamentadas com elementos de jazz, pop, música clássica e barroca. (Na época, outro grande conjunto trilhava o mesmo caminho - o fantástico THE ASSOCIATION). O Free Design foi contratado pelo "label" Project 3, que lhes deu total liberdade criativa. Infelizmente, o grupo, devido à inexperiência e por falta de "management", não obteve sucesso comercial Agora, quase 40 anos depois, a Light In Attic Records reedita os quatro primeiros LPs do Free Design, revelando uma banda lamentavelmente desconhecida das gerações dos anos 80 em diante, embora muito superior em qualidade a outras que permaneceram na lembrança, como os Mammas & Papas e Beach Boys, por exemplo. O FD foi um dos pioneiros do chamado "Greenwich Village sound" e suas canções são uniforme e consistentemente bem arranjadas, executadas, e agradáveis ao ouvido, contendo uma inocente mensagem de paz, amor e liberdade - símbolos da contracultura "hippie"daqueles anos. O texto abaixo transcrito, da lavra de Dominique Leone, comentarista de Reviews & Features, aborda minuciosamente a trajetória e, literalmente, disseca, em detalhes o estilo e os arranjos do Free Design.
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THE FREE DESIGN formed in 1966 in New York's Greenwich Village. Comprised of three of four Dedrick siblings (Chris, Bruce and Sandy), they specialized in a similar style of folk as peers Peter, Paul & Mary. However, doubtlessly due to main songwriter Chris' classical music studies, their music was decidedly ornate and their vocal harmonies precise and complex. The group quickly recorded a two-song demo - and just as quickly were courted by labels quick to capitalize on the success of other "harmony groups" like the Beach Boys and Simon & Garfunkel. The Free Design subsequently found a home with independent easy-listening label Project 3, who promised greater creative freedom than the others. Unfortunately, the group failed to land a hit, likely due in part to the label's inexperience promoting pop acts. Now, nearly 40 years later,
Light In the Attic Records has reissued the band's first four LPs, revealing a band unfairly slept on. The band's 1967 debut Kites Are Fun placed them squarely in the realm of sunshine pop acts like The Association and Curt Boettcher and Gary Usher's Sagittarius, but with the unmistakably precious Greenwich Village sound. Its songs are uniformly well arranged and performed, sparkling with some of the clearest sound of the era, and are also consistently pleasant
and inoffensive, offering an amiable take on the counterculture's message of peace, love and freedom. The Free Design make no bones about their wholesome convictions in the title track: "We'd like to be a zillion miles away from everyone/ 'Cause Mom and Dad and Uncle Bill don't realize Kites Are Fun." The intricate vocal lines, using sophisticated harmonies normally associated with jazz or chamber classical music, carry out its beyond-innocent charms. "The Proper Ornaments" adds in "ba-ba" vocal counterpoint reminiscent of the Beach Boys and The Mamas & the Papas, in addition to a baroque
arrangement featuring harpsichord and trumpets; it's as refined a piece of music as was released in the decade, though did the band no favors in hipper circles. The following year, The Free Design released You Could Be Born Again, adding youngest sister Ellen to the lineup. Having another voice allowed Chris to write more complex vocal arrangements, but otherwise, the album is very similar to the debut. It features several covers of current pop hits, including "California Dreamin'", The Beatles' "Eleanor Rigby", The Turtles' "Happy Together" and Burt Bacharach's "The Windows of the World"-- and despite the brash dual-trumpet solo attack on the Mamas & the Papas tune, these songs contribute to a faceless professionalism that diminishes the album's impact. Chris Dedrick provides the most distinctive music, especially the gorgeous "Ivy on a Windy Day". Opening with a ghostly choral section
, the song eventually settles into soft pop, featuring an unusual chord sequence that wouldn't sound out of place on recent
Stereolab records - in fact, Laetitia Sadier has cited the band as one of her all-time favorites. The reissue appends two non-LP
bonus tracks: an easy-listening holiday ballad "Christmas Is the Day" and the oddly titled "Close Your Mouth (It's Christmas)".
Heaven/Earth was released in 1969, and for the most part continues the soft, psychedelic pop of the first two records. "You Be You and I'll Be Me" spices up a typically elaborate vocal arrangement with an uptempo, percussive rock groove and a horn chart similar to concurrent Blood, Sweat & Tears or Chicago. However, the surprisingly cynical "2002: A Hit Song" provides the most spark on the record, suggesting that The Free Design weren't satisfied with their niche market. The singers outline a brief formula for a chart-topper (directed to the "teenyboppers"), only to admit in frustration, "We did all this last time, and it did not work." Elsewhere, the funky jazz take on George Gershwin's "Summertime"
offers evidence that the band were willing to step out of the mold they'd crafted for themselves. The reissue includes both sides of a solo single by Ellen Dedrick and several tracks featuring the band as backing singers for a 1968 LP by future music-mogul Tommy Mottola. 1970's Stars/Time/Bubbles/Love was The Free Design's best album to date, and also the first one to explore rock and funk
with the same gusto as their already well-established brand of soft pop. "Bubbles" is its best-known song, and for good reason:
The aggressive, odd-metered force of bass and drums, supported by clavinet and modestly searing electric guitar, propel Chris' ace vocal arrangement into similar territory as The Fifth Dimension and The Millennium, but with a crisper, jazzier edge "Butterflies Are Free" is softer, but equally as engaging, due especially to the gloriously regal arrangement of vocals and brass on the fade-out. Best yet is "That's All, People", with deceptively dissonant harmonies and an explosive big band performance.
By Dominique Leone, June 29, 2004, as related in Reviews & Features.

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ALBUM COMMENTS
Fans of the Beach Boys, the 5th Dimension and other seminal pop artists have a gaping hole in their music collections if it
doesn't contain 'Kites Are Fun', the 1967 soft-psych-pop masterpiece from "The Free Design". Nine of the album's songs are originals, notably the title track, which became an instant soft-pop classic; well-chosen covers, including the Beatles' "Michelle" and Simon & Garfunkels' "The 59th Street Bridge Song".
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MINHA OPINIÃO -
A qualidade dos arranjos vocais e instrumentais do Free Design é extremamente sofisticada, inventiva e inovadora, misturando na dose
exata e equilibrada, elementos de música clássica, barroca, pop e jazz, hábilmente manipuladas pelo seu talentoso líder Chris Dedrick.
A sonoridade do grupo, ainda que original e mais antiga, induz a uma imediata comparação com a dos "Carpenters" em seu álbum
de estréia, onde Richard Carpenter em algumas faixas se utilizou dos mesmos elementos clássicos e barrocos.(Lembra da composição "Druscilla Penny ? - ouça e compare). Eu diria, sem medo de errar, que os Carpenters foram influenciados pelo Free Design, embora exista entre eles uma diferença fundamental: o FD era um quarteto (depois quinteto) enquanto os dois irmãos Carpenters dublavam as vozes no estúdio, para conseguirem a sonoridade dos "block chords" a quatro ou mais vozes. Como tantos outros extraordinários grupos vocais, inobstante sua excelência, faltava ao Free Design apelo comercial e, como soe acontecer, por ser bom demais para a sua época, teve vida curta. Não tenho notícias do destino de seus componentes após a dissolução do conjunto. Das outras gravações do Free Design possuo o album, intitulado "You could be born again", em vinyl, e vou prepara-lo para futura postagem.
(*) Do álbum postado constam Michelle e "Un homme et une femme", temas conhecidos que ajudam a perceber as nuances dos arranjos do Free Design.
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FREE DESIGN - KITES ARE FUN
Label: Command Records
Orig Year: 1967

THE FREE DESIGN IS:
Ellen Dedrick
Chris Dedrick
Sandra Dedrick
Bruce Dedrick

Arranjos vocais e instrumentais: Bruce Dedrick

TRACKS/FAIXAS

1. Kites Are Fun
2. Make the Madness Stop
3. When Love is Young
4. The Proper Ornaments
5. My Brother Woody
6. 59th Street Bridge Song
7. Don't Turn Away
8. Umbrellas
9. Michelle
10. Never Tell the World
11. A Man and a Woman
12. Stay Another Season

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