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THE FREE DESIGN
*** Kites Are Fun
** Heaven/earth
Light In The Attic
First and third LPs from contemporaries of The Association and The 5th Dimension
Name-checked by Stereolab and Cornelius, The Free Design's breezy soft pop has the cachet of The Millenium's sunshine gothic, despite or perhaps, perversely, because their harmonies and personal lives are so pure. There's no tragic slide towards anorexia and amphetamine abuse a la The Carpenters here. Chris, Bruce, and Sandy Dedrick were darlings of the Village coffee-house circuit, though their '67 debut, containing their only Top 200 Billboard entry ("Kites Are Fun"), wasn't remotely countercultural, notwithstanding its covers of The Beatles' "Michelle" and Simon & Garfunkel's "59th Street Bridge Song". Blissful though some of this is, by Heaven/earth and its fresh, airy versions of "Summertime" and "Scarborough Fair", you'll be gasping for rock toxins.
- Paul Lester
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