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December 30th, 2003
Free Design: A '60s relic sounds new
by David Perry
In 1967, The Beatles released the landmark Sgt. Pepper's, then followed with Magical Mystery Tour.
Jimi Hendrix exploded with Are You Experienced?, and Cream was dazzling crowds with extended, blues-rock jams. The Doors were spraying darkness all over the clubs of L.A., while hippies dropped acid and did the noodle dance up the coast in San Francisco.
Social unrest left cities aflame. A war in Vietnam raged.
And somehow, in the same New York City that the Velvet Underground recorded the seedy urban poetry of their first album, The Free Design recorded a debut album called Kites Are Fun.
The Free Design was a family act, brothers Chris and Bruce and sister Sandy Dedrick; younger sister Ellen joined in 1968.
The title cut was as soft and breezy, as antithetical to the times, as its title implies. Somehow, lyrics like "See my kite it's fun" and "All that is between us is a little yellow string" never seemed as simple as they were, because of the music.
The song and album were steeped in Chris Dedrick's smart arrangements and layers of sound. Vocal parts swoop in and out and double back on one another.
A recorder dances around over acoustic guitars in the mix. A harpsichord. Bongos. Tambourine. Light bossa-nova flavorings, folk, and even touches that told you these kids knew some jazz. It was melodic, anything but simple, and anything but successful, despite some scant airplay for the title cut.
Social commentary? "The Proper Ornaments" disdained materialism, and the cautionary "Make the Madness Stop" advices listeners to "blow your mind, but not completely."
Some of the record's failure had to do with the fact that the album as released on Enoch Light's Project 3 label, which was anything but hip. The group got creative control but most Project 3 releases were cheesy hi-fi renderings sounding like what happens when older guys try desperately to sound hip, making a stab at "modern" music. The problem for The Free Design was the label had no idea how to market records to the youth market.
But over the years, Kites Are Fun and the Free Design's other five recordings have been rediscovered by crate-digging fans (including Belle & Sebastian, the D.J. Peanut Butter Wolf and Stereolab) and hailed for their accomplished sound. It really was, finally, "modern."
Now, thanks to the Seattle-based indie label Light In The Attic, the first and third albums by (1967's Kites Are Fun and 1969's Heaven/earth) The Free Design are back, on CD, with bonus cuts, and on LP. (Light In The Attic plans several more Free Design reissues in the coming months.)
The Mamas and The Papas had taken airy choral-vocal rock up the charts, the Beach Boys had made it part of their hit-making recipe, and Simon & Garfunkel had fused their voices and polar personalitities to score some soft-rock hits. Later, there would be The Fifth Dimension, The Association, and others. Later still, there was the pop-gloss of The Carpenters.
But what The Free Design offered was a beautifully organic and innovative take on vocal-pop, framed by a family blend. The Dedricks made a record that seems to offer fresh sonic rewards with each playing.
But perhaps some of the record's current appeal, at least to these ears, involves retrospect. To a kid seeking the latest in 1967 cool, Kites may not have resonated. But near the dusk of 2003, with technology pushing things, with genre-segregated radio programming growing ever close to narrow, focus-group results, and with fewer remarkable new releases hitting stores, maybe such an innovative and sincere little record just arrives differently these days.
Or maybe it was just that good all along.
Whatever it is, I'm hooked.
David Perry's email address is dperry@lowellsun.com
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