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The Free DesignKites Are Fun
Heaven/Earth
(Light In The Attic)
I first got turned on to the sounds of The Free Design a few years ago. Light '60s pop from the siblings Dedrick where The Association meets the melodic (and especially harmonic) sensibilities of The Beach Boys which I find to be brilliant, nevertheless I have to choose who I play it for and when. My usually tolerant girlfriend can only take so much of this splendidly saccharine serenade, so I usually am forced to listen in the car or when she is out. When I have introduced The Free Design to the uninitiated, the reaction is not dissimilar to throwing on some Scott Walker: they either love it or hate it. There are no neutrals here. Personally, I love it and I couldn't be happier that Light In The Attic have taken it upon themselves to reissue the late '60s and early '70s Free Design catalog. With more to come in 2004, the first two offerings are the debut Kites Are Fun (and indeed they are) and the third album Heaven/earth (which found younger sibling Ellen as a fully integrated member). Baroque pop vignettes as light as candy floss, the Free Design possessed a talent, not just for arrangement, but songwriting as well. Nine of the twelve songs on Kites are originals, and these tend to be their finer moments. "The Proper Ornaments" (b-side to "Kites Are Fun") is a devastating critique of the façade of middle class morality ("Here's your hat and gloves/Here's your pretty wife, sir, whom you almost love.Here's your little baby girl whom you're almost glad you had"), "You Be You, And I'll Be Me" a declaration of spiritual independence, "Now Is The Time" a celebration of the immediacy of new love - all set against light and bouncy hooks. For those who already have previous Free Design issues, the bonus materials are worth the trip, especially the cuts from Tony Mottola's Warm, Wild and Wonderful, which are primarily instrumental and feature the Dedrick's on backing vocals - begging the question of why that album wasn't given its own reissue. -EDWARD BURCH
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