butterflies are free - the original recordings 1967-72 (4 CD)
sku: ACME355CDX
Condition: Brand New Forthcoming Release
22.90€
$24.05
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"Uniqueness is rule number one" Chris Dedrick: '2002 - A Hit Song'
The Dedrick children, Chris, his brother Bruce, their sister Sandra and their younger sisters Ellen and Stefanie, were born into a world of music. Their father, Art, was a trombonist and arranger, their mother a music teacher who played French horn. Uncle Rusty, a jazz trumpeter with Red Norvo.
Under the influence of the Hi-Lo's and Peter, Paul and Mary, The Free Design rose through the folk scene of the Greenwich Village coffee houses, achieving national prominence with the enchanting ‘Kites Are Fun’. They would prove to be at least the artistic equals of such popular contemporaries as The Association, The Mamas and the Papas, The Fifth Dimension and Harper's Bizarre, but without quite matching their commercial success.
Rather than be dictated to and diluted by the majors, they chose to commit to the artistic freedom and potential to develop offered them by the producer Enoch Light through his independent set up, Project 3. While his label might not have been able to provide the resources of a Columbia or RCA, he believed in the group, gave them carte blanche and hired some of the finest session musicians in New York to back them.
The decision to put their art first was justified by the extraordinary quality of the seven albums recorded between 1967 and 1972. We have Enoch Light's vision and the group's brave decision to stick to their guns to thank for the fact that this splendid music exists today.
During the 1990's The Free Design enjoyed a renaissance. The enthusiastic reevaluation of their work by a new generation of international musicians; Cornelius, Beck, Stereolab and the High Llamas, who insisted that The Free Design be placed among the all-time greats of vocal harmony; to be spoken of in the same sentence as The Beach Boys and The Carpenters.
With exceptions, The Free Design were at their most pure in recordings of their own compositions. ‘Kites Are Fun’, ‘Bubbles’, ‘Kije's Ouija’, ‘My Brother Woody’, ‘Ivy On A Windy Day’, ‘Starlight’, ‘Daniel Dolphin’, ‘I'm A Yogi’, ‘My Very Own Angel,’ and the ‘Dorian Benediction’, each adorned by the baroque fantasy quality which is uniquely theirs. Breathtakingly original songs full of playful, nostalgic lyrical imagery; sometimes surprisingly dark; always enormously listenable.
Whilst the arrangements reflected Chris Dedrick's classical training and eclectic taste, the beautifully detailed sound must be attributed - at least in part - to the legendary sound engineer Phil Ramone, a magician whose emphasis on subtlety and nuance in performance conceived such creations as ‘The Girl from Ipanema’ by Astrud Gilberto, ‘Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard’ by Paul Simon, the Bob Dylan album, “Blood On the Tracks”, and, of course, ‘Bubbles’ by The Free Design.
Track Listing:
DISC ONE: KITES ARE FUN (1967)
KITES ARE FUN
MAKE THE MADNESS STOP
WHEN LOVE IS YOUNG
THE PROPER ORNAMENTS
MY BROTHER WOODY
59TH STREET BRIDGE SONG (FEELIN' GROOVY)
DON'T TURN AWAY
UMBRELLAS
MICHELLE
NEVER TELL THE WORLD
A MAN AND A WOMAN
STAY ANOTHER SEASON
YOU COULD BE BORN AGAIN (1968)
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
DISC TWO:
HEAVEN / EARTH (1969)
MY VERY OWN ANGEL
NOW IS THE TIME
IF I WERE A CARPENTER
YOU BE YOU AND I'LL BE ME
GIRLS ALONE
2002 - A HIT SONG
SUMMERTIME
WHERE DO I GO
HURRY SUNDOWN
MEMORIES
DORIAN BENEDICTION
SING FOR VERY IMPORTANT PEOPLE (1970)
DON'T CRY, BABY
CAN YOU TELL ME HOW TO GET TO SESAME STREET?
CHILDREN'S WALTZ
SCARLET TREE
LITTLE COWBOY
LOVE YOU
RONDA GO 'ROUND
BUBBLES
DANIEL DOLPHIN
KITES ARE FUN
LULLABY
DISC THREE: STARS / TIME / BUBBLES / LOVE (1970)
BUBBLES
TOMORROW IS THE FIRST DAY OF THE REST OF MY LIFE
KIJE'S OUIJA
BUTTERFLIES ARE FREE
STAY OFF YOUR FROWN
STARLIGHT
TIME AND LOVE
I'M A YOGI
RAINDROPS KEEP FALLING ON MY HEAD
HOWDJADOO (FLY ME DOWN)
THAT'S ALL PEOPLE
ONE BY ONE (1972)
ONE BY ONE
FELT SO GOOD
FRIENDLY MAN
LIGHT MY FIRE
LIKE TO LOVE
YOU ARE MY SUNSHINE
GO LEAN ON A RIVER
GOING BACK
LOVE ME
FRIENDS (THANK YOU ALL)
DISC FOUR: THERE IS A SONG (1972)
CANADA IN SPRINGTIME
KUM BA YAH
PETER, PAUL AND MARY
PINEAPPLE CRABAPPLE
THE SYMBOLS RING
STAY
I WANNA BE THERE
THERE IS A SONG
A CHILD IS BORN
LOVE DOES NOT DIE
CHORALE
FUGUE
BONUS TRACKS
KITES ARE FUN (MONO SINGLE)
THE PROPER ORNAMENTS (MONO SINGLE)
YOU BE YOU AND I'LL BE ME (MONO SINGLE)
NEVER TELL THE WORLD (MONO SINGLE)
59TH STREET BRIDGE SONG (FEELIN' GROOVY) (MONO SINGLE)
