5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
An Elegy,
May 26, 2008 EmperorTomato "music lover" (Massachusetts USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: You Could Be Born Again (Audio CD)
You Could Be Born Again, released in 1968 is the second album by The Free Design. The group was a family act, the members were all members of the Dedrick family. Despite the title, this is no Christian rock, this is a moving blend of 60's pop, jazz rhythms and amazing multi-part vocal harmonies.
I first became aware of the Free Design when Stereolab named a song and an EP after the group in 1999 (great song and EP, I love "Escape Pod"). Having listened to most of their catalog by now I can definitely see the Free Design's influence on Stereolab and associated groups like the High Llamas. While they have a twee/sunshine pop edge that can be a little to cutesy at times, there is a lot of variety and some excellent songwriting on their albums make them quite enjoyable, Born Again is no exception.
Like some of their of other releases, there are a few covers that most people will recognize on this album, those being: The Beatles' "Eleanor Rigby", The Turtles' "Happy...Read more
solid harmonies drive this one,
July 8, 2011 Michael P. Dobey (colorado springs) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: You Could Be Born Again (Audio CD)
Their first disc was perhaps a little more pop friendly than this one but their at least several tracks on here that are extremely well crafted pop songs. The jazz influence is evident on other tracks and there are a number of covers here. The first cd 'kitss are fun' had some good covers too. I went ahead and bought this bands entire catalog because they were quite interesting and can really sing well. The brothers played quitars and hnd the sisters laid out sweet singing as well. Thier next cd 'heaven and earth' is better than this one pop wise but still you can't go wrong with any one of this groups cds. It's soft listening at it's finest and the band to me bridges the gaps between older pop and jazz and just pop. This one added a sister to the mix and that only improved the singing here too. The first track may have inspired the term 'born again' , I don't know it's about singing songs and not religion and should have been a hit single. Few bands were as sweet as this one and...Read more
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