Kites Are Fun

The Free Design | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 9, 2005)
• Original Release Date: 1967
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Light in the Attic
• ASIN: B0000DF5UW
• Also Available in: Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #113,268 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

To this day, The Free Design remain one of the true masters of all things soft-pop-psych! Hailing from New York, The Free Design were a late '60s/early '70s family pop group, releasing seven brilliant albums and influencing countless musicians (Beck, Belle & Sebastian, Cornelius, Stereolab...). Fans of The Beach Boys and The Association take note. Originally released in 1967, this is their debut album (first time on CD in the U.S.), 24-bit remastered with 14 tracks including 2 bonus tracks 'The Proper Ornaments' (mono version) & 'Kites Are Fun' (single version). Includes 16 page color booklet w/liner notes by Cornelius & Michael White. Light In The Attic. 2003.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Carefree, sometimes melancholy, always delightful, May 17, 2007

By 

William Timothy Lukeman - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Kites Are Fun (Audio CD)

Here's a lovely musical treasure from a very specific slice of time, one that was unfairly dismissed as too poppy & lightweight. Yet it holds up far better than many "serious" offerings from the same time, and has since become an inspiration for contemporary indie-fave artists such as Stereolab.

The gorgeous harmonies, the intricate arrangements, the irresistibly catchy songs -- this is the Free Design! From the joyful summer afternoon of the title track, to the lush, soaring chorale of "Stay Another Season," this is pop music at its best. And while much of the music is boppy & upbeat, the lyrics often offer a poignant, thoughtful counterpoint. There's more going on here than initially meets the ear! Like so many songs from this time, there's often a subtle note of melancholy running just below the surface of the happiest songs. Loss & shaded memories figure just as strongly as wonder & delight.

It's also fascinating to see how they remake the hit songs of others ... for instance, "Michelle" becomes a delicate Renaissance ballad, while "The 59th Street Bridge Song" indeed slows down to a lazy, almost jazzy stroll. A very mixed bag, for all the exquisitely glossy production!

You won't find music this sweetly sincere being made these days, and the more jaded listener will probably pass it by without a second thought. But for those who want to experience another, more idyllic time, this is undeniably the perfect soundtrack. Most highly & happily recommended!

16 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Kites Are Fun..., October 13, 2004

By 

Kevin S. Schemerholtz (Sunny Oakland, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kites Are Fun (Audio CD)

Picture a weird commercial from 1967 - the men wearing turtleneck sweaters, the women with long blonde hair. Perhaps the ad is set in a ski lodge. The sun is impossibly bright, the music impossibly sweat and pure. Around the fire, their eyes would glow as they smiled with perfect teeth. This is a memory that is on the verge of disappearing - or perhaps, for you, it's what Clark Ashton Smith called "the nostalgia of the unknown."

The Free Design opens the gates into this long-ago time - now as dead to us as ancient Rome. Will you go there and greet the men and women at that ski lodge? Why not? It's the perfect soundtrack to a half-remembered dream, or an evocation for a vanished world.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Uneven sounding CD . What was used for the source tapes ?, July 20, 2007

By 

Edward Brydalski (Buffalo New York) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Kites Are Fun (Audio CD)

5 stars for putting this out
2 stars for uneven sound quality
Some songs sound very good. Project 3 stereo and all.
Some sound like an MP3. Different sources? Damaged masters?
Some use noise reduction (computer based)to a fault.
The hiss sounds better than the noise reduction.
The act of calibrating an analog studio tape reproducer is becoming a lost art.
The original vinyl sounds BETTER. This is a sorry statement.
Project 3 supposedly cut their master acetates from the first generation tapes.
I can't explain why this CD sounds the way it does.
I'd have to talk to the remastering engineer.
Mike Brydalski Buffalo New York
Remember Lana Clarkson; she cant defend herself