THE FREE DESIGN – Heaven/Earth – 1969 – (Project 3)

• My Very Own Angel – Dedrick – 3:02 – heavenly – it soothes and massages the brain and if you need to put music on after a night out (and you don't believe in the "hair of the dog" remedy) this is as good as panadol.
• Now Is the Time – Dedrick – 2:15-  This could be the music to any early 70s "Made for TV" film about a young girl in the big city looking for love ….done over a montage of course. Instantly dated but effortlessly charming.
• If I Were a Carpenter – Hardin – 3:50 – the great Tim Hardin song immortalised by Bobby Darin. The lyric lends itself to fluffy pop …..so it works here.
• You Be You and I'll Be Me – Dedrick – 2:42 – nifty lyrics over more lush arrangements though here with a big band. Dedrick could have had a career in the crooner era.
• Girls Alone – Dedrick – 4:01 – as the song title suggests a song about girls alone sung by the girls alone.
• 2002 – A Hit Song – Dedrick – 2:41 – vaguely like something from the vocal group "The Fifth Dimension" but with a cynical lyric;

• Summertime – Gershwin, Gershwin, Heyward – 3:43 – the Gershwin tune (from "Porgy & Bess") goes east and psych before turning into a torch song, smooth jazz number and returning as sunshine pop. Ambitious and memorable. The intricacy of Dedrick's arrangements are on full display. It's as if Brian Wilson was hanging out with John Lennon. 
• Where Do I Go – McDermont, Rado, Ranjni – 2:17 – from the musical "Hair" …. done as a baroque pop piece ….
• Hurry Sundown – Kaye, Montenegro – 3:09 – from the intriguing Otto Preminger pot-boiler and done by "Peter, Paul and Mary" originally…..
• Memories –  Davis, Strange – 3:41 – wow … a surprise – The Elvis song, first done by him on the ultra successful '68 Comeback Special, written for him by Mac Davis and Billy Strange. The song certainly was highly emotive maudlin mush when originally done by Elvis – though memorable and surprisingly sing-a-long-able. Not a surprising song for the "Free Design" to cover as the lyric is very much of the sunshine pop mould  … here the sing-a-long factor is less so but the sticky aspects are increased. It still works.
• Dorian Benediction – Dedrick – 4:32 – someone reviewed this as "The Electric Prunes meets Miles Davis and that is accurate. The influence of the "Electric Prunes" producer / arranger David Axelrod is noticeable. And given he was out on a limb this is too …. would have been perfect if they got some Monks in to do a Gregorian Chant … but this is good enough.

There are enough hits here for this to be a winner. Whether you can handle it depends on your tolerance of sunshine pop taken to the nth degree. I'm not sure how this sits in with everything else I like though I suppose I like my pop to be pop and my rock to be rock. The Free Design may be pure pop but they aren't "wishy washy" as they are committed wholly to their pure pop. I'm keeping this.