Released 1967
The band’s 1967 debut Kites Are Fun placed them squarely in the realm of sunshine pop acts like The Association and Curt Boettcher and Gary Usher’s Sagittarius, but with the unmistakably precious Greenwich Village sound. Its songs are uniformly well arranged and performed, sparkling with some of the clearest sound of the era, and are also consistently pleasant and inoffensive, offering an amiable take on the counterculture’s message of peace, love and freedom. The Free Design make no bones about their wholesome convictions in the title track: “We’d like to be a zillion miles away from everyone/ ‘Cause Mom and Dad and Uncle Bill don’t realize Kites Are Fun.” The intricate vocal lines, using sophisticated harmonies normally associated with jazz or chamber classical music, carry out its beyond-innocent charms. “The Proper Ornaments” adds in “ba-ba” vocal counterpoint reminiscent of the Beach Boys and The Mamas & the Papas, in addition to a baroque arrangement featuring harpsichord and trumpets; it’s as refined a piece of music as was released in the decade, though did the band no favors in hipper circles. — Dominique Leone, June 28, 2004