The Roches & The Free Design

[alucard]

I am a big fan of The Roches, founded by three Roche sisters who’s first record was produced by Robert Fripp in 1979. They released a couple of amazing three part vocal music (plus other musicians among them Larry Fast, Robert Fripp and Tony Levin) with highly complexe arrangements.

The other day I saw a Weeds episode and there was this great end credit tune. I looked it up and it was by a band called The Free Design, that I never heard of. They recorded a couple of records between 1967 and 1972 and there are some similarities with The Roches : The Free Design is also formed of family members, four brothers and sisters from a musical family. As for the Roches, their music is based on 3 or 4 part vocal arrangements mixing jazz, classic and then some. The Free Design is a bit more mainstream compared to The Roches (they did a lot of popular covers), but the greater part of the compositions come from the elder brother Chris Dedrick and have some amazing twisted arrangements.

It’s not prog per se, but if you like sophisticated multipart vocal arrangements I recommend them both.

[Polypet]

the Roches are quite brilliant - darkly humourous and always very cool. we love them

also quite fun live...

yep.

[FrippWire]

I enjoy both but prefer Free Design. Their "sunshine pop" really speaks to me; I'm still a fan of the "space age bachelor pad" music scene (Esquivel, Arthur Lyman, Les Baxter, Martin Denny, etc) and I think Free Design fits comfortably in that genre. You can definitely hear some Free Design in Stereolab's music.

[Johnboy]

Love Free Design, beautiful sound... not psych but pop-psych fans would love them.
The recorded 7 albums btw not a couple.

[Sturgeon's Lawyer]

Never heard of the Free Design before -- just looked them up on YouTube. Very dated sound to me, and with too much instrumental "stuff" going on so the clever vocals get lost.

BIG Roches fan tho.

[nosebone]

Never heard of the Free Design before -- just looked them up on YouTube. Very dated sound to me, and with too much instrumental "stuff" going on so the clever vocals get lost.

BIG Roches fan tho.

Vocals never get lost with The Free Design.

[alucard]

I listened yesterday to their second record You Could Be Born Again, lighthearted, with a great Duke Ellington cover and ending with a touching elegy for their late brother, who fell in Vietnam.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQgtEPIw_fw

[Superfly]

The Free Design have a few fans here- see the 'sunshine pop' thread. I have one best-of and that's it. It's certainly very 'light', even by 'sunshine pop' standards, but I don't mind that. I quite like the innocence of something like 'Kites Are Fun'.

There has been a lot of discussion about the Free Design on PE, both the old version of PE and the new. Yes, they tend to be on the light side most of the time, and some of their covers can be a little corny, but there is a deep melancholy to some of their music that I find quite appealing. And it is true...Kites Are Fun!

[proggrinch]

Had a HUGE crush on Terre Roche back in the day. When she takes her verse on their traditional folk rendering of "Factory Girl", I STILL get chills 40 years on. Between that and her bloodcurdling screams on Fripps solo version of PGs exposure- I was truly smitten.

Got a chance to see em in the 80s at Seattle's Bumbershoot festival. Suzzy was quite pregnant at the time, and spent a good part of the show lying down on the stage, prone with a pillow under her back. Man were they great.

[soundsweird]

I have six or seven Roches albums, and saw them live twice. That Free Design song was good for what it is, but the harmonies sure aren't in the same league with the Roche sisters. Not surprising, since production standards have come a long ways since the 60's.

[proggrinch]

[Polypet]

I have six or seven Roches albums, and saw them live twice. That Free Design song was good for what it is, but the harmonies sure aren't in the same league with the Roche sisters. Not surprising, since production standards have come a long ways since the 60's.

well... and i say this as a huge Roches fan - actually the harmonies are totally in the same league, as regards technical ability anyway, and fuller (more voices). that said, these guys, who i liked also, are coming from a very different time and place than the Roches. this was back when excellent vocal groups and performances were not uncommon - The Association, The Lettermen, Mamas and Papas, Carpenters, New Christy Minstrels, et al all had wonderful vocal arrangements.

the Roches' acapella magic back when they first came up was unheard of (Hallelujah chorus? and such a quirky arrangement too). i think they are more on the avant tip vis a vis attitude and some of their work (some of the things on Speak, for example). these guys were more of their time but there was a lot of excellent music around that time. they're no slouches in the vocal department. personally, i wouldn't attribute the quality of the vocals or vocal arrangement to production standards of the 60s vs the 70s...

just sayin'

K

[bRETT]

I generally don't see a lot of similarities between the Roches and Free Design in terms of musical style...however, this particular Roches track does have quite a resemblance:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QMApfa5AUo

[Just Eric]

Polypet said:
the Roches' acapella magic back when they first came up was unheard of (Hallelujah chorus? and such a quirky arrangement too). i think they are more on the avant tip vis a vis attitude and some of their work (some of the things on Speak, for example). these guys were more of their time but there was a lot of excellent music around that time. they're no slouches in the vocal department. personally, i wouldn't attribute the quality of the vocals or vocal arrangement to production standards of the 60s vs the 70s...

Love the Roches as well and specifically for the reasons you indicate above - they were vastly different than the vocal harmony groups of their era. Some of their songs have remained earworms of mine for 30+ years - Greatest Elizabeth In the World!

[Sturgeon's Lawyer]

Largest Elizabeth in the World, but WTF, great song.

[Just Eric]

Largest Elizabeth in the World, but WTF, great song.

That's what happens to a 30 year old earworm!

[Karda Estra]

I'd never heard of The Free Design before this thread but as a fan of Jimmy Webb's 5th Dimension tunes / Carpenters etc, I thought I'd give them a listen and really enjoyed it. The track Bubbles especially has great chords & arrangements. Have now bought a 'Best Of' CD and the 2002 reunion album 'Cosmic Peekaboo'. Thanks Alucard.

[progeezer]

I'm on the Free Design bandwagon as well. You should check out the Sunshine Pop thread to hear many tunes from the Free Design and other groups of their ilk.

[bill g]

Yeah, I like both Free Design and the Roches, though never thought of them as similar before this thread. Obviously Stereolab is influenced by Free Design, and even have a song called 'The Free Design', from my favorite album of theirs, Cobra & Phases. The Roches can be more folky, and although all 3 Roche sisters write, I generally enjoy Maggie's songs the most.

[Karda Estra]

Thanks Progeezer - will do.